105: Lisa Odenweller: Serial Entrepreneur & founder of Beaming organic food cafe’s before being removed as CEO,then staged a comeback, overcame her obstacles and started Kroma Superfoods.

Lisa Odenweller

Lisa Odenweller had an interest in making healthy food at an early age, but it wasn’t until her mid-30s that she figured out that this interest was in fact her calling. It wasn’t until her husband and daughter were facing serious health issues that she realized that each one of us has a responsibility to take control of our own health via what we eat and drink. Fast forward to today and she is an accomplished natural food and beverage entrepreneur, innovator and consultant. Lisa founded and grew Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe from the simple idea that ‘food is medicine’ to a thriving brand with 10+ stores in just a few short years. After leaving Beaming, she went on a journey of self discovery, and she is now positioned to launch another ‘superfood’ company this summer by the name of Kroma. Kroma produces and sells conveniently packaged, high-quality and great-tasting superfood beverages such as Super Lattes and Matcha Green Tea.

On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, we talk with superfood entrepreneur and founder of Kroma, Lisa Odenweller. Through her life experiences, Lisa has come to believe that we all have a responsibility to take control of our health. She was able to drastically improve her life and the lives of her daughter and husband simply by tweaking the food that they ate. Lisa’s conviction is that we all have power over our health and view “food as medicine”. “At the end of that day,” she says, “there are so many things we can do that come down to being mindful of the food we eat.” It’s a good thing that Lisa took control of her health because she definitely needed it in order to face the adversity she encountered while started and growing her first superfoods business, Beaming. Not only did Lisa go through a divorce while growing the company and raising money, but she was also kicked out of her own company by the board after she had grown it to 10+ locations. Listen as Lisa tells us about the period of depression and renewal she went through as she moved forward to today where she is now launching her second superfoods business. Lisa encourages all of us to “own our uncomfortability and face our issues”.

What You Will Learn:

Lisa talks about being “woken up” to dramatic physical and mental benefits when she tweaked the food that her family was eating. She discovered this truth in her mid-30s when she felt she was slowing down mentally and her daughter was being overmedicated by medical professionals. As Lisa studied the chemicals in food and began to remove inflammatory triggers from her daughters diet amazing things began to happen: her hormones were balanced, she was stronger and felt better and she was taken off of ADD medicine within weeks.

Lisa shares about being forced out of her own company and hitting a rock bottom in life. She says that being naive in certain aspects of business led her to losing control of her company. She was misaligned with her business partners, and ultimately they didn’t share her passion, but were instead focused on profit. She is super transparent about the humbling experience of losing everything and the feelings of denial and victimization that she experienced.

Lisa gives some insights on lessons she learned from this devastating experience.

She says, “I had to learn accountability and see my role in it…how I got there and how to prevent it from happening again. We are always going to make mistakes, it’s not possible to not make mistakes. I’m grateful for the lessons learned, and I’m wiser for it.” Lisa is still very proud of the brand she created but she eventually had to stop fighting so she could move on.

Lisa gives her top advice for entrepreneurs: Roadblocks are inevitable, so you must be connected to/be clear about your ‘why’ in order to overcome those roadblocks. Your ‘why’ gives you the spirit to continue when you face adversity. She also stresses to “Listen to intuition!” If you have a bad feeling about certain people you partner with then chances are they won’t support you when the business goes through hard times.

3 years after exiting Beaming, Lisa is excited to announce her rebirth as she launches packaged superfoods company, Kroma, this summer. Kroma’s products offer the healing benefits of superfoods more brain power and fighting disease. Lisa expresses her love for turning superfoods and adaptogens into delicious foods and beverages. She uses what she calls “mad sciencing” to make them enjoyable. Her Super Latte products are incredibly convenient and mobile; just add hot water to powder and its instantly ready. It already has coconut milk in it!

Into the valley:

In her mid-30s Lisa Odenweller left the corporate life and decided to follow her passion of empowering others to feel and look amazing. She did this by educating them on how to make a healthy beverage, and her first company Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe was born. Then came the adversities that life tends to bring: divorce, betrayal by business partners and eventually depression. Lisa found herself with nothing; questioning her own abilities and what she was capable of.

Up:

After leaving Beaming, it was 1.5 years before Lisa felt she could even be creative again and feel whole. Lisa had to let go of her anger and resentment to find true healing. She believes that her experience has made her stronger and wiser. Lisa encourages entrepreneurs to always hold on to their ‘why’ when adversity comes and to trust their own intuition when something feels off about a potential business partner.

During this period of self-discovery, Lisa had a lightbulb moment and Kroma was born! Lisa had been traveling with 10 different types of superfoods in her suitcase, and she was mixing all the powders + almond milk in her hotel room. She became determined to find a better solution. The result: one beverage – all inclusive in a single package. Now, Lisa Odenweller is prepared to take the lessons from her past obstacles and her passion for ‘superfoods’ and scale her company to the masses! 

Links to Additional Resources:

• https://www.drinkroma.com
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-odenweller-2ab51444
• https://kriscarr.com/
• Laird Superfood – Code: Markp20 [Sponsor]
• Cascade Mountain Tech [Sponsor]