Expansive plant-based knowledge & experience with high growth companies

our team

Chelsie Hodge, BBA

Founder & CEO

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Chelsie brings a unique skill set to the table with over a decade of working experience in the high-growth plant-based consumer packaged goods sector along with over fifteen years in capital market. Chelsie has held Sales and Business Development positions with industry disruptors such as VEGA along with Investor Relations roles for a variety of public company sectors. Most recently she acted as a consultant assisting with IPO transactions, M&A and capital raises. The concept of “easy smoothie” was born in Chelsie’s kitchen, as a solution for an easy better for you alternative; eliminating the high costs of organic produce & vitamins while tackling the food waste issues involved in the normal smoothie preparation method. What started as an idea grew to a nationally distribution frozen good brand sold in many of Canada’s largest grocery chains. Chelsie helped pioneer the easy smoothie category, fundamentally changing the way consumers look & prepare smoothies. Aside from the impressive rapid distribution gains, Chelsie grew the company as a solo entrepreneur, recruiting her family & tapping into her strong industry connections for support on growing this brand to where it is today. She is passionate about start-ups and is also an investor herself; focusing on early-stage food companies working to make a difference in our food systems. Chelsie has a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of entrepreneurship from product development and manufacturing to sales and business development; making her a strong leader to take Blender Bites into International Markets.

Arinn Ryan, BBA

Director of Marketing & Communications

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Hailing from over a decade of experience at a global agency and most formerly a frozen, plant-based CPG start-up, Arinn joins Blender Bites as Director of Marketing & Communications. A passionate marketer, Arinn marries the big idea thinking that comes from agency life paired with the resourceful and strategic thinking required to keep up with and grow a booming start-up. With expertise creating strategic marketing plans, managing integrated campaigns, and fostering highly aligned partnerships across stakeholders & agencies, Blender Bites offers up a challenging and rewarding opportunity to bring a (deliciously tasty & convenient) brand to the next evolution of growth.

Carol Yung Munro, MBA, BSc

Director of Quality Assurance & Food Safety

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Carol has over 20 years of QA/RA experience in the food industry spanning across branded companies, manufacturing, grocery and social enterprises. Over the past decade, Carol has specialized in helping SMEs grow through a pragmatic approach despite the constantly changing regulatory landscape. As the Director of Quality/R&D for Vega, she had the privilege to build a high-functioning team and a quality system from the ground-up and played a major role in the due diligence process during the sale of Vega to WhiteWave Foods. Carol works with manufacturers in Canada, US, Asia and South America, and also recently spent 3 years in South East Asia developing food safety and organic systems for smallholder farms.

Gagan Lidder, CPA, CGA

Financial Controller

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Gagan brings over 10 years of progressive accounting experience in fast-paced and dynamic organizations; specializing in a plant-based CPG environment. In her most recent role at One Degree Organic Foods as a Financial Controller, Gagan oversaw the Finance operations as she managed financial reporting & analysis, internal controls, budgeting, month-end procedures, and inventory costing. For 7 years preceding her role at One Degree, Gagan was a key contributor to the Finance team at Vega, as a Senior Accountant. She facilitated in the strategic growth of the accounting department by streamlining accounting processes, implementing internal control structure, and managing various key areas of finance. She spearheaded several projects, allowing for cross-functional efficiencies, including the implementation of Concur and a Non-Inventory PO system. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from BCIT, where she graduated with distinction, and a CGA designation. Gagan comes from a generational family of farmers and is very passionate about the plant-based food industry and its role in sustainability. In her spare time, Gagan enjoys running, but most importantly, spending quality time with her family and teaching her children about the value of living their best lives.

our advisory board

Mark Wilson

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Mark brings over 25 year’s experience in supply chain operations management. Mark is the former Vice President – Operations of VEGA, a leading North American plant-based, nutritional supplement company. Mark led all aspects of the company’s Supply Chain, Quality, and Research and Development Operations from the early days as a smaller Canadian player with $10M in sales to an international company selling over
$200M USD annually. The growth of the company saw Mark architect a completely new manufacturing and distribution structure with four times the manufacturing partners, twice the number of distribution centers, and supporting rapid growth in new product development. Mark was also an integral player in supporting the company through a highly successful strategic sale to Whitewave Foods for $550M USD in 2015. Following his success at Vega, Mark founded his own Supply Chain Operations consulting firm called Wilson Management Group Ltd, where he and his team advise companies in developing and deploying their procurement, purchasing, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, research & development, regulatory, and quality control.

Dionne Laslo-Baker

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Dionne is the founder and CEO of Deebee’s Organics, an organic, clean label fruitpop and freezie brand with International partnerships with Disney and the hit movie “Frozen”.

Dionne is a Canadian expert on the impacts of environmental toxins – especially in the food chain – on child health. A PhD medical researcher in the field of maternal fetal toxicology, her doctorate focused on the effects of exposure to chemicals during pregnancy on fetal development.

A strong proponent for the health science behind organic food, Dionne founded DeeBee’s Organics on a mission to make ‘conscious’ snacking really fun

Richard Pollock

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A perennial entrepreneur with multiple exits, Richard co-founded Pauling Labs—and the brand Ener-C — in 2014. Ener-C experienced significant global growth in its first three years of business and is currently one of the fastest growing supplement brands in North America. Ener-C is currently distributed in 15,000+ retail locations in Canada, US, England, Greece, Cypress, Ukraine, UAE, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Caribbean.

In 1999, Richard founded Vitascorb Supplements and acquired the license for the brand Emergen-C™ in Canada. Vitascorb was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2012. Since 2012 Richard has actively invested and sat on the board of several CPG companies that have either transacted or continue to operate today.

Why Invest?

Our planet is the only home we’ll have. We are proud to be free of any unnecessary inner plastic packaging that is damaging to our environment and we source locally whenever possible.

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