When I told people I was leaving the creative world for awhile to research cricket and climate the overwhelming response was “YOUR DOING WHAT???” Trust me, I said that to myself a million times too.
How do you know when it’s time to go for it? I mean really go for it?? You’ve had an idea in your head for days, months or maybe even years. The idea keeps you up at night, disrupts your focus throughout the day and it’s beginning to take form more clearly with every passing minute. So what do you do with that?
Most of us let it pass and keep on keeping on with business as usual. But there are a few that simply cannot do that. These are the wild ones, the go-getters, the risk takers. Some might refer to this group as the irresponsible ones who need to get a life and grow up. (boo)
For me it happened quite unexpectedly. Don’t get me wrong – i’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart as a co-founder of two creative agencies, but the idea of leaving the career I went to college for and absolutely loved sounded insane! But there was always this little voice asking me how I could “Be the Change I Hoped to See” I didn’t answer it because I honestly did not have a great answer.
Throughout my career my heart would dream of doing something “more” something that made a difference in this world… but my brain would always win the battle and remind me I had responsibilities. As a single mom of two I needed to be a positive role model, live a balanced life and earn a decent income. My entire mission in life was to be the very best mom I could be and to provide my sweet babies (yeah, I still call them babies) with all the things I could never have growing up. Then one day my babies weren’t babies, they were young adults preparing for college. In my years of hustling to be mom and creative director it never dawned on me that this time would end. My number one role as head of house and mom of two would drastically change.
The decision to take a leap and go for it wasn’t exactly overnight. It was a series of events that all drew me to the edge. I was happily working as a partner at a rockin’ women owned creative agency with a friend that I thought/think the world of. My children required much less of my time, and I was starting to get into the sport of triathlon. I loved it so much that I overcame my fear of water and took swim lessons! (Not gonna lie, i’m still afraid of water.) When you train for a sport you start to pay close attention to your body, your food, your sleep. You really start to notice when something doesn’t agree with you. (Trust me, this story is going somewhere)
I have a pretty big appetite, especially for my 5’3″ frame, and I could not find food that would sustain me properly. It turns out I also struggle with gluten and dairy, which leaves most of the popular protein powders out. A triathlete friend mentioned that he heard people were using cricket protein powder and getting great results. “WHAT?! Crickets? Like the bug???”
That my friends was the beginning. After much scrutiny I gave it a try. Did I like it? NO! I thought it tasted like the earth, and not in a good way. But it was expensive and I really needed to see if it could help. So I plugged my nose and drank it down with my morning smoothie e v e r y d a y for a month.
I immediately noticed that my appetite was sustained a good hour or so longer than with previous powders. After only a week I started to experience a healthier gut. (I’ll spare the details, but let’s just say my gut health has always been a bit off.) Hm, what’s that about?
As a creative director I would spend a lot of time doing research to become a min-expert on whatever it was we were working to brand and or design for. That skill came in handy when I started this journey. In my spare time I started researching cricket protein to understand what it was about this magical little creature that had me feeling so good.
What I discovered revealed so much more than the nutritional benefits; global food insecurity and climate change quickly became a main focus. The more I learned, the louder that voice inside of me started to scream. It was time to do something – to be the change – and now I knew exactly what it was I was intended to do. (Or so I thought.)
On January 1, 2020 I left my full-time career as a Creative Director to research climate change, cricket protein, food insecurities and the natural food industry. I tried every cricket protein brand I could find in hopes that I could find one that tasted good, but none of them did. **I have since discovered a few that do! I’ll share more later. ** I started experimenting with recipes using cricket protein and ancient sustainable grains. I created a social handle #lecricketqueen and became an advocate for entomophagy. (That’s a fancy word for eating bug.) I joined every climate organization that would take me in, talked with farmers, reached out to cricket enthusiasts and connected with other founders in the natural food and entomophagy world. My goal was to change the way Americans’ felt about cricket protein with an elevated brand experience, tasteful messaging, crave-worthy recipes and ready to eat treats.
Here’s my journey in a nutshell: I named the brand “Harmony Cricket Farm”, did hundreds of iterations of recipes, landed on two gluten-free cookie recipes, grew an organic social following, got food safe certified, hired a food scientist to guide me through the ropes, shared my product with strangers for honest feedback, started working in a commercial kitchen, joined business cohort groups to learn how to test my MVP and learn more about the roadmap to retail ready.
It was an incredible journey and it came without a map, a precise beginning or a defined ending.
Harmony took off much faster than I could have dreamed, I was selling out at food festivals, my organic following was growing daily and I had loyal customers who who were my inspiration on my hardest days. I was accepted into the Impact SKU Accelerator Program where I was coached by a team of experts from the natural food world. I made incredible friends, learned the in’s and out of growing a food brand while also discovering a lot about myself. My advisors pushed me out of my comfort zone – which i’ve learned is something I LOVE! They challenged my “why” which led to a pivot. They helped me Identify my TAM – again a “pivot”. From there I hired a food science team to convert my RTE (Ready to eat) cookie into a shelf-stable mix- yep “pivot.” I Connected with experts on creating a circular economy “pivot” and learned about the politics of business – “pivot.”
After taking Harmony from idea to retail ready, sadly I lost it. If there is one piece of advice I could give it would be to hire a lawyer and protect yourself. The idea of hiring lawyers felt dirty to me, i’ve always trusted my gut. This is not a time to do that! Do not bring on partners unless you started the journey with one, you can have plenty of advisors. Believe me, I realize that this sounds pretty aggressive, but if someone would have given me this advice it would have saved lots of time, money, loss and heart ache. I do not stand alone here, I’ve met more founders who share their own horror stories than I care to say.
Enough of that talk. I want to leave you with a more positive thought. As Steve Jobs once said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I couldn’t agree more.
Although I am no longer the founder of a food brand, I am forever changed by my experience. My re-entry into the creative world is filled with focus on supporting brands and entrepreneurs who are crazy enough to think they can change this world for the better. If I can’t be one of them; I want to do everything I can to support them.
Speaking of those crazy founders. I mentioned that I had tried some cricket brands that actually tasted awesome. If you feel compelled to give crickets a try, this would be a great place to start:
Kate is the founder of orchestraprovision she is on fire with a passion for our planet and a deep understanding of food science. Her spices and protein powders taste awesome! I highly recommend the Chai.
This dynamic duo actually farms their crickets! They put a whole lot of research and love into learning what it takes to make good-tasting cricket flour. I’ve tried cricket protein from around the world and theirs is easily one of my top three faves. http://3cricketeers.com
Sarah developed a MIGHTY vision to build a clean and equitable protein supply to sustain the world. How’s that for ambitious?! Her oatmeal is loaded with flavor and packed full of cricket protein. https://www.mightycricket.co/about-2/
There are so many others, but these three are not only brands i’ve tried and liked, they are represented by really good people who are giving all they have to making a positive difference in this world. I hope you take a little time to learn more.
Thank you for taking the time to hear my story.
Tammy Mann, Creative Director / Former Food Founder / Forever Climate Advocate
Leave a Reply