NutraWomen Wednesday: Heather Granato, Founder, Nutrachievement

23-Oct-2024 - Last updated on 23-Oct-2024 at 14:07 GMT

Heather Granato, the founder of strategic business consultancy Nutrachievement, is a 30-year veteran of the natural products industry. She shared her early passion for journalism and the valuable lessons she learned along the way, including the importance of upholding the principles of free press and the media's role in informing the public.

“When I went to college at the University of Richmond in Virginia, I was a journalism major, theater minor, and my advisor was Mike Spear,” she said. “One thing that he was really passionate about and instilled in us was the importance of the First Amendment. And that was actually our midterm freshman year was you had to write absolutely perfectly or say verbatim the First Amendment because he believed so much in that as a tenet of our society. And that I have taken as well.”

Granato reflected on the evolution of the nutraceuticals industry over the past three decades, highlighting the impact of technology and the importance of trusted media sources in navigating the overwhelming amount of information available

“The industry has changed, as has the way that we cover it. So we had no email. You had phone calls and faxes. It was very much, who did we know? Who did someone on the staff know that you could reach out to, to work on articles? It took ages of time,” she said.

”But then all of a sudden, you hit the mid-90s, and DSHEA passed, and you've got big pharma and VC money coming in. And all of a sudden, it wasn't the Birkenstocks anymore. It was all of these suits. You could see the transition in the industry, and the information demand accelerated from there. There was more emphasis on science, on asking the questions. Ultimately, the way we tell the stories shifts. We tell it in different ways in video and podcast and short form. But the basics are the same of what we're talking about. Science, quality, the ability to make products, research and development teams. And it's the people. The people make the story.”

Granato is also the founding president of Women in Nutraceuticals (WIN), an organization whose mission is to achieve gender parity and empower women in the industry, which she said is crucial for driving innovation.

“I think there is an important dialogue to have around how to empower women, but more importantly, how to bring allies together and see the power that we all have when we're all in it together. That drives innovation.”