Ferrero’s Danielle Sporkin on Navigating Media, Retail, and Cross-Functional Growth

Summary

BRAVE COMMERCE: Ferrero’s Danielle Sporkin on Navigating Media, Retail, and Cross-Functional Growth

Hosted by Rachel Tippograph (Founder & CEO of MikMak) and Sarah Hofstadter (President of Profitero)

Release Date: April 1, 2025

---

Introduction

In this episode of BRAVE COMMERCE, Rachel Tippograph and Sarah Hofstadter delve into the dynamic world of eCommerce with Danielle Sporkin, a pivotal leader at Ferrero North America. Danielle brings a wealth of experience from her extensive background in the agency sector, now steering Ferrero’s media strategies, retail integration, and cross-functional growth initiatives.

---

Ferrero’s Brand Portfolio and Strategic Growth

[04:10] Danielle Sporkin:
"At Ferrero, we have this philosophy known as change by preserving. And what it means is as we must evolve with the continually changing consumer and commercial landscape, the fundamental values that make us Ferrero, things like passion, quality, entrepreneurship, and innovation remain at the heart of what we do."

Danielle provides an in-depth overview of Ferrero’s diverse portfolio, emphasizing both its rich heritage and strategic acquisitions. Founded in Alba, Italy in 1946, Ferrero is a third-generation family-owned company with a presence in over 170 countries. The legacy brands include global favorites such as:

• Ferrer Rocher
• Tic Tac
• Nutella
• Kinder (the number one chocolate brand worldwide)

In the US market, Ferrero has enhanced its portfolio through significant acquisitions over the past decade, acquiring American-born brands needing revitalization. These include:

• Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, 100 Grand, Crunch, Raisinets (formerly Nestlé)
• Keebler, Mothers, Famous Amos (formerly Kellogg)
• Wells Ice Cream
• Power Crunch (recent acquisition, expanding into the "better for you" segment)

This strategic expansion underscores Ferrero’s commitment to broadening its market presence and catering to diverse consumer preferences.

---

Balancing Heritage with Modern Consumer and Media Landscapes

[07:20] Danielle Sporkin:
"If you are of European background, you grew up with all of the many kinder products. It's still relatively new in the US—we've only got about three products here today. There's a large catalog of other products we're excited to bring to the US, but we're still growing the brand awareness, growing the penetration."

Danielle elaborates on Ferrero’s philosophy of “change by preserving,” balancing the preservation of core values with adapting to evolving consumer behaviors and media consumption patterns. Key areas of transformation include:

• Media Mix Evolution: Transitioning from traditional media channels like linear TV to a more robust investment in digital platforms, driven by shifts in consumer media behavior.

• Retail Strategy: Emphasizing eCommerce and omni-channel strategies alongside brick-and-mortar operations to meet modern shopping preferences.

• Digital Transformation: Leveraging data and analytics to enhance market approaches, reflecting a broader trend of digitization in consumer and shopper experiences.

---

Navigating the Complex Landscape of Retail Media and Cross-Functional Collaboration

[11:03] Danielle Sporkin:
"The digitization of consumer and shopper experiences does create some complexities for companies like Ferrero and CPGs writ large. Because when you think about the role that retail media plays, it doesn't fit neatly into a box. It spans across brand marketing, trade marketing, shopper marketing, E-commerce. So Ferrero, like many other places, we're trying to figure out how we manage this very interconnected, very matrixed type of ways of working."

Drawing from her extensive agency background, Danielle highlights the intricate nature of retail media, which intersects various facets of marketing and commerce. She underscores the importance of:

• Collaboration: Emphasizing open communication and cross-functional teamwork to navigate the interconnected landscape of retail media.

• Strategic Alignment: Ensuring that all teams—brand marketing, eCommerce, sales, and external agencies—are aligned with Ferrero’s overarching goals.

• Adaptability: Utilizing insights from her agency experience to foster adaptability and innovation within Ferrero’s media strategies.

[14:04] Rachel Tippograph:
"When you have multiple agencies in the room... how do you actually get people to work together when they have, you know, competing bosses, priorities, etc.?"

[14:30] Danielle Sporkin:
"I mean, if I think even about my agency experience... it always has to go back to the greater good and the greater good being like, what is it that the brand is trying to accomplish? What is the job to be done? What is the challenge that we're trying to overcome for Ferrero?"

Danielle emphasizes the necessity of a unified vision and clearly defined roles to ensure that diverse teams and agencies work cohesively towards common objectives.

---

Danielle’s Agency Background: A Catalyst for Success

[16:07] Danielle Sporkin:
"I think having all those diverse experiences really enabled me to learn a lot. I worked across a lot of different types of clients and a lot of blue chip clients... adaptability, certainly a lot of collaboration... storytelling is super important."

Danielle attributes her success at Ferrero to her multifaceted agency career, which equipped her with skills in adaptability, collaboration, storytelling, and client service. Her experience spans various disciplines, including:

• Digital and Communications Planning
• Investment and Innovation
• Technology and Product Development
• Client Leadership

This diverse background allows her to approach Ferrero’s challenges with a holistic and innovative mindset, fostering growth and transformation within the company.

---

Building One’s Career: Insights and Advice from Danielle

[18:56] Rachel Tippograph:
"So for others that want to build their own job, what suggestions do you have for them?"

[19:01] Danielle Sporkin:
"I think it's really important to just be open to new opportunities... rolling up your sleeves and diving in, even if it's not your expertise or your job... curiosity, problem-solving... building the role sort of formed around that versus trying to build the role first and figure out the competencies and capabilities later."

Danielle offers valuable advice for professionals aiming to carve their own career paths:

• Embrace Opportunities: Be open to new and unexpected opportunities without forcing a specific path.

• Stay Curious: Maintain a strong sense of curiosity and a willingness to learn across different domains.

• Collaborate and Support: Actively engage in cross-functional support, even beyond your immediate responsibilities.

• Adapt and Pivot: Allow your role to evolve naturally based on emerging interests and business needs rather than rigidly defining it upfront.

Her philosophy underscores the importance of flexibility, continuous learning, and proactive engagement in professional growth.

---

Conclusion: The Bravest Things

As the episode nears its end, Rachel and Sarah pose their famous last question:

[20:37] Danielle Sporkin:
"The bravest thing I've ever done is to try out for a roller derby team... I've been involved in Gotham Roller Derby for almost 10 years, traveling the country and the world, playing the sport. Also, becoming a mom has been incredibly brave—stepping into parenthood with all its challenges and responsibilities."

Danielle shares personal anecdotes highlighting her courage in embarking on new ventures and embracing significant life changes, such as:

• Joining a Roller Derby Team: Demonstrates her willingness to step outside her comfort zone and engage in physically and socially challenging activities.

• Motherhood: Emphasizes the daily bravery required in balancing professional responsibilities with the demands of parenthood.

---

Key Takeaways

• Changing by Preserving: Ferrero’s strategy to maintain core values while adapting to modern market dynamics.

• Media Transformation: Shift from traditional to digital media channels based on consumer behavior insights.

• E-Commerce Focus: Integrating omni-channel strategies to enhance retail presence and consumer accessibility.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Importance of seamless teamwork across various departments and external agencies.

• Agency Experience as an Asset: Leveraging diverse agency skills to drive innovation and adaptability within a corporate setting.

• Career Building: Embracing flexibility, curiosity, and proactive engagement to navigate and shape one’s career path.

• Personal Bravery: Embracing challenges, whether professional or personal, as opportunities for growth and resilience.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Danielle Sporkin on Ferrero’s Philosophy:
  "Change by preserving... passion, quality, entrepreneurship, and innovation remain at the heart of what we do."
  [01:02]

• Sarah Hofstadter on Career Non-Linearity:
  "I don't think careers are as linear as they were... it makes them much, much richer."
  [02:25]

• Danielle Sporkin on Retail Media Complexity:
  "It spans across brand marketing, trade marketing, shopper marketing, E-commerce."
  [11:03]

• Danielle Sporkin on Career Advice:
  "If you're open to change... that's how I found my agency career."
  [19:01]

---

Final Thoughts

This episode of BRAVE COMMERCE offers valuable insights into navigating the evolving landscapes of media, retail, and cross-functional growth within a global brand like Ferrero. Danielle Sporkin’s blend of agency expertise and strategic leadership provides a blueprint for balancing tradition with innovation, fostering collaboration, and driving meaningful growth in today’s competitive eCommerce environment.

Listeners gain not only a deeper understanding of Ferrero’s strategic initiatives but also actionable advice on career development and the importance of embracing change and collaboration in professional settings.

---

If you found this summary insightful, consider exploring other episodes of BRAVE COMMERCE, where leaders from top brands share their experiences and strategies for success in the ever-changing world of eCommerce.

Transcript

[Instacart Ad]

Instacart is on a mission to have you not leave the couch this basketball season because between the pre game rituals and the post game interviews, it can be difficult to find time for everything else. So let Instacart take care of your game day snacks or weekly restocks and get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes because we hear it's bad luck to be hungry on game day. So download the Instacart app today and enjoy zero dollar delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees apply for three orders in 14 days. Excludes restaurants. When the Moore family ditched cable Internet and switched to Zigly Fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and live streaming to the masses. With reliable service. Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime.

[Danielle]

Let's go.

[Instacart Ad]

And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing. Without freesight, the numbers look good.

[Danielle]

Brad, you're on mute.

[Instacart Ad]

Switch from cable Internet to Zibli Fiber and get more of what you love for $65 less per month than [e-mail].

[Danielle]

At Ferrero, we have this philosophy known as change by preserving. And what it means is as we must evolve with the continually changing consumer and commercial landscape, the fundamental values that make us Ferrero, things like passion, quality, entrepreneurship and innovation remain at the heart of what we do. I took what I would say is a bit of a nonlinear path. There's that saying, you know, careers are not ladders, they're jungle gyms and you kind of swing from thing to thing. And that definitely was my experience in the agency world. We're starting to think a lot more about E commerce and Omni as part of our overall strategy, not just brick and mortar.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Welcome to today's episode of Brave Commerce.

[Danielle]

I'm.

[Rachel Tippograph]

I'm Rachel Tippograph, the founder and CEO of Mic Mac.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I'm Sarah Hofstadter, president of Profitero and.

[Rachel Tippograph]

This is a show that talks about what's relevant in E commerce for the world's biggest brands. Sarah, you know, I've been doing a lot of reflecting on our guests and when you think about their career paths, a lot of them are non linear and then they get to the C suite.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

It's true we could look at ourselves, but who wants to do that? We shine a light on other people, but in general, I don't think careers are as linear as they were, let's say for our parents. But I think the diversity and almost like a little bit of the whiplash that you see with people's careers, it makes them richer. It makes them much, much richer. I mean, just taking somebody recent, Katie Williams, the CMO of Halion who was on on a few weeks ago, her degree is in neurobiology. She's chief marketing officer of Halion.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Who would have thunk.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

What's your degree in, Rachel?

[Rachel Tippograph]

I made it up. I don't even know if it's real, but I know that it was paid for.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Good for you. Well, who else have we had that comes from an a very different background from the C suite that they're in right now? Obviously the C suite would have some sort of alignment in some way. But what are the big like. Wait, what?

[Rachel Tippograph]

Well, I know when we had Sarah Larson on who's the CMO of Samsung, she started her career in PR kind of similar to you. Then we've had folks like JP who's the CMO of Mars Pet Care, who spent the majority of his career in beauty. So there's a lot of jungle gyming going on in people's careers.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

The difference between careers being a ladder versus a jungle gym is one of the most salient points of, of this episode of Free of Commerce.

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So you're going to hear from Danielle who leads a lot of functions at Ferrero North America. And she had a super rich career agency side before she made her way over to brand side. And she's going to talk about all of the learnings that she had from her diverse career experience that makes her an even stronger leader for Ferrero. So on that note, let's bring Danielle onto the show. Hello, Danielle.

[Danielle]

Hello. Thanks Sarah and Rachel for having me on. I must say, longtime listener, first time caller, so thrilled to be here.

[Rachel Tippograph]

We love to hear that. Thanks for tuning in. Well, before we get into everything, you and media, I think a great place to start would be talking about Ferrero. You know, Ferrero is a household name and I would love for you to share what are the brands that are in the Ferrero portfolio?

[Danielle]

Absolutely. So for a little bit of background, Ferrero was founded in alba, Italy in 1946. It's now a third generation family owned company and we're available in over 170 countries across the world. Our European heritage or what we call our legacy brands include things like Ferrer Rocher, Tic Tac, Nutella and Kinder, which fun fact is actually the number one chocolate brand in the world. And then as we think about more specifically our US Footprint, we've made a lot of strategic acquisitions over the last 10 years into American born brands that were really in need of a resurgence. So part of our portfolio also includes the former Nestle chocolate brand, so Butterfinger Baby Ruth, 100 Grand Crunch Raisinets, and the former Kellogg cookie brands such as Keebler Mothers and Famous Amos. So a much wider portfolio than what most people say to me is like, oh, Ferrero, that's Ferrero Rocher. It's like, yeah, that's one of our brands. But we have a lot more to offer and we continue to expand through strategic acquisitions such as Wells Ice Cream and even just recently, the acquisition of Power Crunch, which puts us further into the better for you space. So that's just a little bit of background around Ferrero and our tremendous growth trajectory that we've had both across the world and in North America and the.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

U.S. i have a personal question. I'm really sorry, Rachel. You can't roll your eyes. They can't see. The audience cannot see you rolling your eyes at me.

[Rachel Tippograph]

We're one minute in and I'm already rolling my eyes.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

I know, I know. It's very important. Bunch of Crunch. That's yours.

[Danielle]

That is ours. Yeah.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

This is very important because my family just did a sweet 16 bracketology on best snacks ever and we're not done yet. But Bunch of Crunch is still in there and it's going pretty strong. Like best snacks of all time. We can go back to our regularly scheduled podcast, but I just wanted to make sure that I was giving the shouts out to Ferrero because another one is Ferrero Rocher. So now we've got a dueling chocolate brands within the family.

[Danielle]

Yeah, we have many beloved brands. I've heard all the arguments around which one is the best of the family. As I like to say, I love all my children equally. I love all my brands equally, but they're all wonderful and bring a lot of joy to families and consumers alike.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Hey, Sarah, where did kinder fall on this list if it's the number one chocolate?

[Sarah Hofstadter]

You know what? It didn't make it to the top 64. I guess this is the problem with being an American. But the kinder egg is one of the best candy chocolate confections of all time, period. Full stop. I don't think it made it in because we don't have any little children in the family anymore. I think that's the problem. Kinder is for the kinder.

[Danielle]

You know, that is true. And it is true also. If you are of European background, you grew up with all of the many kinder products, it's still relatively new in the US We've only got about three products here today. And, you know, there's a large catalog of other products we're excited to bring to the US but we're still growing the brand awareness, growing the penetration. But it all goes back to our kind of core heritage of what we do and our values. And so lots of great products.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Let's talk about that. You know, here's a company that's been around for 80 years and you're holding true to the heritage, but the consumer landscape and the media landscape was so different then. So how do you balance that? What parts do you hold onto and which do you have to adapt?

[Danielle]

Yeah, it's a great question. At Ferrero, we have this philosophy known as change by preserving. And what it means is, as we must evolve with the continually changing consumer and commercial landscape, the fundamental values that make us Ferrero, things like passion, quality, entrepreneurship and innovation remain at the heart of what we do. That said, when I think about the ways that we have transformed, I think about elements of our strategy, like our media mix. You know, historically we were a very traditional company leaning into things like linear tv. We've really made that pivot, guided a lot by what we see in consumer media behavior to being much more heavily invested in digital channels. Our retail strategy is also evolving. We're starting to think a lot more about E Commerce and Omni as part of our overall strategy, not just brick and mortar. And we're like many companies on our digital transformation journey, where we're thinking much more about data and analytics and the role that it plays in how we go to market. And honestly, everything that we do.

[Omnisend Ad]

Omnisend automates all the busy work for you. It can capture customers who abandon their shopping carts, recommend other products based on their purchases, wish them a happy birthday with a personalized offer, or instantly notify them as soon as your best sellers are back in stock. Start free with Omnisend today and keep growing effortlessly, sale after sale.

[Instacart Ad]

When the Moore family ditched cable Internet and switched to Zigly fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and live streaming to the masses with reliable service. Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime.

[Danielle]

Let's go.

[Instacart Ad]

And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing. Without FreeSight, the numbers look good. Brad, you're on mute. Switch from cable Internet to Zibli Fiber and get more of what you love for $65 less per month than cable.

[Omnisend Ad]

@Ziblyfiber.Com we all have that one friend whose opinion we trust on everything. For 63% of podcast listeners, that friend is their favorite podcast host. When Acast's podcasters endorse a brand, they're their audience listens and takes action. So if you want a recommendation that really sticks, put your brand in their hands. Book a host Red sponsorship today by visiting go.acast.com ads.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Like me, you come from the agency side. You're also media like through and through. You've got more, more on your plate than just that. There's national, there's retail media. All the lines are blurring and you're part of a huge global organization where retail media, both adoption and availability is inconsistent at best and levels of maturity are all over the place. How are you helping Ferrero make sense of all of this?

[Danielle]

Yeah, I could talk about media and retail media probably all day long. It's something that I'm super passionate about. But as you said, I come from the agency world. I was in that space space for a really long time. And what I started to see over time is that media is more and more becoming the epicenter of holding companies because it really is the place where consumer insights and data and digital and analytics are all typically housed. If we shift that perspective to the commerce landscape, we're seeing the same thing with retailers and retail media, right? With retail media offerings and data becoming a more and more dominant force force. The digitization of consumer and shopper experiences does create some complexities for companies like Ferrero and CPGs writ large. Because when you think about the role that retail media plays, it doesn't fit neatly into a box. It spans across brand marketing, trade marketing, shopper marketing, E commerce. So fero, like many other places, we're trying to figure out how we manage this very interconnected, very matrixed type of ways of working. And really what I found and a lot of what I learned in my agency experience is it all comes down to collaboration and open communication and being able to sit in a room, cross functionally talk about our needs, what we need to drive for our brands, what we need to drive for our business and working together to figure out how to navigate what has been a very changing landscape and I expect will continue to be constantly evolving landscape.

[Rachel Tippograph]

When you have multiple agencies in the room, they could all be under the same holding company or they could maybe be at different how do you actually get People to work together when they have, you know, competing bosses, priorities, etc.

[Danielle]

Yeah. I mean, if I think even about my agency experience, regardless of what age agency or even internally, what team you sit on, it always has to go back to the greater good and the greater good being like, what is it that the brand is trying to accomplish? What is the job to be done? What is the challenge that we're trying to overcome for Ferrero? We talk all the time about how we have these amazing brands, but in the US they're still relatively unknown, they still have lower penetration than a lot of our major competitors. So, and we're all sitting around a table, whether it's like I said, different internal teams, brand marketing, E commerce, my team, which is media and marketing services, the sales team, at the end of the day, what is it that we're trying to drive and the agencies as an extension of those cross functional teams, how can they help us bring that outside in thinking that perspective that they have that we may not because we're so focused on our business to understand competitive threats, opportunities, but all in service of that goal that we're looking to accomplish together.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

To click one level deeper on this one, can you give an example of like maybe either an imc, I don't know if you guys use IMC or IAT or whatever acronym du jour there is. Like, how do you get them all aligned on that North Star when they're all in different places, headspaces, especially as somebody who has been on the agency side, having been in those rooms that are, I don't know, frenemy gold, if you will.

[Danielle]

Yeah, I mean, I think it all starts with a good brief. Right. And having been on the other side and see the type of information agencies need to receive to be able to do their best work, My team has been working again, very cross functionally to make sure that the briefing information that we're providing to all of our agency partners is thus that they can take that and then bring their expertise. I do think also like clear roles and responsibilities is important. While everyone has to collaborate together and good ideas should come from anywhere, it's important that all of our partners have their claire swim lanes and what they're expected to deliver. It's really the job of our team, of the brand marketers, of the client to bring all of that together in a way that fuses seamlessly.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

So it is somewhat unusual to have somebody that's come from the agency side go into this CPG media leadership role. It's not uncommon. Multiple prior Guests of ours, John Halperson at a competing confectionery company that starts with the letter M but won't be mentioned in an episode with Ferrell was a long time at Starcom, but for the most part, a lot of these folks grew up having done different tours of duty within cpg. What advantages do you think the agency side gave you where you didn't have to skill up? Whereas other things. What was like the big surprise when you got to this seat and saying, oh, my God, I didn't realize there's all this red tape or of course there's no red tape in Ferrero, but like, there's this other stuff I did not anticipate.

[Danielle]

Yeah. So I'm super thankful for my long agency career. I feel like I learned so much and accomplished so much, and I took what I would say is a bit of a nonlinear path. There's that saying, you know, careers are not ladders, they're jungle gyms, and you kind of swing from thing to thing. And that definitely was my experience in the agency world. You know, I started in digital, I won't say how long ago, but when digital was still very, very nascent. But my curiosity around, like, the consumer and the consumer journey then moved me into comms planning. And then I continued to take these different zigs and zags to the point where I consider myself a bit of a Jane of all trades. I worked in planning, I worked in investment. I worked in innovation and technology and product and client leadership. And I think having all those diverse experiences really enabled me to learn a lot. And I worked across a lot of different types of clients and a lot of blue chip clients. I'm very proud, proud to have worked on Google, McDonald's, L'Oreal. So you learn from each of those experiences. I think if I were to sum it up, my agency experience taught me a lot of adaptability, certainly a lot of collaboration, both within an organization and with other organizations like iats and with clients. Storytelling is super important. And even selling and client service, I mean, sometimes I joke. At Ferrero, I relate more to my sales colleagues than some of my marketing colleagues because I know what it's like to be on that other side of standing in a pitch and trying to sell or having a challenge with a client and needing to resolve it. So there's a lot of skills that I gained from my agency time that I bring over to my Ferrero experience. That all said, I mentioned earlier, I'm a very curious person. And as much as you can learn sitting at the TABLE with these major clients in a client leadership role, there is something different about being a part of the organization. And so coming into this role at Ferrero, I first interviewed for just a media role, and then they said, oh, well, what about media and marketing services? And if we put business intelligence and consumer insights under you and you have a lot of this digital experience, could you also work on digital transformation? So there's a bit of like from Runway ahead of me, where I'm building what this role looks like. But I also have the privilege of sitting on our North American board with my peers who lead things like supply chain and trade, marketing and sales, and all of these functions that I'm a sponge. I sit there and I listen to everything that they're talking about and I'm absorbing it and learning it because I think it will make me a better marketer and just better at that path that I'm forging in this role.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So for others that want to build their own job, what suggestions do you have for them?

[Danielle]

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, I think, as I said earlier about my jungle gym career experience, I think it's really important to just be open to new opportunities. I think if you're trying to force fit building your own job or trying to force a path, it's not going to work. But if you're open to change, if you're also. I think a lot of my experiences that I've had has just been around curiosity, as I said, in problem solving. Right. Like I talked about agencies and swim lanes, which are important. But I think also I have this philosophy about rolling up your sleeves and diving in, even if it's not your expertise or your job, like lending a helping hand and being supportive. And that has given me exposure to different things that if I had just stayed in my lane and I just kind of focused on what I had to get done, I wouldn't have been able to experience. So that's how I found my agency career. Continuing to pivot into different things. New business opportunities, new clients, new challenges to solve that gave me this amazing agency career. And then as I was interviewing for my role at Ferrero and talking about these different experiences and these different passions that I have around retail, media and data and technology and consumer insights. The role sort of formed around that versus trying to build the role first and figure out the competencies and capabilities later.

[Rachel Tippograph]

If you keep the doors open, then hopefully you can walk through them.

[Danielle]

Exactly.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So, Danielle, we gotta ask you our famous last question, which is, what's the Bravest thing you've ever done?

[Danielle]

Yes. I've been thinking a lot about this, and I'm a type of person who believes in the power of preparedness. I like to come in and be very prepared. So for me, when I think about bravery, it's really about those moments of stepping into the unknown or being comfortable with being unprepared. And so I think the bravest thing I've ever done is to try out for a roller derby team. So just a little bit of background. When I was in my early 20s and living in New York City, I was, you know, I was just craving kind of a hobby, a community, something to do, you know, outside of work. And I discovered Gotham Roller Derby. I found out that they were doing this basic training, kind of learned to skate. I knew no one. I had literally never been to Brooklyn in my life, and I probably haven't skated in about 15 years. But I said, why not? Hopped the subway, went to the first training session, met someone on the way who is now one of my dearest and best friends, and wound up skating with the league for almost 10 years, being on home teams, travel teams, traveling the country and the world, playing the sport. And because Gotham is a nonprofit organization, I also was involved in kind of league management and leadership, holding various different roles, taking some of my business skills, like media and marketing and organizational skills to help the organization. So, yeah, I think that was probably the bravest thing I did, just kind of on a whim, trying out for roller derby.

[Rachel Tippograph]

I've seen a roller derby match, so maybe I saw you weren't they. They were in Bushwick, right?

[Danielle]

Yeah.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So funny.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

That's wild.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So no more roller derby. You've retired?

[Danielle]

I am retired, although I'm still involved in the league. I help with kind of historical context and again, some other, like, business things that they may need support with. So that was, I still think is the bravest thing, but if I could sneak one extra one in there, I think I would say also becoming a mom is probably the other bravest thing that I've done. Again, as much as you try to prepare, there's nothing that prepares you for stepping into motherhood or parenthood. And just this idea that this human is, like, solely reliant on you and you're shaping them. And, you know, I think that's true for any parent, but especially for moms and working moms and dealing with what society expects from moms and also from working women is just it. There's a lot in there. So I think that is like my daily braveness that I face on an ongoing basis.

[Rachel Tippograph]

The next bravest thing you can do is be a mom who does roller derby.

[Danielle]

I don't know, my skates might be staying hung up for a while, but there certainly are moms who do roller derby and I give them a ton of credit.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Well, we appreciate Danielle, you sharing your insights. Ferrero is certainly an organization to watch and you know Sarah will be continuing to what is this family game Sarah that you're playing? What is it called?

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Yes, we're calling it Snackatology Brackets for snacks.

[Rachel Tippograph]

So Sarah will continue to advocate for Ferrero on her bracket.

[Danielle]

Amazing.

[Rachel Tippograph]

If you like what you heard and you want to go explore, explore those episodes of other leaders who have made Jungle Gym career moves, go check out the episode that we did with the CMO of Halion Katie Williams. Or go check out the episode we also recently did with the CMO of Mars Pet Care jp. And if you like what you heard, make sure you tell a friend. Write a review. Thanks for listening.

[Omnisend Ad]

ACAST powers the world's best podcasts.

[Danielle]

Here's a show that we recommend.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Forever 35 is a running conversation between two good friends, me, Dory Shafrier and me, Elise Hu.

[Instacart Ad]

In this wild time to be alive. We're a show about the many ways we take care of ourselves.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Sometimes that might mean upgrading our skincare.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Routines, or it might mean more rest or stretching.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

We talk about all of it with.

[Instacart Ad]

Each other and with our thoughtful and funny weekly guests. Boundary making really is just a reflection.

[Rachel Tippograph]

Of how you think about yourself.

[Danielle]

Cream blush is the best thing you.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Could do for your life.

[Omnisend Ad]

How sway you need to build my this for me.

[Instacart Ad]

All right, so we aren't actually 35.

[Sarah Hofstadter]

Anymore, but we are still the show called Forever 35. Find us wherever you listen.

[Instacart Ad]

New episodes drop Mondays and Wednesdays.

[Omnisend Ad]

ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcast everywhere.

[Danielle]

Acast.com.

[F]

Hi, I'm Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer at Edelman and the host of Touch of Truth, a new podcast launching on the Adweek Podcast Network. My dad gave me this incredibly smart piece of advice. Meet everyone once. As a result, I've met some of the most fascinating and inspiring people on the planet. Now on Touch of Truth, we're coming center stage and sharing the mic to explain experience, stories of truth, insights and visions for the future that will challenge your way of thinking. Touch of Truth is available wherever you listen to podcasts. New episodes come out every Tuesday. I do hope to see you there.