Kait Stephens

Helping brands bridge offline & online commerce 🔁 | Omnichannel Queen 👑 | Host of the Omnichannel Marketer podcast 🎙️ | CEO & Co-Founder @ Brij 🌉 | Angel Investor

👋👋👋 I’m Kait the CEO and Founder of BRIJ! My friends call me the queen of Omnichannel 👑. I also host a podcast called the Omnichannel Marketer 🎙️. 

My background is in Omnichannel Retail and Ecommerce. I help brands solve the pain of having no connection, relationship, or insights from buyers coming through retail and marketplace channels.

I share Omnichannel strategy and best practices. 

And I founded BRIJ, a platform for brands to build Omnichannel Experiences - a new digital touch point in physical channels to communicate key messages, collect 1st party data, and drive reorder.

If you ever want to talk Omichannel, the future of retail, connected experience, or QR codes, I’m happy to chat any time!

CEO & Co-Founder

Brij is building the infrastructure to "bridge" online & offline channels.

Do you know anything about the people who purchased your product at Retail or on Amazon today?

It is a simple, powerful question. That no one in consumer marketing can answer. 

Retail and Marketplace are black box channels… until now.

Where most consumer brands see darkness, Brij sees a new brand touch point, a communication channel, access to customers (and associated data), and new marketing opportunities. 

Brij is an Omnichannel Marketing platform that empowers brands to bridge the offline & online gap to create a connected on-brand experience that provides more value to buyers. 

And helps marketers to know who purchased what, when, and where - every day, in real-time, 24/7/365.

Windy City Mushroom

VP of Sales and Marketing

Jumpstart Enterprises

CPG Industry veteran, providing Sales, Marketing & Brokerage advisory support for Emerging Brands. Additional services include Advisor & Fractional Management. Many options to customize the right fit for your company and budget.

★	Build and execute a strategy for clients by analyzing the current state of the business, assessing where there are opportunities to improve and innovate to ensure predictable, repeatable, and scalable results that attract and delight customers, drive brand recognition and revenue growth, and increase profitability. 

•	Current state of business review, including analysis and strategic advisement on Distribution, Category Performance - Product Review (Performance, New Items, SKU Rationalization), Marketing, Promotional Planning, P & L Review.

•	Conceptualize and assist with the execution of client Action Plans.

•	Partner with client’s Marketing Executives and Sales Managers, to design and implement penetration strategies for emerging brands and create plans/campaigns to breathe new life into tired and antiquated established brand strategies. 

•	Additional services include contract employment/special projects, HQ Work, Remote Team Management, Promotional Planning and execution, Product Ideation, and Product Management (launch strategy, product changes- downstream management).

•	Provide client education on successfully navigating the CPG Industry - Natural, Organic, Better for You space. 

•	Formed a strategic partnership with Upgrade Partners 2019 -2021.

Founder, President

PRESENCE

National Brand Manager

Green Seed North America

Central Region/Key Accounts

FDM Sales / Upgrade Partners

Onboarded to build emerging brands to scale & achieved success through cross-function and client collaboration. 

★	Played a key role in most aspects of client coaching & management, from branding to shelf.

Brand Development Manager

Upgrade Partners LLC

Lead relationship manager for clients and distributor partnerships. Built and cultivated business relationships and drove the end-to-end sales process.  Consistently achieved team and personal sales goals.

★	Defined and measure key success metrics and indicators. Ensured consumer insights were leveraged for key strategy development and implementations and to validate elements of the brand strategy with market analysis, consumer and competitor product intelligence.

National Sales Manager

Natural Specialty Sales

Promoted to provide governance, strategic direction, and management of WFM MW Regional HQ in multiple departments, with a focus on the category review process, assortment management & promotional planning.

★	Conducted category reviews, providing executive briefings, and provided strategic advisement on performance improvements.

•	Provided excellent remote team leadership, successfully managing teams located in multiple states.

•	Attended client and annual sales meetings at the corporate/branch office as needed.

•	Planned and executed promotional strategies to drive product success and strengthen performance metrics.

•	Planned and attended tradeshows, promotional events, and played a key role in media and press relations. 

•	Full financial accountability including budget and trade spending management, quarterly forecasting, P&L, and growth planning.

•	Cross-functionally partnered, providing strategic market intelligence and competitor analysis, to ideate new products, advise on product positioning, assess portfolio gaps and success metrics.

Customer Manager, Whole Foods Midwest Region

Selected to serve as Director of Natural Channel, Central Region.  Responsible for day-to-day Operational functions, supervision of UNFI Business Management team, Sales Manager & Admin Support. 

★	Provided leadership, management and mentoring of direct reports and cross-functional teams.  Monitored KPI’s, provided regular performance reviews, created team and individual success plans.

•	Top performer, consistently meeting and exceeding sales goals. 

•	Additionally, responsibilities include Whole Foods MW Regional HQ, Client Management, Client Services, Supermarket HQ work. Remote team management.

Director

Managed Midwest Sales Representatives. Developed and implemented sales strategies, plans, KPI’s, goals, and initiatives. Analyzed industry trends and competitor offerings, effectively institute strategic sales plan to achieve revenue objectives. 

★	Led, trained, coached, and mentored sales team to maximize their productivity. Met with sales team to develop individual monthly and annual goals and objectives, and to review projections versus actual performance.

•	Additional dotted line responsibilities included - Whole Foods MW HQ Call, regional management, Supermarket HQ Calls, store Resets, New Store Sets, and Merchandising Support.

Regional Sales Manager 

Natural/Organic Products Trail Blazer🌻Brand Builder, Advisor💡| Sales & Marketing 🧗‍♂️ | Sustainability🌎🌱| Animal Advocacy💚

I’m an accomplished motivated sales & business leader, passionate about health & helping brands at all stages. 
I have a special love for emerging brands and have focused on working in this segment
I’ve worked with hundreds of natural and organic brands at different stages over the years. 
It’s an unusual but exciting time! I look forward to continuing to help brands reach their full potential through building relationships, direct engagement, creative new approaches, passion and just doing the hard work!!
My background includes Emerging Brands Focus, Advisor/Consultant, Fractional Management, Brokerage, Distribution & Retail.



♦	Accomplished sales and business director with 30+ years’ experience in CPG/Natural, Organic, Clean Label products, including Retail, Distribution, Brokerage, & Consulting/Sales Management for early to mid-stage companies. emerging brands, and established brands. 

♦	Recognized for igniting, reviving, architecting, and implementing successful product strategies. Expertise in Sales, Marketing Management, Emerging Brands, Brand Development, Business Development, Strategic Planning, Operations, Remote Team Leadership, Distributor engagement & Broker Management.

♦	Exceptional leadership, negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.  Thought leader and influencer with the ability to build robust and mutually beneficial business relationships at all levels, and all decision-makers.

♦	Specialties: Experienced in all categories including Grocery, Dairy, Frozen, Specialty. Body & Skin Care, and Supplements. 

♦   Special interest in plant-based products.

𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒
★	Retail Sales / Sales Growth
★	Retail Distribution
★     Distributor Engagement
★	Leadership / Management
★	Relationship Management
★	Brand Positioning / Roadmaps
★	Marketing / Brand Strategy
★	Promotional Planning
★     Product Management
★	HQ Work
★ 	Competitor / Market Intelligence
★	Product Portfolio Analysis
★	Datasets / Data-Driven Decisions (SPINS, IRI, etc)
★	Brand Health Metrics	
★    Category Performance / Review
★    Product Advisement / Ideation
★    Broker Relations / Negotiations
★    Tradeshows / Events
★    Budgets / Forecasting
★    Margin / Trade Spend Analysis
★   Microsoft Office

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Kait Stephens

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