Jane Wong is the Co-founder, CEO, and Creative Director of NOON, a cognitive wellness brand where neuroscience meets nature. She leads NOON's brand strategy, product vision, and innovative design — blending Eastern plant wisdom with modern neuroscience to create functional, science-inspired tools for focus, calm, and sleep. Jane's expertise spans creative direction, design, immersive environments, and wellness innovation with a focus on holistic, health-driven experiences.

Dr. Julie Hwang is the Co-founder and COO of NOON and a licensed Naturopathic Doctor. With over 15 years in functional medicine, herbalism, clinical nutrition, and mind-body health, she guides NOON's clinical strategy and product efficacy. Dr. Hwang also directs Aurum Medicine & Wellness Clinic, helping individuals and organizations optimize resilience, performance, and well-being.

Modern wellness is shifting beyond physical health into the way we support focus, mood, and resilience in everyday life. More founders are exploring how science and nature can work together to create tools that are both effective and enjoyable. What does it take to build a cognitive wellness product that people actually want to use consistently?

Jane Wong and Dr. Julie Hwang answer this by drawing on their expertise in design innovation and integrative clinical medicine to explain how cognitive care must be both science-backed and emotionally engaging. They share insights on why functional mushrooms and adaptogens can support stress regulation over time, and how delivery systems like dual-layer gummies can improve both absorption and the user experience. Jane and Dr. Hwang's approach highlights the importance of blending efficacy, accessibility, and habit-building rituals into wellness routines.

In this episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, host Taja Dockendorf sits down with Jane Wong and Dr. Julie Hwang, Co-founders of NOON, to discuss cognitive wellness innovation. Jane and Dr. Hwang discuss their burnout-inspired brand origins, functional mushroom formulation, dual-layer gummy efficacy, and NOON's growth strategy. They also touch on NOON's marketing challenges and what's next for the brand.

Holly Arbuckle is the Co-founder and CEO of Singing Pastures, a regenerative farming-based food company known for pasture-raised pork products. She leads the brand's strategy and growth with a focus on sustainability, storytelling, and healthier protein options. Holly launched Singing Pastures with her husband to promote regenerative agriculture and fill a gap in truly pasture-raised snacks. Under her leadership, the company has grown its retail and online presence while staying true to its mission.

Building a food brand often requires navigating the tension between values, viability, and long-term impact. When health, agriculture, and business strategy intersect, the decisions become less about speed and more about intention. What does it look like to grow a brand without compromising the systems that support it?

As a regenerative farming expert and seasoned CPG founder with a background in health and agriculture, Holly Arbuckle grounds business growth in biological and ecological principles. Branding, in her view, becomes a strategic extension of product integrity — translating how the product is made into something consumers can immediately recognize and trust. Holly explains how soil health emerges as the foundation of food quality, influencing everything from nutrition to long-term sustainability. Slower, traditional crafting methods consistently outperform shortcuts by creating real differentiation in crowded categories. For founders, focus, patience, and trusted advisors prove far more valuable than constant diversification.

In this episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf chats with Holly Arbuckle, Co-founder and CEO of Singing Pastures, to discuss building a regenerative, purpose-driven protein brand. They cover regenerative farming principles, rebranding for modern consumers, and innovating protein snacks with clean ingredients. Holly also touches on bootstrapping growth, grant funding, and future expansion plans.

Taja Dockendorf is the Founder, Owner, and Creative Director at Pulp + Wire, a female-founded, award-winning, full-service CPG branding and marketing agency. Pulp + Wire specializes in helping natural and organic foods, cannabis, hemp, and lifestyle brands discover their identities and create websites, packaging, and social media strategies that resonate with their audiences.

Taja has built P+W into one of the most in-demand, referred design houses in the Northeast, and her creative approach to a client-centric and holistic business model has consistently earned the company multiple graphic design and advertising awards. She is a regular contributor to Forbes, focusing on team culture in the creative space, and has been featured in The Dieline, Graphic Design USA, and Food Manufacturing Magazine, among other publications. Before Pulp + Wire, Taja co-founded multiple other brands and companies.

What happens when the dynamics of your personal and professional life are completely disrupted and you're forced to choose between comfort and growth? Many leaders face this dilemma, especially during times of change that challenge their business and family lives. How can you stay true to your values while navigating uncertainty and redefining success?

After deciding to move her family and business, branding expert and creative director Taja Dockendorf was forced to reexamine her leadership, identity, and resilience. She embraced the disruption by stepping back from external influences, strengthening internal team dynamics, and redefining her company's workspace. Taja recommends relinquishing outdated expectations, walking away from environments that no longer serve you, and investing in what truly matters — your people and purpose.

In this exclusive episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf opens up about embracing and leading through change. She shares prioritization tips, how to align your values across your personal and professional life, and how to build a purpose-driven team.

Taja Dockendorf is the Founder, Owner, and Creative Director at Pulp + Wire, a female-founded, award-winning, full-service CPG branding and marketing agency. Pulp + Wire specializes in helping natural and organic foods, cannabis, hemp, and lifestyle brands discover their identities and create websites, packaging, and social media strategies that resonate with their audiences.

Taja has built P+W into one of the most in-demand, referred design houses in the Northeast, and her creative approach to a client-centric and holistic business model has consistently earned the company multiple graphic design and advertising awards. She is a regular contributor to Forbes, focusing on team culture in the creative space, and has been featured in The Dieline, Graphic Design USA, and Food Manufacturing Magazine, among other publications. Before Pulp + Wire, Taja co-founded multiple other brands and companies.

Many founders and brand owners maintain that their brand is "their baby" and should be an extension of their personalities. However, this mentality doesn't always resonate with target audiences. How can you separate yourself from your brand to create a company that serves your target audience?

While your personality may fuel your brand's vision, it doesn't always define it. Award-winning brand builder Taja Dockendorf emphasizes conducting in-depth research into your target audience's habits, preferences, purchasing decisions, and lifestyles to structure your brand. Once you've conducted sufficient research, you can begin creating products and designing packaging and logos. During this phase, it's crucial to acquire and embrace customer feedback to refine your efforts and create a brand that best resonates with consumers.

In this exclusive episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf talks about creating a consumer-centric brand that doesn't just reflect your personality. She shares consumer testing strategies for the launch phase, delves into the research phases of brand-building, and explains why your brand isn't really your baby.

Taja Dockendorf is the Founder, Owner, and Creative Director at Pulp + Wire, a female-founded, award-winning, full-service, CPG branding and marketing agency. Pulp + Wire specializes in helping natural and organic foods, cannabis, hemp, and lifestyle brands discover their identities and create websites, packaging, and social media strategies that resonate with their audiences.

Taja has built P+W into one of the most in-demand, referred design houses in the Northeast, and her creative approach to a client-centric and holistic business model has consistently earned the company multiple graphic design and advertising awards. She is a regular contributor to Forbes, focusing on team culture in the creative space, and has been featured in The Dieline, Graphic Design USA, and Food Manufacturing Magazine, among other publications. Before Pulp + Wire, Taja co-founded multiple other brands and companies.

With so much innovation and noise in the CPG market, brands must adapt and differentiate themselves from the competition, all while remaining consistent with their values and keeping the consumer at the forefront. What can you learn from five CPG brand founders who have balanced these responsibilities amid a rapidly evolving market?

When scaling your brand, you must ensure your products remain true to your company's core. Junea Rocha recommends making small changes to your manufacturing over time, while Hector Saldivar warns against growing too quickly and instead suggests building relationships with key retailers and investing in channels that complement your products. Advertising in stores is no longer enough to capture consumers' attention, so Alison Cayne has merged digital shopping with in-store experiences by offering consumers online recipes for her products. Whether operating in the restaurant or DTC space, consumer engagement and connection are crucial. Jake Karls has developed a brand persona that exudes positivity, and Nabeer Alamgir has dedicated his brand to fostering connections with restaurateurs.

In the Brand Alchemist Podcast's exclusive compilation episode, Taja Dockendorf reviews her top five episodes. With insights from Junea Rocha, Hector Saldivar, Alison Cayne, Jake Karls, and Nabeer Alamgir, Taja reflects on generating brand engagement and connection, how to scale sustainably, and how to position your products in front of consumers.

Sara Cullen is the Founder and CEO of GEM, a multivitamin made from real food. After years of struggling with fatigue, inflammation, and digestive issues, she discovered she was nutrient deficient and created a transparent and sustainable solution made with nourishing whole foods. Sara is driven by a passion for sustainable farming and global agriculture.

The standard American diet falls short of the recommended daily nutrient intake, leading many people to be nutrient-deficient despite eating what they may consider a healthy diet. Modern supplements and vitamins don't offer much of a solution, since most of them are little more than sugar-coated gummy bears. Find out how a CPG entrepreneur is revolutionizing traditional notions of multivitamins with a novel idea.

Sara Cullen suffered from various nutrient deficiencies for years until consuming plant-based supplements like spirulina, algae, and other seaweeds transformed her health for the better. With a strong belief that food is medicine, Sara began developing multivitamins made with nutrient-rich superfoods like ginger, orange, turmeric, and seeds. By balancing taste with health and wellness benefits, she has created an innovative product that subverts the vitamin and supplement category. Sara maintains that focusing exclusively on DTC rather than retail has allowed her to better incorporate consumer feedback into her products for continuous iterations and refinement.

In the latest episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf interviews Sara Cullen, the Founder and CEO of GEM, about how she transformed her personal health struggle into a real food nutrition company. Sara shares why GEM doesn't believe in mega-dosing, the company's strategic growth choices, and how she developed the brand's flavor profiles.

Junea Rocha is the CMO and Co-founder of Brazi Bites, a better-for-you, Latin-inspired, gluten-free frozen foods brand. With a background in civil engineering, she transitioned to the food industry by scaling her family's recipe for Brazilian cheese bread into a thriving brand with multiple product lines sold in thousands of stores nationwide. Junea also launched the Latino Entrepreneur Accelerator Program, where she empowers emerging entrepreneurs to advance minority representation in the CPG industry.

The CPG industry is reaching new heights with the ongoing introduction of culturally rich products. However, many consumers aren't ready for such a drastic shift from the traditional. How can you ensure the market is primed for your family recipes?

Latina entrepreneur Junea Rocha tried launching a frozen version of her family's Brazilian cheese bread from a food truck, but consumers weren't prepared to merge the two distinct categories. It wasn't until her brand appeared on Shark Tank that she captured consumers' attention and began developing a marketing strategy utilizing customer behavior to innovate effectively. When scaling for mass production, Junea recommends maintaining cultural authenticity and communicating your brand story and product value in your packaging and design.

In the latest Brand Alchemist Podcast episode, Taja Dockendorf welcomes Junea Rocha, the CMO and Co-founder of Brazi Bites, to talk about how she scaled a culturally authentic food brand. Junea shares her strategic approach to gradual innovation and product evolution, why she developed the Latino Entrepreneur Accelerator Program, and her creative brand-building process.

Mike Glick is the Co-founder and CEO of Goode Health, a health and wellness company specializing in biometric tracking and nutrition products designed to improve overall health. He also leads the Columbus studio for Palm Venture Studios, a private firm for new health and wellness technologies located at Ohio State University. Having spent over 10 years leading adult and pediatric nutrition at Abbott, Mike is dedicated to improving accessibility to nutrition and healthcare.

In an industry flooded with generic products, nutrition brands must differentiate their offerings through customized solutions. How can you educate consumers about your products' unique benefits?

Nutrition expert and startup entrepreneur Mike Glick developed a protein supplement company that stands out in a cluttered market by adhering to transparency, ethical standards, and product efficacy. The brand tailors products to consumers' health needs by offering personal nutrition assessments that address nutrient deficiencies and goals. Mike recommends leveraging authentic case studies of vetted individuals who understand your brand's mission and can communicate the personal benefits and provide educational advice. This reduces the confusion surrounding nutritional health products and positions your brand as a reliable solution.

Tune in to this episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast as Taja Dockendorf hosts Mike Glick, the Co-founder and CEO of Goode Health, who talks about revolutionizing personalized nutrition in the CPG market. Mike shares how to market a new brand in a competitive industry, how to identify your target audience, and Goode Health's future expansion plans.