"We pride ourselves in managing our business like women." - Dana Noorily and Julie Mountain

Dana and Julie met ten years ago at a birthday party where both their daughters were attending. Both ladies, having previously had full careers in the city, music industry for Julie and finance for Dana, had moved out to the suburbs in the past year. Both were feeling a sense of “is-this-it?” that many women feel when trading their professional lives for the stay-at-home mom role in the house-with-the-backyard-and-white-picket-fence in the ‘burbs.
Julie had the idea of making a homemade granola that would be much better than what you could commonly find in the market. Package it pretty and sell it. She proposed the idea to Dana not long after meeting one another. Dana says Julie’s idea came at the right time, for she too was going through a soul searching stage.
The ladies started O.A.T.S Granola, which they first sold to friends and later on ended up selling to 90 stores, including Whole Foods and Stew Leonard’s.
“The food industry is brutal” they shared during our conversation. Trying to penetrate supermarkets was a disappointing experience. They shared that at one point they offered their Granola, which was accepted by the store, only for the store to copy their recipe, make it under their store brand name and sell it right next to Dana and Julie’s for half the price!
At the advice of a colleague they started toying with the idea of shifting their business into more of a local eatery. Grow the business. At this point they shared the frustrating stories of how being an entrepreneur is still male dominant, and in specific, seeking investors to start a company is primarily a world driven by men. A roll in the eye or a condescending attitude because here came “two moms with this cute idea of selling granola”. In many instances, they were simply not taken seriously. Fortunately, these experiences did nothing but fire both Julie and Dana up even more. Not only to prove these male investors wrong, but more importantly to prove to themselves that they could do this. That they could take their business to the next level.
“There is no Granola Bar if one of us is not here.”
As Julie and Dana shared the winding road of their business growth, they also shared their winding and intertwined road of personal growth. This pair of ladies is a perfect balance of Ying and Yang. As Julie beautifully described that evening “I’m the one that jumps to take the risks, while Dana is the one that makes sure every step and detail necessary to take the risk is measure and accounted for”. In their own words “there is no Granola Bar if one of us is not here”. The business exists and continues to flourish because of the strong relationship between these two women. A relationship based on palpable love for one another, deep respect, as well as awareness and acceptance of personal shortcoming and strengths. A true understanding of what it means to communicate and trust one another. They are polar opposite in their social persona, one is more outgoing, the other more reserved, yet they both share an unquivering sense of drive, grit, commitment and passion for what they are building.
It’s a remarkable story of success that started with a small idea and grew into this incredibly profitable business. But for me, more than the successful business itself, is the inspiration of witnessing another women that is relatable – a mom just like me- take a risk, go for it and just do it.
In every conversation I have had in my Speakers Series the one common denominator amongst the vastly different speakers is the message of “just do it!”. That grit, courage and stubborn persistence. Yet it’s also important to understand that extrapolating this message to each one of our lives doesn’t mean that we all need to measure ourselves up to the incredibly high standard of developing a multi-million dollar company. Success comes in all flavors. Just do it for one person could be to finally take that leap and leave that soul-sucking job and start all over again in something else, or it could also look like taking that night class that you’ve always wanted to take or that certification that will spice up your job and maybe render you a better salary and a more satisfying work experience. Maybe it’s that one mantra that will impulse you to start that business that you’ve always wanted, or even start your yearly goal of reaching a certain level of health or fitness. In other words, it doesn’t need to be glamorous or incredibly profitable, although we can all agree that that’s pretty sweet. But more importantly, for success to be something that gives you -personally- a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Speaking to Dana and Julie that evening left me pumped up. With my energy going 100 miles per hour. With excitement as to -what drives my passion? where can I put all this energy that I have? and reframe these thoughts – that usually cause me stress and make me feel stuck – into more of a “I’m looking forward to discovering what’s next” mindset.
As to these two ladies, the what’s next is that they are expanding their business past local boundaries! I couldn’t be happier for them. I wish them truly the very best, and I know they’ll succeed, they have it all to soar high, but most importantly they have each other.
Thank you Dana and Julie for an amazingly honest, humble and witty evening full of teachings and laughter, and thank you for making the best Mochaccino with coconut milk in town!
With intent,
Juad
For more on Dana and Julie's work you may visit their website @
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