Welcome to another inspiring episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon. In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Dionne Baker, a remarkable woman entrepreneur making waves in the organic food industry with her company, DeeBee’s Organics. Dr. Baker’s journey is not just about building a successful business but about creating a healthier, more sustainable world for our children.
Dr. Baker’s story began most delightfully. Inspired by her child’s idea to create tea popsicles, she set out to develop healthy popsicle snacks that kids would love. This simple yet powerful idea led to the birth of DeeBee’s Organics. Today, DeeBee’s offers a range of certified organic products that are mindfully sweetened and never compromise on taste or joy. Their commitment to quality and health has made DeeBee’s a beloved brand among parents and children alike.
How do you make your business a force for good?
DeeBee’s Organics is not just another company but a certified B Corporation. This certification is a testament to Dr. Baker’s commitment to doing business differently. While traditional businesses measure success primarily through sales and profits, Dr. Baker is equally concerned with the lives she impacts and the societal changes she helps drive. DeeBee’s mission extends beyond providing healthy snacks; it is about contributing to a more sustainable and equitable world.
One of the standout aspects of DeeBee’s Organics is its collaborative business model. As a female founder, Dr. Baker believes in empowering her team by making them part company owners. This inclusive approach fosters a sense of ownership and accountability among the staff, who work remotely but remain profoundly connected and supportive of each other in business and their personal lives.
Women entrepreneurs helping other women rise!
Dr. Baker’s vision extends beyond her own company. She is passionate about supporting other women founders and believes that women can build businesses that work for stakeholders, shareholders, and customers. Her journey is a powerful example of how female entrepreneurs can lead with empathy, innovation, and a commitment to making a positive impact.
In our conversation, Dr. Baker shared invaluable insights into her entrepreneurial journey, the challenges she faced, and the triumphs she celebrated. Her story is a testament to the power of perseverance, creativity, and a genuine desire to make the world a better place.
Join us in this episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon to hear more about Dr. Dionne Baker’s inspiring journey and her vision for a healthier, more sustainable future. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or simply looking for inspiration, this episode will surely leave you motivated and empowered.
If you prefer to watch the On the Brink with Andi Simon Podcast, enjoy the YouTube video below:
You can learn more about Dr. Baker here:
@DeeBeesOrganics
Additional resources for you
- My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights
- Our new book, Women Mean Business: Over 500 Insights from Extraordinary Leaders to Spark Your Success, coauthored with Edie Fraser and Robyn Freedman Spizman
- Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants
From Observation to Innovation,
CEO | Corporate Anthropologist | Author
Simonassociates.net
Info@simonassociates.net
@simonandi
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Read the transcript of our podcast below:
Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink with Andi Simon. Thanks for joining us today. Hi, I’m Andi Simon, and as you know, I’m here to help you get off the brink. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, it’s a time for you to see, feel and think in some new ways because sometimes we just need a hand to think about things in new ways. Things are changing, everything is changing. I don’t care whether it’s AI or hybrid workplaces or new generations. Things are coming to us, and we need to know how to do them differently. And I go looking for wonderful people who can help you do just that. So, with me today, I have Dr. Dionne Baker. Now, this is a wonderful woman that you’re going to love listening to. You love listening to all of them. You send me emails telling me that. But Dr. Baker came to us through Edie Fraser, my co-author on our book, Women Mean Business. And Edie is raving about Dionne and the work that she’s doing. Her company is DeeBee’s Organics. She’s a mom and she has a PhD medical scientist, and she wanted to do something. She’ll tell you about it to change the way kids eat and the things that they have, and our society treats them. So, we’re going to do business differently and create a legacy that will impact future generations, she tells us. At DBS, we believe in the potential of a vibrant world where differences are celebrated. Kids are encouraged to be themselves, and we are all nourished with a rainbow of fruits and vegetables straight from the earth. You know, if God didn’t make it, don’t eat it. It’s really a cool time to think about it. Her Colorful World mission at DBS is to support all kids to confidently step into their best version of themselves, and they’ve created products that are certified organic, mindfully sweetened, never compromised on a taste or the joy. You know, kids are kids. Let’s give them the things that are good for them and help them to be fun. She’s a certified B corporation that means they do business a little differently, and they measure success not just by the products they sell, but by the lives they impact. Cool! So, we’re going to talk about a company of purpose, a B corporation, a company that has seen a problem and come up with innovations we preach. Take your observations and your curiosity and turn them into innovations. You’re an anthropologist? Dionne is an anthropologist at heart who sees things through a fresh lens. Thank you for joining me today.
Dionne Baker: Thank you so much for having me on. I’m excited to talk to you and share ideas.
Andi Simon: Your bio is a wonderful short bio and it’s fine, but nobody knows your journey as well as you do. Can you share it with us?
Dionne Baker: Absolutely. So, my journey is one that I’m in a place I never expected to be, like many of us. So, I was doing a PhD in an area of research called maternal fetal toxicology. So, I studied the impacts of drugs and exposure during pregnancy on fetal development. And how does that impact the lives going ahead? So, for example, if you’re exposed to what we call a teratogenic or a toxin, that baby may not only have different physical ailments after but may not be able to reach their full potential. So, imagine having a diagnosis of ADHD or autism or lower IQ than you could have potentially reached because of exposure to different things during pregnancy. And that really, I started to live by that and really understand what I am feeding my own children. And we took, especially our son, off of all artificial everything. We really fed him from the earth. Like you said, if God didn’t make it, why are we putting it in our bodies? And so that really spurred an idea. I was in the kitchen one day with my two kids as I’m working on my PhD, and I’m looking at them. One was making tea, the other was making popsicles, and one of them said, mommy, let’s make tea-cicles. Literally I remember the spot, I stood in the kitchen and a light bulb went off and I thought, oh my gosh, I could create a company that’s got a heart and a soul. And I can teach my kids how to build something in that way that has meaning, but it also provides nourishment. And you know, what we bring into our bodies really impacts every single cell in our body. So why not? Instead of degrading our cells and causing all sorts of problems and challenges as we age from in utero all the way through to the end of our life, why not nourish that? Even when it comes to treats with ingredients that are not full of manmade chemicals like pesticides and herbicides. And that’s the core in the base that started this. We don’t even make tea popsicles anymore. We only make the shelf stable, which means you freeze at home snacks for families that are all based on organic fruits. And that’s been my journey. And I always say I went to school to be an academic, and I went to the school of Hard Knocks to be an entrepreneur.
Andi Simon: But, you know, I don’t know if you know Maxine Clark, who founded the Build-A-Bear workshops, but she tells a similar story. It’s something in our mind. She talks about being out with her niece in a store, and the little girl said, oh, we can make those. And out of the Build-A-Bear workshops. And so you are among many women, I’ll say men too, but who can see through a different lens about what’s possible. So how do you go from tea-cicles to a big business that’s growing beautifully to help kids eat healthy? It’s not by I think we can, it’s what did you do?
Dionne Baker: Well, you know, it’s interesting. When I went into this, I was very green. Like probably a lot of entrepreneurs are in, especially female entrepreneurs who are doing this from an idea where they see there’s a need in the market, especially ones that feel a need in the market. And they feel they also want to be able to give this to their own kids. And so, I think that for me, it was really what can I do to make a difference? And I’ve been through many hard times, hard times where you’re crying in a pillow and you think, oh my God, I can’t do this.
It’s too hard. The next day, turning the pillow over and saying, okay, it’s dry. This morning I’m going to wake up and today is a new day to face the challenges. What am I going to create? What am I going to do? How do I surround myself with people that are wise and in different areas and might stimulate ideas? Because I can’t do it all by myself. There’s no way I could do it by myself. Even the creativity and the spring of ideas comes from it can be from anybody, from a kid to one of the most successful entrepreneur advisors that I have. You never know where that can come. But to spur that creativity, you need wise people around you.
Andi Simon: Talk about that a little more. I taught entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis, and I had 18 wonderful students. Nine had been valedictorian of their high school class. These were no slouches. But we talked a lot about entrepreneurs having the joy of having many ideas, and then they need a type A who can organize those ideas and get them into a format that can turn into a market that actually delivers results. Did you find that when you’re surrounding yourself with people, you have to choose them to be like you or to be different from you, to compliment you?
Dionne Baker: I would say, to compliment me. areas where if you can admit this isn’t an area of strength for me, and I’m going to find people who have this as their strength, their natural strength. So, you’re right. I would see the big shining star of an idea and go, wow, we can do this. And then I have realists around me, some of whom we challenge each other. We battle sometimes, who say, well, you know, I don’t know if that’s quite right, but we can do this. So, I kind of have this analogy of a wheel. And if you’re on a bike and your wheel has all the different spokes and they’re all straight and they’re moving, and the wheel moves pretty well. If some of those spokes are broken or you’re not kind of doing them the right way, that wheel is going to clunk to a stop. And so, I’ve got an amazing person in finance. I have someone incredible who’s leading our brand and our marketing. I have someone who’s leading our innovation who can take that idea and bring it to reality. If someone in quality assurance, someone in operations. And it’s not that you need those in each department, but you need those minds around you as you start to build and grow and grow and that team starts to grow. So, where we now have about close to 40 people on our team, and they all fill needs that there’s no way I could do on my own. And if I had to do it, I’d probably cringe every moment of trying to do it.
Andi Simon: You’re a marvelous leader. Do you find as a woman you’re leading them? Do they find that you’re leading them differently than perhaps otherwise? Or like a man might?
Dionne Baker: I hear that all the time. I do hear that there’s a big appeal to work with us because we’re actually very, very person centric. Like we I always say to people, hey, if you got to go to your kids, program or a or a field trip, go for it. It doesn’t matter. We’re not a 9 to 5. We’re to get our work done. When we get our work done and we support each other. If someone’s having an operation or they’ve got to take their father in for surgery. we’re good with that. We’re remote. I trust our team members, and we’re one of the most prolific teams in the CPG space. So, it really comes, I think, from the leadership of trust authenticity and a culture of quality in what we do and care of what we do. And so, I’ve actually, every team member that joins DBS, if they’re with us for a year, they have the opportunity to have ownership in the company. So, every single person gets options and I see them as a partner in our business together. So, I think that’s the appeal of a lot of female founders and female leaders. I don’t do it to be intentionally different. I did it because that’s what my heart in my head said. This is the best way to lead.
Andi Simon: And the response clearly has been an embracing of your values. You find mostly you hire well, and they catch on right away and they can’t do enough, and they expand their days. I mean, this is the kind of EVP of a bank, and the bank always did really well because we were able to engage everybody in what had to get done, not because 9 to 5 was when we did it. So, I’m listening to you and I’m going, yes, this is really a very bold way to do it. Well, when you’re looking at the business today is different than when you started. When did you start it?
Dionne Baker: So, the idea came in 2012. That little light bulb moment was in the spring of 2012. I incorporated the business by June of 2012. I started innovating and I think back, and I think, oh my God, did I have a lot of energy. But, by 2013, we were in the market with our first product.
Andi Simon: That’s a real fast turnaround from zero to. That is great. So, let’s get a sense of what you see the markets looking like today. Are they coming to you or are they shifting to get healthy food? You know, give us a sense of the trends that you see because that’s really helpful.
Dionne Baker: Yeah, absolutely. This has been a challenging time for many people. The basket size. So, the total amount that people are spending in the grocery store is down. It’s a challenge right now, and it has been a challenging time for us the last year to really understand the market. We do make a product that is a snack product. It’s not a bread and butter that you don’t need every day in your pantry. And so how do we become relevant? And when things are a little tougher, how do we look inward and make sure we have the foundation? How do we make sure we’re staying true to our roots and authenticity as an organic brand? How do we make sure that all these things are strong so that when we go into next year and we keep going forward, even if it’s been hard, we’re really true to who we are, and we take that time instead of kind of cowering down and wanting to go in like a snail and cover up when it’s tough to say, hey, am I looking at the foundation of what we’ve got and making sure we have the strength to go forward, and that were innovating and creating and stimulating our team members as we go forward.
Andi Simon: Is your consumer the kids or the parents or both?
Dionne Baker: Both. It’s really interesting. I would have thought it’s parents, but it actually is both. 50% of the people buy it for themselves and 50% buy it for their kids. So, I have a feeling that they will buy it.
Andi Simon: They have a sweet tooth also.
Dionne Baker: Absolutely, absolutely. And you know, it’s funny because I think people will think, oh, it’s just a snack. It doesn’t matter that it’s organic, not organic. Well, can you imagine how many snacks we have? We’re putting a lot of that into our bodies. And so, understanding what that might do to every aspect down to the cellular level of your body, it’s really important. And putting forever chemicals and chemicals like herbicides and pesticides in our bodies, especially growing bodies, we really need to think about it. And it’s finally occurring to everybody at every age to look at that and consider, even if you’re in your 70s or 80s, you want that longevity in the clarity of mind and clarity in your body to fill yourself up. Like, I love popcorn. So, you know, I’m buying organic popcorn and I’m putting nutritional yeast on it because I know that’s a better way to do it. We’re not going to stay away from unhealthy stuff, but we might as well do it in a healthier way. And so that’s really the foundation of everything we create.
Andi Simon: I think it’s very exciting. Well, one of the things that we’ve been talking about is one of the kinds of companies or companies of purpose, it sounds like if I follow your stream, you see yourself as having purpose beyond simply making a product and selling it.
Dionne Baker: Absolutely. So, since that light bulb moment, I always said DBS is going to create organic products and we’re going to live by a mission. but at the same time, I use my children as a barometer of success. Would I be proud and at least be able to explain? Because sometimes there’s hard decisions you have to make. But explain it to my kids with pride that this is the decision we’re making. And if the answer is, I absolutely could not, then I really need to question, is this how I should be building my business? So that barometer is a simple one. And I think that will lead you to the right place. But, you know, in 2014, I was at the Natural Products Expo, which is a big, the biggest trade in internal trade show. And I came across the B Corp, and that was when they were a tiny little company, just early stages. And I kind of went, wow, this is everything we are. And almost overnight we were a certified B Corp, I think one of the first in Canada and one of the first in CPG. We’ve lived by that in every aspect of that since that time.
Andi Simon: It’s interesting. You are a strong core. Values actually lead you to be who you are as a brand, as a company, as individuals to do better, not just to make money. This is a very exciting time for you. As you look to the future, are there new ideas coming out? I mean, where do you see coming next? I’m doing some research on belonging, inclusion, and the impact of AI on companies. We may talk about it offline because I truly think that people like the ones you hired want to belong to a company that has a purpose. And I’m wondering what AI and other technologies might do to that. But for you, what do you see coming?
Dionne Baker: What I see coming is innovation and really trying to keep our team strong. It’s really interesting when you bring up AI and I have a son who really uses ChatGPT in a very big way. It is a really interesting way to help even guide how he studies and how he looks at the world. But I say to him, people will always want people, and people need that connection. So, I think as a society, from my personal perspective, we need to have that personal interaction and connection. So how do I incorporate that? How do I incorporate what we’re innovating? I have a box right here of the kind of new products that we’re bringing out, which is a, I don’t know if you remember, Fun Dip when you’re younger. So, we’ve created the first type of product, kind of similar to that, but in our DBS way called Deposits and which is organic.
Andi Simon: And how did that come out?
Dionne Baker: It came about from one of my partners. We’ve never, ever taken institutional money at DBS. We are team and friends and family, and my husband and I own, in fact, our whole family owns part of it. And, Becky, who has been with me the longest, actually in the company, came up with this idea a few years ago. Let’s create something like organic fruit. We buy lots of organic fruit. Let’s take the water out of that and create something. And that’s where this idea spurred from. And so, it’s like a little stick, a little organic fruit stick, and you dip it in the powder and it’s just delicious. And so, I think innovation, making something bright and colorful and as you can see, it’s kind of a bit fuzzy, but, it’s colorful. And, that’s really what DBS is about, is creating all the fruits from nature, bringing and innovating. And then I see just this continuation of building out our team. We have a program called Dream Launcher, and that came out of the hope that my husband is an ophthalmologist, and his dream was always to join Orbis, which is a flying eye hospital, and help the blind in third world countries to see again. And the idea was that when DBS is big enough to fund a mission for him to go on Orbis, that’s when I know we’ve really arrived. And then that dream launcher. So that became Dream Launcher. And every single team member now has the opportunity to make dreams of giving come true. So, if I talk about Eddie’s dream and his cousin’s daughter had a horrible sarcoma, and she had weeks or months to live, and I cried with him and we chatted and I said, this is why Dream Launcher is to make dreams of giving come true. So please phone and find out what her dream is. Anything. What is it? And she wanted a birthday party at her local movie theater. Movie theater. So, I said, well, that’s an easy one. Done. And the movie theater found out and they rented her a limousine to pick up all her friends. They found out what we were doing and they kind of paid it forward, and she brought all her friends together and celebrated her birthday, her 13th birthday. And it was an incredible day for her to be together with her friends and make a dream come true. And it was the last time she was with all her friends before she passed away. Yeah. And those are the reasons that keep me going. This is why there has to be something beyond. I’m going to make a product and a company for profit. I’m going to do this with a heart and soul, and it’s not built as a marketing mechanism. It’s built as something that fulfills each of us in everything we do.
Andi Simon: Yes, I love it, I love it, I love it. You’ve given me goosebumps about having that. You know, Simon Sinek can talk about the why, but I do think when it comes alive, it isn’t a word. It’s an extraordinary emotional feeling of having a reason to be. And it isn’t exactly to make more pops and make kids healthy, but also to do it in a way that we’re building better together. I love it. Is there anything you wish you hadn’t done? You would do differently? Anything to give people perspective that nothing is easy, and it isn’t a straight line.
Dionne Baker: It is absolutely not a straight line. We’ve had a few years where it’s been really tough. And, you know, I learn every single year. I just said, you know, we’re building this culture of quality. And when you ramp up, you need to make sure you’re always looking at that. I have this saying, it’s not the challenge you face. It’s how you face the challenge. And I think there have been so many things that I thought to myself, oh, God, if I could just go backward and do it again, I would do it. By doing this, I would pay more attention to that. There’s so many things from wishing you could be with your family more as you’re traveling. I think for everybody it’s different. And it’s special. And it can be really, really, really, really painful. and I think that earlier days I used to keep emotions in my heart, and I didn’t want my husband or my family to know when things were really tough. And I learned that I need to be vulnerable, myself. And it’s okay to cry and to say, I’m hurting, and I need help. Because I would think it reflected on me not being able to be successful. And I now realize that, no, I can be myself and I can be authentic, and I can cry, and I can show that this is hard, and it doesn’t mean that I have failed. because for me, failure was not an option. And failure, for me, was right below success. I didn’t give myself much room.
Andi Simon: But you know, here, when you’re talking and the listener or the viewer thinks about it, that is the way life is. And every success, there’s a moment where it could go a different way and every failure turns around into a new opportunity. Life is a journey of moves, lefts and rights and detours. But you need to keep going and the destination, really, I’m not sure there are destinations, but there are moments where you feel like, if your husband can go on his Orbis trip, you have reached a destination. You know, there’s sort of something that’s bigger than the product or the process or the profits themselves. There’s some reason for us to do this. And there on many levels, this has been so absolutely an honor. I’m having such fun. And you inspire me to rise higher. and take a bunch of folks with me because one of the things we learned writing Women Mean Business is a recurring theme in there is as I rise, I lift others. You do the same, don’t you?
Dionne Baker: Absolutely. The rise doesn’t mean anything unless others are with you.
Andi Simon: And then it becomes a celebration of everyone’s life. And I think it’s lovely. I often ask, is there one or two things you want to leave the audience with so that they can remember because they remember the end better than the beginning? Anything you think would be profound, that might be other than go by some pops. Where can I buy them?
Dionne Baker: You can buy them everywhere. But I think that for me it is the meaning behind what you do. And what does this mean for you? And how does that relate to your life and your existence and who you’re there with to share that? And I think that you need that in order to go forward and not feel alone when things are tough because you’re not alone and it feels really lonely. I always feel like I’m in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, sometimes drowning in a storm. And remember that there are lifeboats there if you just let yourself look for them. So, it’s all around us.
Andi Simon: I love it. So, for my audience. Thank you for coming. Thank you for sending all of your great emails and bringing your friends and so forth. But this has been such a real inspirational talk. I’m so glad you came. It’s been wonderful for our listeners. Remember that you take your observations, turn them into innovations. Believe in yourself. Have courage. Be bold, be brave. It’s okay. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s not a failure. It’s a learning experience. And as you learn, you keep growing. At times you’re going to cry. It’s okay. It will be. Life is full of these wonderful opportunities to make life better for others. And as you do it, you make it better for yourself. So, thank you so much. I’m going to say goodbye. Have a wonderful day and thank you. Bye bye now.
Dionne Baker: Bye bye.
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