David&Goliath, Stacy’s Pita Chips inspire women “to rise”

The Reel 360 Team actually had no idea how the tasty little pita chip known as Stacy’s Pita Chips came into being.

The story goes that Stacy Madison began her career as a social worker at a home for pregnant women with drug addiction issues.

She made $22,000 a year, she says in an Inc. article and left shortly after when she was owed a bonus, but was fired instead.

Madison left her home of Boston for Hawaii, where she would begin her dive into the restaurant business. Eventually she would move to New York City, where she would avoid the massive costs of opening a restaurant and start a sandwich cart business instead.

All for the grand total of $5,000.

Nine years later, Madison and her business partner Mark Andrus grew that sandwich cart into Stacy’s Pita Chips, going from $19,000 a year in revenue to three hundred employees and $65 million, before selling to Frito-Lay (Pepsico) in 2005.

Madison is the very definition of an entrepreneur. A woman on the rise if you will.

Inspired by her own story and wishing to give back, Stacy’s Pita Chips has now created a new social campaign with creative agency David&Goliath titled, “Time to Rise.”

Directed and shot by a Reel 360 fave, Ramaa Mosely (Girl Rising), who is a longtime advocate for women’s rights, the seven videos include short and insightful phrases such as, “The right way is harder. But so is everything else worth doing,” and “You can’t make anything great cutting corners. Especially with pita chips.” Because corners are delicious.”

Another video talks about creating strong female bonds, “Have friends you can depend on. And chips that are flaky.” Watch below:

ALSO READ: Forman joins David&Goliath as Chief Strategy Officer

According to Frito-Lay spokesperson, Jen Crichton, Stacy’s received more than 400 applications from female founders in the food and beverage industry, all with dreams of becoming a household name like Stacy Madison.

Created in conjunction with Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, the unique incubator/mentorship program, has chosen five women, who will have a chance at winning $100K.

Now halfway through the program, the numbers already speak to the success of – and need for – Stacy’s Rise:Together with Alice, a leading online resource for women and other minority entrepreneurs, we have built an online community of more than 1,400 businesswomen to virtually connect with and learn from each other.

Stacy’s has awarded $200,000 in business grants to deserving women (with an additional $100,000 for the Stacy’s Rise grand prize winner, to be named in November).

The Five Finalists

So who are these five women planning on following Stacy Madison’s path?

Hannah Dehradunwala (@DoMoreThanWaste) – navigating the complex non-profit technology business of creating an app that allows groups/companies to donate large quantities of leftover food from events to shelters on-demand similar to Uber or Lyft.
 
 
 

Hannah Hong (@ItsHakunaBrands) – a first-generation American who grew up knowing she’d be an entrepreneur like her parents, and is now living her dream making delicious plant-based, dairy-free frozen desserts available nationwide.
 
 
 

Kate Holby (@AjiriTea) – employs over 60 women in Kenya to handcraft the labels for her tea, which is handpicked on small-scale farms in western Kenya.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Pilar Gonzelez (@DipItByPilar) – a Mexican immigrant and single mom who started making dips in her kitchen and now has distribution across Texas’ grocer H-E-B.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Michelle Liddle (@PerfectGranola) – a mom of two who founded her company on the premise of giving back, donating proceeds to shelters and employing at-risk youth while achieving nationwide distribution via Wal-Mart and other retail partners.
 
 
 
 
 
 

The program is so inspiring it even caught the attention of former First Lady, Secretary of State and Democratic Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton.

In addition to receiving $20,000 each in funding, the five finalists also get to partake in a three-month executive mentorship program to prepare them for the final presentation and selection of the grand prize winner, to be announced by host of the US cooking competition program Top Chef Padma Lakshmi next month.

 
Credits
Client: Stacy’s Pita Chips

Sound Design & Mix: Margarita Mix
   Sound Engineer: Nathan Dubin
   Executive Producer: Whitney Morris
   Executive Producer: Paula Arnett

SOURCE: Pepsico