NAWBO Spectacular Seven: Kimmi Wernli

Being a finalist of the Maria Sharapova Women’s Entrepreneur Program with NAWBO has been a career building experience. I have been inspired by Maria’s grit and tenacity, and learning about and from her has helped inspire me to reach outside of my own comfort zone.

The characteristic that I admire most about Maria is how she openly admits that she came into a world in which she was a novice, and has used her inexperience to her benefit by consistently questioning the status quo, raising the standards, and using her unique “outsider” perspective to challenge the industry.

As an expert in the world of tennis, Maria was humble and willing enough to start over as the beginner -the newbie in the category -she was willing to have a growth mindset as she embarked on creating Sugarpova.

Since joining this program, I have embarked upon a similar journey. As the first female owner of my family’s old nut butter company Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter Co, I am helping to launch a new disrupting product “Wholly Rollies” which will open a new category in healthy frozen snacking and forever change the structure of our company.

I have been inspired by Maria to be confident and zealous in coming into this new field as a novice, knowing that outsider perspectives like Maria’s are the backbone of innovation and the ones who will drive true and lasting change.

My fellow mentees of the Spectacular Seven inspire me daily. They are some of the most intelligent, progressive, boundary pushing women I have ever met. Every single one of us is breaking a mold! We are creating new products and industry changing services. We are all like-minded women who are willing to encourage, cheer, support and share with each other the wins we are having along with the challenges we are encountering and then listen and learn from each other’s experiences and advice sharing.

I have learned that a drive to have success in entrepreneurship transcends the exact details of business. Who would’ve guessed that women in construction, videography, fragrance, restaurants, spa equipment and visual story telling would have so much relevance and impact on my business in a peanut butter company!

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