The Natural List podcast – Supplement Futurecasting with Ritual and Radicle Science

Today, around 75% of Americans take dietary supplements, whether for health maintenance, daily optimization or long-term prevention. But a lot goes on behind the scenes at the companies that provide these pills and powders to ensure that consumers' expectations are met.

At the NBJ Summit in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, leaders from ingredient suppliers, supplement brands and retailers discussed the opportunities in this multi-billion-dollar industry. From AI-driven clinical trials and dynamic omnichannel sales strategies to scientific validation and ingredient transparency, the future of dietary supplements is largely being shaped by women leaders who are redefining the narrative around nutrition.

In this episode of The Natural List, we take you behind the scenes of the NBJ Summit, as Jessica Rubino, New Hope Network's VP of content, speaks with two of the supplement industry's brightest minds: Kat Schneider, CEO of women's supplement brand Ritual, and Pelin Thorogood, co-founder and executive chair of Radicle Science, a company that is working to democratize nutrition research. Plus, in the "The List" segment, we highlight five award-winning supplement companies and the people who make them shine.

In this episode:

Related:The Natural List podcast – Generative AI and the future of food

Brands featured in this episode’s segment of The List: WishGarden Herbs, Native Botanicals, Nuritas, doTERRA and Gainful.

Enjoy this new episode here and wherever you listen to your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts.

Interested in being a guest on The Natural List? Email us at [email protected].

Our guests

About Kat Schneider

CEO of Ritual

Katerina Schneider is Founder and CEO of Ritual, a health company that is setting a new standard in the supplement industry through traceable science and traceable sourcing. While pregnant and in search of a prenatal she could trust, Katerina took matters into her own hands and founded the company on the belief that better health begins with better ingredients. She has since pioneered a new standard of high-quality products that are backed by science and the first visible supply chain of its kind. Now as one of the most trusted brands in the category and one of few supplement companies to be a Certified B Corporation, Ritual has had more than a million customers and has the top selling online prenatal multivitamin. 

Katerina has been honored on Forbes 30 Under 30, EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Inc 100 Female Founders and Marie Claire’s New Guard 50. Prior to founding Ritual, Katerina was a venture partner, managing a portfolio of over 70 tech investments including Spotify, Uber, Dropbox, and Warby Parker. She previously served as Head of Global Innovation at Atom Factory and as Global Lead of Digital Innovation at Universal Music Group.

About Pelin Thorogood

Co-founder and Executive Chair of Radicle Science

Pelin Thorogood is a tech executive turned impact entrepreneur who has made a career out of being at the forefront of emerging business trends and disruptive technologies. She’s been named an INC 200 Female Founder in 2023 and Stevie’s Maverick of the Year in 2022.  With an unwavering focus on data and analytics throughout her career, Pelin is now transforming natural health products into democratized precision medicines as Co-founder and Executive Chair of Radicle Science, an AI-driven healthtech B-corp. 

Previously, Pelin was a leader in creating the digital marketing industry as CMO of WebSideStory (IPO in 2004, acquired by Adobe/ Omniture in 2008), the pioneer in web analytics, as well as CEO of Anametrix (acquired by Ensighten in 2015), an award-winning predictive analytics company.  

Deeply committed to impact, education, and community, Pelin is Trustee and Treasurer of the UC San Diego Foundation, Co-Chair of the UC San Diego Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council, Executive Board member of the UC San Diego Basement start-up incubator, Industry Scholar for the Cornell Institute of Healthy Futures, and previously served as Executive-in-Residence for Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.  Pelin holds a B.S., M.Eng and MBA, all from Cornell.  She is an avid adventure traveler and outdoors enthusiast. At home in San Diego, Pelin enjoys an active and healthy lifestyle with her husband, daughter, son, and two dogs.  

Your hosts 

About Jessica Rubino 

Jessica Rubino is a natural products industry expert and content strategist with more than 15 years experience in media, events and natural products. As New Hope Network’s vice president of content, Jessica oversees digital and print content, conference programming and branded content for CPGs, retailers, investors and service providers. Jessica is passionate about using innovation as a force for good and leveraging content to spark the changes we want to see in the world.  

About Adrienne Smith 

Adrienne Smith is the director of content for newhope.com and the editor-in-chief of Natural Foods Merchandiser magazine where she helps ideate and produce content for natural products retailers, brands and entrepreneurs. Before coming to New Hope Network, she spent nearly two decades writing about food and beverage products and trends for the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Trade in Madrid, Spain, as well as for publications including the International Herald Tribune/New York Times and El País.