A live interview at INBOUND 2024 where Liz Plasser (Editor in Chief, Women's Health) introduces Kat Cole, recently appointed CEO of AG1. The discussion begins with Kat recounting her personal and career trajectory—from early work in retail and as a Hooters hostess, through college (electrical engineering and computer science major), to executive roles—framing her leadership role at AG1, a global company focused on foundational nutrition.
Chapters
Foreign. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Liz Plasser and I am the Editor in Chief of Women's Health at wh. I oversee the brand across all of our platforms. So that's digital, print, social, video events, other things I'm forgetting right now. But that puts me in the perfect position to tell you the next statement which I can confirm is absolutely true, and that is that there has never been so much interest in health than there is at this moment in time. More and more people are inspired to take charge of their well being with a better understanding of how health, and more specifically, nutrition, plays a critical role in optimizing performance in both our personal as well as our professional lives. AG1 is at the forefront of this movement with a leading foundational nutrition supplement. And I am so excited to introduce Kat Cole, the new CEO of AG1. Kat recently stepped into the CEO role at AG1, which is a global health company focused on foundational nutrition. In her role, she's responsible for leading AG1's next phase of growth, global expansion and innovation. Kat is a seasoned business leader and a sought after advisor with more than 20 years of operational, brand and executive leadership experience. Prior to AG1, Kat was the president and COO at Focus Brands, where she oversaw the company's nine presidents and businesses generating billions in sales around the world. In addition to her role at AG1, she serves on the boards of Slice and Milk Bar. She has been a young global leader of the World Economic Forum, a member of the United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council, and she has been named to Fortune's annual 40 under 40 list. I could keep going, but we'll stop there because I want to actually give Kat a chance to speak. Kat, thank you so much for being here. We've known each other for quite a while, but for those who don't know you, I was hoping you could take us through your career trajectory. You have had an interesting and varied experience, including the fact that that you once worked at Hooters, but you've also led women's organizations. You ran Cinnabon, but now you're the leader of one of the leading health companies in the world. So can you tell us a little bit about what was on your mind along the way?
Yeah, you know, I think, you know, like most of us, we're all on a journey, whether it's a health journey, a career journey, a personal life journey, and I'm no different. So I grew up in a household with a single parent. My mom raised me and my two sisters as a solo parent. We left my dad when I was nine years old. As a result, I not only got to see this incredible example of her as someone who's independent and courageous and did what she had to do, but I also had to start working very young because we were quite poor. So I started working in malls and local gyms and at the age of 15, was working in retail, where I first experienced a brand I would later run, Cinnabon. I would smell those delicious cinnamon rolls when I was selling women's clothes when I was 15 and 16 years old. But I was also the first person in my family on either side to ever get into college. And so that was a dream for me. It was an aspiration. So I was working to save up for college and to move out because I wanted to be independent. I started being a hostess at Hooters at 17, then a waitress at Hooters at 18. Got into college, electrical engineering and computer sciences major, psychology of women minor. My plan was to do that and then go to law school and have this amazing.
