Customers Love Her Olive Oil. Can She Meet Rising Expectations?

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, talks retail expansion and new product development with fellow Texas entrepreneur Aishwarya Iyer, founder of olive oil upstart Brightland.

- By Graham Winfrey

THE MENTOR

John Mackey

Mackey is more than familiar with issues of developing sustainable and organic products. He started Whole Foods Market with three partners in 1980, when organic was still considered oddball. After building the company to more than 350 stores, he sold it to Amazon for $13.7 billion in 2017.

THE MENTEE

Aishwarya Iyer

Run-ins with tainted olive oil prompted Iyer to create her own locally sourced and processed brand. Though her background includes stints at venturebacked startups, the only outside capital for her company, Brightland, came from a friends-and-family angel round in late 2019.

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of the first Whole Foods Market in September was bittersweet for co-founder and CEO John Mackey. He marked the occasion with the publication of his second book, Conscious Leadership, a followup to 2013’s Conscious Capitalism, but knew the pandemic had made 2020 the worst year of many people’s lives, including his. Still, like most successful entrepreneurs, Mackey is an optimist—and resilient. “I always keep my chin up and move forward,” he says. “Life is short. We should live it with heart and passion.”