Jessica Sturzenegger is bringing you and your baby convenient, nutrient-dense meals that you both truly deserve

At Amara, we knew that most people understand that they should be eating healthy foods, especially with their babies. But, we also knew that between homework, housework, work work - homemade was more of a dream than a reality for most.

At Amara, we set out to bring all the benefits of fresh food in a way that was easy to do every day. Our first line, Amara baby blends, are designed to mix with breast milk, formula or water for a gentle transition to solid foods. Our technology locks in all the taste, textures and nutrients making homemade, possible for the busy parents. It’s the baby food of the future. You can shop our 100% organic, whole food baby blends on our website: www.amaraorganicfoods.com

I stay motivated by… talking to our customers and seeing how Amara is helping them bring better food to their families. Just last week a mom reached out because she had just moved and she wasn’t sure if Amara was in the grocery store in her new town. She told me that Amara is the only baby food brand her baby actually gains weight on!  Hearing things like that make what we do and the late nights totally worth it.

Three adjectives that describe me are… analytical, determined, passionate. 

If I could have dinner with one person it would be… my dad, he was an entrepreneur and my sounding board for Amara as we grew. When we first went live, it took us days to press “publish” on our Amazon listing we were so nervous! Then, a few hours later our first order came in, we were all so excited to find out where it was going - we all laughed when we saw the address and realized it was my dad! He was always my biggest cheerleader.

The most exciting innovation to me is… wearables. The ability we have today to track our body and the effects of food and exercise in real time and make changes is amazing. We can decide what we eat; how we sleep; and how we move and understand the effects on our own bodies right away to make the changes we need to do to feel good. That level of immediate feedback and control in health is really exciting to me.

What motivated you to become an entrepreneur? Is having your own business something you always wanted?

Both of my parents are entrepreneurs so I think I saw first-hand how far-fetched dreams could become realities (with a lot of hard work). That being said, when we started Amara, it didn’t start because I wanted to be an “entrepreneur”. But it became apparent pretty quickly that if we wanted to generate change in this category, we had to do it ourselves. Baby food has been the same for generations – it was time to radically change the format so we could offer better nutrition to our future foodies.

What are your short/long term goals?

I really believe that we are what we eat. How we feel and how we think is defined in part by the quality of foods we eat. But, our food habits form when we are really young (from 0-7 years old) So, we need to find a way to get our babies healthy food so they will build up healthy food preferences for later on.

If we can give parents an alternative to the highly processed jars and pouches AND do it that in a way that allows parents to make homemade, possible every single day without the hassle – we can actually make a whole generation that has healthy food preferences. Right now, we’re focused on bringing the closest thing to real, fresh whole baby foods to every family in the USA. Long term – I want to continue making access to healthy food more convenient for everyone in the family.

Do you have a fixed work routine? Is it important to have one? Any tips for our readers?

I don’t know if I necessarily have a fixed work routine because every day is so different, but I do have habits that I do every day. I think my top three are 1) focusing on the one thing that is going to move the company forward in the mornings 2) taking a half hour to wrap up at the end of the day and 3) calling our customers on Fridays.

I think everyone’s work routine looks really different for everyone but for me what’s most important is recognizing what’s the best work routine for you personally.

How far are you willing to go to succeed? 

As long as we can continue to deliver on quality, better baby food at an accessible price for every family – I’m not stopping until we’re in every supermarket in the USA!