Ella Mills is the co-founder of Deliciously Ella, which began in 2012 as a simple blog sharing healthy recipes. What started online quickly grew into bestselling books, a #1 mobile app, and eventually a retail brand of healthy snacks. In 2024, Deliciously Ella was acquired for an undisclosed sum and today Ella is building her next venture, All Plants.

Her journey is inspiring, and in this episode we explore every milestone: from securing her first Starbucks listing, to navigating a failure that nearly sank the business, to proving how an “average” person can create a truly global brand.

Ella's podcast, The Wellness Scoop:
https://open.spotify.com/show/7F6YqGJ06UEuD7qG81tFHw

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
01:01 - The Deliciously Ella founding story
06:16 - When did the Deliciously Ella blog start to take off
11:22 - Dealing with overnight attention and success
13:33 - How can an average student become so successful?
15:03 - How to nail a successful book launch
17:16 - Scaling a personal brand
21:08 - What’s it like running the business with your husband?
24:00 - Going from recipe blogs to making retail products
24:53 - How Deliciously Ella landed in Starbucks
33:18 - Building out the product range
35:04 - Behind every success is a bunch of failures
41:07 - Managing risk vs return when scaling a startup
45:29 - How to make products that are successful in retail
49:53 - Why Ella took over a new brand after selling Deliciously Ella
52:30 - Where is the plant based market headed?
56:22 - Why Ella started a podcast?

David Gluckman, the man who invented Baileys and author of That S**t Will Never Sell, joins us to share stories from his legendary career in brand creation. From the birth of iconic drinks (including Purdey’s, Aqua Libra, Cîroc and Tanqueray) to lessons on creativity, innovation, and risk-taking, David reflects on what it really takes to bring bold ideas to life.

Timestamps
00:22 - The founding story of Baileys
04:32 - Naming Baileys
12:18 - How Purdey’s and Aqua Libra began
22:48 - Starting Cîroc and Tanqueray
33:26 - Principles of innovation

Jonny Bauer has helped transform some of the world’s biggest brands, from revitalising Axe (Lynx for UK listeners) at BBH to building strategy from the ground up at Droga5. In this episode, Jonny shares why brand can become a company’s greatest asset, what he learned moving from agencies to private equity at Blackstone, and how to bring brand to the front of the P&L. Plus, how to win CEO buy-in, build long-term strategy, and the case studies that prove the power of brand-led growth.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
01:58 - Why we never celebrate the strategy behind good campaigns
04:03 - What Jonny is most proud of from his time at BBH
06:27 - Transforming Lynx / Axe brand
09:34 - Building strategy from the ground up at Droga5
15:23 - Best strategy outcomes at Droga5
17:47 - From ad agency to private equity
28:39 - Learnings from Blackstone on running a successful business
32:34 - How Blackstone approaches marketing
33:50 - How to bring the brand up to the front of the P&L
37:06 - How to get brand buy in from your CEO
40:11 - Leaving Blackstone to use this approach on other clients
47:17 - Successful case studies