Tell us a bit about yourself! How did you get started with your current career path/business journey?

While other people go to the grocery store, Christina literally grew up in one. She is a fourth-generation grocer who lived above her family’s store. The original Appleton’s Market was a Mom ‘n’ Pop grocery store founded by her great-grandparents in small-town Michigan. Passed down through the generations, the store was her home – riding her tricycle through the aisles and building paper-towel forts. It’s where she fell in love with food, and it forever shaped her career. Once she graduated from Northwestern, she worked at General Mills in brand management, working on brands from Trix cereal to Green Giant vegetables. After attending Harvard Business School she moved to Los Angeles and worked in entertainment before catching the startup bug and making her way back into CPG by joining healthy e-tailer Thrive Market. Focusing on better-for-you products quickly became her passion. She created her own business to help make everyone's lives a little bit easier and a little bit healthier – which was the birth of her Appleton's Market.

What behavior or personality trait do you most attribute your success to, and why?

Self-confidence! She believed she could, so she did :) It's definitely a cliche, but there is something to the "face it til you make it" mentality. Positive attitude and a believe in oneself is the foundation for any kind of success - if gives you the confidence to try, to get back up when you get knocked down, and to not be embarrassed to ask for help.

What’s a mistake you made early on in your career, or in your business, and what did you learn from it?

What’s one professional skill you’re currently working on?

How do you invite others to take a seat at the table?

Explicitly and repeatedly! I am a very direct, outgoing, and generally friendly person and I love making new friends, meeting new people, and learning others' stories.

What is one thing you wish you knew a year ago?

That COVID was going to completely destroy my business plan, but that it would ultimately be ok.

What impact has Luminary made in your career? eg: Business Generated, Revenue, New Clients, Career Connections, Advancement Opportunities