How Ideneth Vega Of Zurvita Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity

Yitzi Weiner

1 year ago

An Interview With Martita Mestey

This is the one trait that I would say has been most instrumental in my career especially as a leader. As leaders this means having the audacity to know when to stay the course and when to pivot. Being adaptable, having experienced so many changes, its key to stay focused and persist the storm.

In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis of people having limited reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. As prices rise, this problem will likely become more acute. How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?

In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to address the increasing problem of food insecurity who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve this problem.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ideneth Vega Ideneth Vega — SVP of Strategy, Revenue Growth, and Marketing, Zurvita, Inc.

As a Senior Vice President of Strategy, Revenue Growth, and Marketing for Zurvita, Ideneth Vega determines the revenue and marketing strategy for the company and is involved with the brand’s look, feel, and tone, as well as product innovation.

Zurvita is a health and wellness social commerce company led by faith that aims to change lives with an easy and accessible way to reach greater health. It creates science-backed, nutrient and vitamin-rich products developed to empower health and happiness that are clinically shown to improve mood and increase productivity. Vega works hand in hand with the Scientific Advisory Board to create and formulate new products and identify opportunities for optimizing current offerings. She is an integral part of ensuring that Zurvita is in tune with its values, the company culture, and the quality of the products produced, setting a brand for new generations.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Of course! I am originally from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, it’s there in college where I first came into this industry that I so passionately love, and for the past 20+ years we have transformed together. I have always been known to have a very strategic approach to everything I do, not only in my career having navigated various different sides of the business as an beauty and skin care entrepreneur as well as a now health and wellness executive to my favorite role which is a wife and mom of 3 treasures: Victoria, Matthew and 2 month old Maverick. I like to say I live right in between strategizing how to make things fit and wholeheartedly living and soaking up the present moment. What I am most passionate about is developing, from billion dollar, to legacy to start up brands, to innovative products to my favorite of all which is developing people, nurturing unicorns and helping them find and grow their spark!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

My journey is not very traditional, at 19 I was working a full time job while going for my Bachelors when I was presented with the chance to start my own beauty business. I took the plunge and within 2 years I was able to leave that full time job, graduate and through that business help hundreds of other women most double and triple my age, find the courage to pursue their own dreams through entrepreneurism. I share that to say looking back now, the hustle, determination and positive attitude that I had to develop and sharpen there, would be the foundation of the leader I am today. One of the best parts of my day is meeting with our independent Consultants and connecting through our common stories as entrepreneurs, it’s incredible what how rich it is to share those experiences and help them.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

Transitioning from business owner to employee is quite the shift, with that came a lot of lessons that would shape and polish my path. I wouldn’t say there is one particular thing, but rather a million little things that helped me build the momentum up to that tipping point. Having the grit to push through the No, the closed doors, the bureaucracy and red tape is imperative. Especially as women, and in my case also often the only Latina in the room, knowing your own worth and not waiting for anybody to recognize it or open the door for your next step is vital. I learned that you have to be willing to welcome and embrace change, to take risks if you want to grow in your career, that opportunities and promotions don’t just knock on your door.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I agree with that statement! I would have to say through my entire career there’s a few angels I have had in my path, one in particular is my college boyfriend…who is my husband today. From role playing and preparing me for my first job interview, cheering me up when business deals fell through, pushing me way out of my comfort zone to pursue new roles that I wasn’t confident I could do, to helping me push through the stigma and pursue a pivotal career move at 5 months pregnant and uprooting our young family to live that dream when I got the job on the other side of the country in San Francisco, California.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Vision, Creative and Resilience.

Vision: When I was 19, I decided instead of going on vacation with my family,to attend a business conference, little did I know that decision would change the rest of my life. Exposing myself to that event, I was able to see beyond what my eyes were seeing. I believe having vision empowers you with the ability to imagine and dream the future has provided me with the tools and direction to build, connect and savor the present. Vision needs Belief and Action to create success in everything we do.

Creative; I have always been pretty creative is part of my personality, not only the artistic form of the trait, more on the creative thinking and strategizing. One time I came to a boss with a new idea on something that would be better but would take too much resources and time,I remember my boss told me; “Ideneth that is great! But… the time for new ideas has passed” I was shocked! After I surpassed that feeling I got to thinking how to achieve it, went back, pitched in a different way and got it done!

Resilient: This is the one trait that I would say has been most instrumental in my career especially as a leader. As leaders this means having the audacity to know when to stay the course and when to pivot. Being adaptable, having experienced so many changes, its key to stay focused and persist the storm.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

There are so many but I can’t help but think of one of my dad’s sayings. I look back now and see how this impacted so much of how I am and what I do in life. Papi would say “Mija, el que no arriesga, no gana” meaning “He who doesn’t risk, doesn’t win” That taught me perseverance, that even in the face of challenges, obstacles, rejection, racism, deception, etc, (1) the journey is what matters, must keep moving forward, (2) if you really want something, anything, you have to try and you have to go for it, and (3) when you fail, when you fall, when you are hurting, dust-off get back up and TRY AGAIN… And that was especially true in everything we experience in life.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Can you describe to our readers how your work is helping to address the challenge of food insecurity?

At Zurvita our main purpose is to be a company of provision, what that means is that we are in every facet of what we do providing and helping others provide. As a company of provision, we are helping to address the challenge of food insecurity by providing people with access to nutritious and healthy living in all aspects. We are working to make sure that no one is going hungry with our giveback “Zeal for Meals’’ program which has directly impacted thousands of lives in peril, partnering and funding SERV International’s efforts to provide food, shelter, medical help, and the word of God. We donate up to three meals for every canister of Zeal, Zundora and Zurge sold, with a goal to provide one million meals to hungry families. Through the efforts of our Consultants and our Customers we have just hit over 850K meals given as of last month and it continues to grow. We started with the mission to feed 1 million, and quickly gathered how impactful it was to be not only feeding the hungry, we are saving lives of people who otherwise had no access to a meal, while doing this also impacting the lives of the thousands of consultants that are able to put food on their tables and maintain their own families all over the US, PR, CA and MX. We are making a positive difference in people’s lives and hope to continue to do so in the future.

Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?

It’s hard to pick one moment or story, throughout this work you hear thousands of stories of people whose lives are changed and transformed because of something you were a part of, and that is the greatest reward. Hearing a recently widowed 90 year old restored their health to the point that they have the energy to play baseball with their grandkid, parents being able to have more time with their children to be present when they want to and not when they can, seeing my father’s health and energy improve, the stories are endless, ultimately to know that I am a part of something bigger than myself, and that through it generations are being transformed is incredible.

As a marketer, being able to develop products that serve as instruments to transform people’s lives, situations and set them on a new path, is incredibly rewarding. Last year developing and introducing Zundora, our antioxidant collagen gel and seeing firsthand how this new product, opened a new stream of income for our Consultants, boosted people’s confidence in how they look and feel. Woot is pretty cool.

In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share a few things that can be done to further address the problem of food insecurity?

By collaborating with local organizations, entrepreneurs, community leaders & local food banks and contributing time, resources, creating awareness and contributing funds to food pantries and other community-based organizations that assist people who are food insecure, businesses and civic leaders can further address the issue of food insecurity. Leaders can also support programs aimed at improving low-income areas’ access to wholesome food, water and healthy living. Businesses might also promise to give staff members dependable, reasonably priced dining options. Finally, community leaders can help people navigate the numerous food aid resources that are available to them by facilitating instructional programs, seminars to bring awareness to healthy options and nurturing our bodies for overall healthy living.

Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address the challenge of food scarcity? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.

Numerous individuals and groups have excelled in their efforts to solve the problem of food scarcity. For instance, our partners at SERV International, have done an impressive work over the past decades with providing life saving nutrition, food supplies, particularly to children and families in need. They work with local community leaders to empower communities to aid on food scarcity, access to clean water, farming and agricultural initiatives as well as disaster relief. As a faith based organization, same as Zurvita, incorporated and at the foundation of spreading God’s message of love, hope and compassion in all that we do for all of us.

If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?

If I had the power to influence legislation, I would like to see laws that encouraged more people to start and maintain businesses, laws that provided additional tax incentives to prospective entrepreneurs. Laws that support for example parents in their journey to become small business owners with laws financial, educational and technical resources to support families grow independently with flexibility of both building a business and a family. Laws that would support parental leave, laws that help bridge the gap between generations, foster local communities growing and expanding these laws would help to foster economic growth and create financial independence that would strengthen the country’s economy and help individuals achieve their goals.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would have to say one that promotes equality, kindness, compassion and vision for young and old to be committed to inspiring a healthy food movement that could have a positive impact on the lives of many people. My goal would be to increase basic knowledge to more opportunities and access to healthy living while also reducing the cost of making healthy choices, to end misinformation. This could be achieved by partnering with local farmers and grocery stores to provide more affordable and higher quality food options, the food that we provide in our schools and as well as providing education to the community on healthy eating habits, to share the difference that moves and incorporate family time in their homes, to converse and spread compassion in what they do daily, to get outside and share a smile with a neighbor. Additionally, I would like to spread awareness that maintaining a healthy lifestyle goes beyond your eating habits or physical appearances, it goes to the conversations we are having, the patience we are giving others, the compassion of , and encouraging people to make healthier choices with their daily lives,

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

Brene Brown and Judge Sonia Sotomayor are some of the bravest and most inspiring minds of today. I would be honored to join any of them for a meal!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.

How Ideneth Vega Of Zurvita Is Helping To Address The Growing Challenge Of Food Insecurity was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.