Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
By almost every measure, The Honest Company, known for its clean products, is a relatively small player in an enormous ecosystem. With 2025 revenue of $371.3 million and a market capitalization of about $540 million, it is a fraction of the size of Amazon ($717 billion in 2025 sales and $2.87 trillion in market cap) or even General Mills ($19.5 billion in revenue and more than $21 billion in market value)—the two companies where Carla Vernón worked before joining Honest as chief executive officer and board director in 2023.
Small but mighty
But Vernón doesn’t run Honest like a small business, and she is unabashed about having earned her place alongside other public company CEOs. “CEOs of public companies are all executing our responsibilities against the same exact framework in service of the shareholder,” she says. “I can’t think of an instance where I walked into a room of CEOs brought together by a bank or at a conference or forum where anyone treated me as if I’m in a different class of business.”
She adds: “It’s sort of like, when people say to me, ‘How do you deal with imposter syndrome?’ And I say: ‘I don’t have imposter syndrome, so I can’t really help you there.’”
Vernón’s confidence is refreshing at a time when much of the mainstream business press treats small-cap companies and midsize businesses as a bit of an afterthought despite their contributions to the economy and outsize impact on culture. Indeed, it is often a combination of big consumer packaged goods (CPG) ambition and founder energy that can help further scale the influence and breadth of founder-built brands.
It’s a playbook Vernón knows intimately. At General Mills, where she rose to president of the natural and organics division, she oversaw brands such as Annie’s, Cascadian Farm, Epic Provisions, and Lärabar—all brands that gained distribution and visibility once acquired by the food giant.
Founder-built brand breakthroughs
Vernón says that the entrepreneurial brands that break through are the ones that are willing to assemble experts who can build on the founder’s vision. “It can’t be dependent on one single brain and one single heart in the long run, or you won’t get Nike, you won’t get Apple, you won’t get Amazon,” she says, noting several founder-built brands. She adds: “That’s the journey we’re on.”
Founded in 2011 and launched in 2012 by actress Jessica Alba, Honest helped drive the popularity of clean personal care and baby products, which are now a mainstay in big retailers. Alba was among the first in a wave of celebrity entrepreneurs to start a business rather than license her name or serve as a spokesperson. (Alba stepped down as chief creative officer of Honest in April 2024 and remains on the board of directors.) The company went public in 2021, but the stock today trades well off its highs.
Vernón, who was vice president of consumables categories at Amazon before joining Honest, says she’s imported from Amazon and General Mills a focus on execution and a long-term mindset. “To run an enterprise that’s going to be around for a long time, [Honest is] going to have to have the discipline on the sunshiny days and the rainy days to stick with the strategy and stick with the operating plan,” she says. Under Vernón, the company has prioritized profitability, exiting retail and online stores in Canada and shuttering its direct-to-consumer business.
The strategy is starting to take root. Gross margin in the second quarter climbed eight points to 48.4% from 40.4%.
And while Vernon’s mindset is very much coming from an enterprise mindset, her counsel on how to build a CPG business should ring true for stewards of upstart and legacy brands alike: “You have to [be] focused on what your brand’s values and your brand’s mission are. Why does your brand need to exist in the world?” she asks. “That part needs to be focused so you make great choices on what your brand should strive to do.”
How do you “go big?”
Being a founder requires measures of confidence, vision, and resolve that not everyone can muster. How do you keep imposter syndrome or other forces from getting in the way of your goals and aspirations? Send me your thoughts: stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’ll share some of these tips in a future newsletter.
Read more: breakthrough brands
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- How Grüns broke the internet with its $1.2 billion sale to Unilever
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