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Andrea Lyons
“My dream was not so much about starting a food manufacturing business,” explained Lyons, “but about having an opportunity to find my voice, own my power, and realize my potential.” Lyons began her career as a lending officer for Fleet Bank of Massachusetts, then went on to become director of finance and operations for Energy Alliance Group. There she established and maintained accounting and financial systems, oversaw corporate tax matters, maintained billing systems for projects, and monitored delivery schedules for large contracts.
Enticed by the Internet boom, she headed to the West Coast for a position as vice president of finance and operations for College Broadcast, a broadband Internet and cable TV entertainment business. “I helped grow that business from the ground up,” said Lyons. “Eventually we raised over $8 million in investment capital and grew from zero to 175 people. Of course, the end of the story is a clich? — the company got caught in the Internet collapse and we were forced to sell out.”
But that wasn’t the end of the story for Lyons. “The whole experience was an incredible education and an empowering experience for me,” she said. “I had many people tell me that I would be great at running a company as CEO, and intuitively, I thought so, too.”
A craving for granola
After her stint with College Broadcast, Lyons and her family moved back to the East Coast. She began a job search in September 2001, but then came September 11, and everything changed. “I put the job search on hold and did what everyone wanted to do — just spend time with family and loved ones.” In early November, she got a craving for granola but couldn’t find any as good as what she had experienced on the West Coast. Undeterred, she headed to the library to research granola ingredients and returned home to bake it herself. She loved it and so did everyone else! With encouragement from family and friends, Lyons pondered maKing granola for consumer consumption and starting her own business. “The moment I realized I was destined to move ahead with this idea was when I found the industrial bakery on my very first phone call,” explained Lyons.
“In that moment it felt like I had launched the business under a lucky star."
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