Nadia Vattovaz, EVP Fire & Flower talks about taking on COVID-19 with her retail 2.0 company, Forrester VP Sucharita Kodali on how retailers can survive and thrive, and elite soccer player turned DTC retailer Rachael Rapinoe on launching her CBD brand, Mendi

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

First up on this episode retail veteran Nadia Vattovaz, CFO & EVP Operations at Fire & Flower talks about operating  across Canada during COVID-19 powered by their purpose built, retail 2.0 company, allowing them to roll out curb side and home delivery in lightening speed with fantastic results with awesome consumer experience thanks to the  power of their people

Next up Forrester Research Vice President & top retail analyst Sucharita Kodali is back on the podcast looking at the catastrophic retail results in the U.S. and what all retailers should be focussed on today to ensure there is a tomorrow including re/up skilling their idle teams, investing on neglected areas of the business, and mastering the mechanics of click & collect or curb side.

Elite soccer player/trainer turned health scientist, entrepreneur and DTC retailer Rachael Rapinoe is my final guest, taking lessons from the pitch and turning them into focus on the touch line of her CBD brand for retail, Mendi.

First lets jump right in to my interview with Nadia from Fire & Flower

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Thanks to Nadia, Sucharita and Rachael for being my guests on this episode  If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, have a safe week!

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.