Changemaker Interview: Miriam Nelson, CEO, Newman's Own Foundation


Foundation: Newman's Own Foundation

credit: Flickr

Paul Newman's foundation, which donates 100% of profits from Newman's Own salad dressing to charity, has a new CEO.Miriam Nelson took the helm of the foundation in January, and in a Q&A with Fast Company, she explains how she got there.

"My eureka moment came one night when I reached into my refrigerator and saw a bottle of Newman's Own salad dressing on the shelf," she says.

"I thought to myself, 'Hey, I should really approach this food company and ask them for a grant.' So that's exactly what I did."

She says the idea for the foundation came after she was running an after-school nutrition project and needed outside funding.

"Paul was among the first'social entrepreneurs' long before that was even a term," she says.

"But in an age where we're used to companies talking about their purpose, the pioneering story of Newman's Own is especially importantparticularly the early work driven by Paul on behalf of seriously ill children."

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