In this episode of The Bear Roars, Dan sits down with Jane Strode Miller—veteran food industry executive, CEO of Rudi’s Mountain Bakery, mentor, and bestselling author of Sleep Your Way to the Top and Other Myths About Business Success.
Jane shares her journey from humble beginnings in Peoria, Illinois, where her mother raised four children alone while working three jobs. She opens up about her early ambition to become a lawyer—simply because it seemed like the most stable path—only to pivot into business and rise through the ranks at Frito-Lay, Hostess, Heinz, and Rudi’s Organic Bakery.
Dan and Jane explore how she broke into leadership roles in male-dominated environments, why confidence is often the decisive edge in a corporate career, and the lessons she learned about decisiveness, resilience, and course-correcting in real time. Jane explains her transition from marketing mainstream snack brands to championing natural and organic foods—and why she believes Boulder became the epicenter of the natural products movement.
Whether you’re building a business, leading a team, or reimagining your career midstream, this episode offers a candid look at reinvention and the mindset it takes to thrive in an industry—and a world—where the only constant is change.
Learn more about Rudi’s Mountain Bakery: https://rudisbakery.com/
Order Dan’s Book – Bandwidth: The Untold Story of Ambition, Deception, and Innovation that Shaped the Internet Age and Dot-Com Boom: dan-caruso.com/book
To nominate a founder or yourself as a future guest speaker, email: contact@loudbearproductions.com
