After the sudden loss of her father and Lifeway founder Michael Smolyansky in 2002, Julie Smolyansky became the youngest female CEO of a publicly traded company when she took over Lifeway Foods at the age of 27. Since then, Julie has propelled the business forward with innovative product development and marketing, bringing kefir into the U.S. mainstream, growing the company from $6 million to almost $200 million in 2024, and expanding distribution to Mexico, Ireland, France, South Africa, UAE, various regions of Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Julie has been named to Fortune’s 40 Under 40, recognized among Fortune’s 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter, featured as one of the Best Instagrammers on the 40 Under 40 list, was honored as a 2020 Champion of Wellness by VeryWell, was recently named the winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the Female Executive of the Year – Consumer category, in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and won Gold Globee for the 17th Annual 2024 Globee® Awards for Achievement (Women in Business).
In a recent talk, Julie shared the turnaround strategy that saved and then supercharged Lifeway’s growth during a time when dairy was being declared “dead.” From trusting her gut to using consumer data to reinvent the business, Julie shared how she made bold bets, led with conviction, and doubled down on optimism to pull the company into its next era.
In 2018, Lifeway faced its first major decline in decades, as plant-based alternatives began to erode market share. Rather than panic, Julie spearheaded a 2.0 strategy that focused on cutting underperforming SKUs, overhauling leadership, and streamlining operations.
“It meant making a lot of challenging, hard, painful decisions...but knowing that we would be healthier down the line.”
This included buying out senior executive contracts, rationalizing product lines, and investing in efficiency-driving equipment—moves that felt risky in the short term but paid off in long-term profitability.
Julie emphasized the dual power of gut instinct and consumer data in making strategic decisions. Her team used SPINS, IRI, and other analytics tools to identify product performance and consumer preferences—but intuition played a vital role too.
“We are a gut health company, and I firmly believe in following your gut...Some of these things I intuitively knew and just had to double down on.”
That gut-led conviction was most evident at the onset of COVID-19, when Julie directed her team to stockpile three months' worth of inventory—ensuring Lifeway was one of the few brands that remained on grocery shelves during the panic-buying frenzy.
The turnaround wasn’t just strategic—it was cultural. Julie made it clear that optimism wasn’t optional.
“Not everyone on the team is actually rooting for you...If someone is always negative, that’s a problem.”
She shared that she removed team members who were actively undermining progress and instead cultivated a team rooted in loyalty, resilience, and possibility. Many original employees are still with the company decades later.
Lifeway pivoted swiftly during the pandemic to deepen customer relationships. In addition to moving IRL events online, Julie's team hosted over 400 Instagram Lives with wellness experts.
“We transitioned all our in-person activations—yoga, sound baths, meditation—onto Instagram Live. No gatekeeping.”
They also doubled down on influencer partnerships, strategically placing Lifeway with trusted voices like Bethenny Frankel. These grassroots efforts grew their customer base by half a million—and 70% of those new users have remained weekly buyers.
Julie’s leadership is rooted in a personal legacy—but her passion for health and healing transcends brand loyalty. “Failure was not an option...I fought for the brand, the team, and our space.”
Whether Lifeway was serving cancer patients seeking easy nutrition during chemo or tapping into the growing Hispanic market with guava-flavored kefir, the mission remained the same: provide healthy, accessible nourishment. Today, Lifeway is the #1 kefir brand in Mexico and continues to expand globally.
Julie’s turnaround playbook is part strategy, part intuition, and entirely anchored in optimism and resilience. As she reminded us: “You can either spiral up or spiral down. I chose to spiral up.”
