Fast food and meal delivery services have become a very well accepted part of life in 21st century America. While many Americans rely on fast food when they don’t have time to stop and cook, its really not a healthy long-term option, this was the realization that Laureen Asseo came to when caring for her father. Laureen’s father was an entrepreneur himself and always encouraged her in her ideas for business endeavors. She was on the path to open a sustainable fashion brand after getting out of school where she was studying fashion and design when her father became ill and Laureen had to take time at home to help care for him. Looking at the serious health issues that her father had begun to develop due to life-long unhealthy eating habits, Laureen decided that something needed to change. While acknowledging the business often required to keep relevant in the fast-paced world of today and how impractical it is for many workers to stop and cook healthy foods for themselves, Laureen came up with the idea for a healthy organic food delivery service to offer up an option that isn’t deep fried for American workers.
Thus, Fresh n’ Lean began. At the beginning it was just Laureen, her family, and some close friends investing in her business that started with just Laureen cooking and delivering healthy ready-made meals to her customers. As time went, people caught on to the idea of having fresh healthy food to fuel them in school or the workplace. Rather than becoming focused more on revenue than staying true to the heart of her business, Laureen has stayed on only offering healthy and organic foods showing a truly admirable integrity in her business and just how much she truly believes in the work that she does.
Laureen is a wonderful example of starting a business enterprise from the ground up and sticking true to what you believe in through the development of your brand. It is inspiring to see a young person making an effort to create an opportunity for healthy life choices to be more readily accessible for the average person. While she may not be inventing an entirely new market, nor is she “reinventing the wheel,” so to speak, Laureen has made a positive impact that has the ability to improve the health of many people with just a small change to the existing market. Clearly showing that you don’t have to come up with something “big” to have a real and meaningful impact on the world around you.