Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted Podcast Returns for Second Season, Celebrates Innovation in Agribusiness, Food, Beverage and Timber Industries

Interview with Blue Star Donuts Co-Founder to Launch Series on September 13.

PORTLAND, Ore.—Stoel Rives, an Am Law 200 law firm, announced today that the Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted podcast will return for a second season this fall. Hosted by lawyers from the firm’s Agribusiness, Food, Beverage and Timber (AFBT) industry group, the podcast features conversations with respected industry leaders, examining how they and their companies are embracing innovation and capitalizing on new opportunities to move their industries forward in an ever-changing world.

Season two of the podcast will include six new episodes featuring insightful conversations with business leaders across the agribusiness, food, beverage and timber industries. The first episode of the season will be released on September 13 featuring Katie Poppe, the co-founder and CEO of Portland-based Blue Star Donuts.

“We are thrilled that our Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted podcast series will return for a second season and look forward to sharing inspiring stories from the industries that serve as the roots of our nation and practice. We hope our listeners will enjoy hearing the personal stories of these industry leaders and their perspectives on overcoming challenges and growing their businesses,” said Kirk Maag, a Stoel Rives partner and a co-leader of the firmwide AFBT industry group along with Adam Dittman and Todd Friedman.

The first episode of season two will be published to all podcast streaming platforms and the Stoel Rives website beginning on September 13, with new episodes expected each month after that. Below is a preview of the first three episodes of the new season:

Episode 1 features an interview by finance attorney Kris Russell of Katie Poppe, the co-founder and CEO of Portland-based Blue Star Donuts. They discuss the unique challenges of growing and adapting a business, including managing stakeholder relationships and maintaining sustainable growth without sacrificing product quality.

Episode 2 features a conversation between Merissa A. Moeller, a natural resources and land use attorney, and Meg Rulli, the founder and owner of Flipturn Cellars. They discuss Rulli’s journey to producing her first wine, a Syrah inspired by her travels, how her background in competitive swimming helped shape her brand and the challenges she faced diving into wine production during the COVID pandemic.

Episode 3 features a conversation between food and beverage attorney Claire J. Mitchell and Jess Thomas, co-founder of SoGood Saké, a super-premium American sake brand made from rice grown in California. Mitchell and Thomas discuss the challenges of starting an alcohol business and its intersection with agriculture and climate change. Listeners will learn more about the American-sourced sake and the complex compliance and regulatory factors impacting its sale and distribution.

“This season builds on the success and feedback from our first Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted season and introduces our listeners to additional members of the firm’s interdisciplinary AFBT group. We’re honored to share the personal stories behind these businesses,” Dittman said.

All six episodes from the podcast’s first season can be found on all podcast streaming platforms and on the Stoel Rives website www.stoel.com/the-stoel-rives-deeply-rooted-podcast.

“It’s more important now than ever before to identify and overcome the issues we all face in the agribusiness, food, beverage and timber industries. We created the Stoel Rives | Deeply Rooted podcast to openly discuss roadblocks and speed bumps so that we can work together as a community to overcome them and move forward, together,” Friedman said.