Career Roadmap
Laura's work combines: Food, Entrepreneurship, and Upholding a Cause and Belief
See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.
Take Roadmap Quiz
Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Certification
Tourism and Travel Services Management
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be a General and Operations Managers:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Met Ben Van leeuwen in London, decided to move to NYC with him 2006.
2.
In 2007 Ben, Pete and I started making ice cream and writing a business plan for our truck idea.
3.
Rolled out the first 2 Van Leeuwen trucks in the spring of 2008.
4.
Got approched by Whole Foods about packaged pints on our first day in business.
5.
Opened the first Van Leeuwen Artsian Ice Cream shop in Greenpoint Brooklyn Feb 2010.
6.
Opened the Boerum Hill and East Village stores mid 2011.
7.
Moved our production from Upstate, NY to our very own space in Brooklyn 2011.
8.
2013 Signed a book deal for "The Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Cookbook" due out spring 2015
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You should put stabilizers in your ice cream- But why? we thought. We've been making amazing ice cream at home using only fresh milk & cream, cane sugar, egg yolks and the best fruits, nuts, spices & chocolates from small producers around the world.
How I responded:
We just stood by our recipes and ignored what had become "the norm" in commercial ice cream making. It felt right to us to keep it simple. We weren't trying to reinvent the wheel, just perfect the classics.