Melissa Ninegar credited with scaling Once Upon a Farm’s people strategy

Influential Women is spotlighting Melissa Ninegar for helping Once Upon a Farm scale its remote workforce, improve retention and engagement, and build the people systems behind the company’s February 2026 IPO. Her work reflects how people and culture leadership is becoming central to growth, valuation and investor confidence in fast-growing consumer brands.

Why it matters: - Melissa Ninegar’s work at Once Upon a Farm shows how people strategy can affect growth, retention and investor confidence at a consumer company. - Once Upon a Farm went public in February 2026 at a $724 million valuation. - Ninegar’s leadership is tied to scaling the company without losing culture or employee experience.

What happened: - Influential Women featured Melissa Ninegar, a People and Culture executive with more than 15 years of experience. - Ninegar led People and Culture at Once Upon a Farm during a rapid expansion phase. - The company’s fully remote workforce grew from 60 employees to more than 200. - The company held a 90% retention rate and reached 85% employee engagement. - The engagement score was more than 20 points above industry benchmarks. - More information is available through Ninegar’s Influential Women profile.

The details: - Ninegar built the People function at Once Upon a Farm from the ground up. - Her work included compensation architecture, performance management systems, leadership development programs, benefits strategy and DEIB initiatives. - She also established employee resource groups, internship pathways and scalable HR infrastructure. - Her background includes roles at JuneShine Brands, Modern Times Beer, Otter Products, LifeProof, House of Blues and Live Nation Entertainment. - That mix of consumer, entertainment, startup and enterprise experience shaped her approach to People strategy. - Ninegar emphasizes that strong business results come from teams that feel purpose, belonging and psychological safety. - She views People and Culture as an integrated business system, not a standalone initiative. - Ninegar advises early-career professionals that “your network is your net worth.” - She says professional relationships can provide opportunity, perspective, feedback and resilience. - She also says reciprocal mentorship matters because guidance given early in a career can return later in unexpected ways. - Ninegar says healthy boundaries between work and personal life improved her clarity and effectiveness. - She encourages professionals to understand their personal mission before choosing roles. - She says alignment between personal and organizational values supports more authentic leadership and better decision-making. - Oliver Lee Mincey mentored Ninegar early in her career and encouraged her to focus on her strengths rather than only her interests. - Ninegar is a vocal advocate for compensation transparency, negotiation, financial literacy and women’s advancement at work.

Between the lines: - The feature reflects a broader shift in high-growth consumer companies, where People and Culture is increasingly treated as a driver of valuation and operational stability. - Ninegar’s profile suggests that HR leaders are now expected to support both employee experience and business performance. - The focus on global talent systems and leadership capacity signals that the next stage of growth at Once Upon a Farm will likely depend on organizational scale, not just product expansion.

What's next: - Ninegar is focused on scaling leadership capacity and strengthening global talent systems as Once Upon a Farm moves through its public-market phase. - She plans to continue mentoring emerging HR leaders and contributing to conversations about the future of work. - Her ongoing emphasis on culture suggests the company will keep linking people strategy to long-term growth.