Mar 24, 2026
What happens when solving your own problem turns into building a brand?
For Addison LaBonte, a former NCAA Division I soccer player, a diagnosis that threatened her ability to run became the unexpected beginning of her entrepreneurial journey.
What started as going gluten-free to avoid surgery turned into baking at home… which turned into posting online… which turned into building a nationwide better-for-you dessert brand.
This episode highlights the power of throwback concepts like grit, mental imagery, and delayed gratification.
Addison is the founder and CEO of Sweet Addison’s, a fast-growing, direct-to-consumer bakery specializing in gluten-free, dairy-free, seed-oil-free, and low-sugar cookies and brownies. She began with a personal mission to create desserts she could actually enjoy. Now, her brand ships products to all 50 states, has expanded into retail doors, and has enjoyed a 500% year-over-year growth.
In this episode, Addison breaks down how she turned two orders a day into viral launches, retail partnerships, and a mission-driven brand.
Turning Personal Pain Into Product-Market Fit
Addison didn’t start with a business plan. She started with a problem.
Compartment syndrome restricts blood flow in muscles and can lead to serious damage to affected tissues and nerves if left untreated. Exertion can be a cause. She was told to stop running or face surgery; either meant the end of a burgeoning post-graduate marathon training.
Instead, Addison eliminated gluten from her diet. Within days, she could run again. That single decision reshaped her health, her habits, and eventually her career.
She began sharing her gluten-free lifestyle online while working in finance. She posted consistently for years, building an audience long before she ever sold a product. When COVID hit, and home baking surged, her platform exploded. By the time she launched Sweet Addison’s, she didn’t need ads. She had trust.
The lesson? Your lived experience is often your strongest differentiator.
Building With Discipline, Scaling With Vision
In the early days, Addison baked, packaged, and shipped nearly 50,000 cookies by herself. She operated out of her apartment, moved food into her neighbor’s fridge to make space for ingredients, and worked 12-plus hour days without seeing the sun.
She doubted herself. She questioned whether she should return to corporate finance. But she visualized the end goal.
Her background as a soccer player at the University of Maine shaped her tolerance for discomfort. She embodied delayed gratification. She was willing to work like no one else would, so she could build something most people never will.
Today, Sweet Addison’s has four full-time employees, a commercial kitchen production, nationwide shipping, more than 30 retail doors, hotel placements, and viral product launches — including high-protein brownies that generated record-breaking sales.
Her next vision? Walking into a national grocery chain and seeing her cookies on the shelf.
Enjoy this episode with Addison LaBonte…
Soundbytes
16:00–16:22
“For the first — I don’t know — maybe six months or so, I was
really doubting if this was a good idea for my life. And, I wish I
could go back and tell myself that it’s a great idea, and this
business will bring me places that finance never could. And it will
introduce me to people that I would have otherwise never met.”
18:33–18:57
“You know, I worked my entire life till I was 18 to go to college,
and there was no guarantee that I’d be a D1 soccer player, but I
was working that hard for years in the hopes that that would
happen. So I was able to tell myself in those early days that,
‘Work really hard now and be willing to do the things that most
people won’t do now, so that later on you’re able to live your life
like other people can’t.’”
Quotes
“Being an entrepreneur is being outside my comfort zone every single day.”
“If this doesn’t exist on the market and I’m willing to bring it through TSA, there must be other people looking for this, too.”
“The best compliment someone can give me is not only do these taste good, but I feel really good after I eat them.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
From Our Guest
Website: https://www.sweetaddisons.com
Connect with Addison LaBonte on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addison-labonte-536227121/
Connect with Addison LaBonte on Instagram: https://instagram.com/sweet.addisons
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