Alissa Leinonen is the award-winning Founder & CEO of Seattle’s largest and longest running woman-owned catering and boxed-lunch company, Gourmondo Co. What began as a small, four-table lunch spot in Pike Place Market over 20 years ago is now a leader in the Pacific Northwest catering industry. There is much about Alissa and her success that is remarkable, but perhaps most inspiring is her commitment to People First—to her family, her employees, and her community.

In this presentation from Tugboat Institute Summit 2020, Alissa describes how that commitment to People First has guided her throughout her journey as an entrepreneur and through the challenges of the COVID period, when over 24-hours in the early days of the pandemic she saw 80 percent of her business disappear. Alissa’s remarkable pivot to serve her community and save her business is an inspiring Evergreen success story.