Marygrace Sexton sold her orange juice company, then watched it start to spoil. A rescue operation was needed.
ACROSS TOWN FROM Tropicana’s factory in Fort Pierce, Florida, which swallows dozens of truckloads of oranges each run and fills the air with the sting of bitter peel oil, Marygrace Sexton is walking through the considerably smaller juice plant she owns. At 7PM, the first of six semis rolls up with 50,000 pounds of fruit. Workers check each orange for bruising before a claw-like machine juices it. By 3AM, 30,000 gallons will start flowing into bottles.
While Tropicana’s juice can remain for a year in million-gallon tanks covered with a blanket of nitrogen, Sexton’s product is shipped out later that morning. “Feed your body like you want it to treat you,” the tan, athletic 60-year-old says. “We were making fresh juice before it was chic.”
It was in 1989 that Sexton was inspired to compete with the preservative-laced cartons on supermarket shelves. With $20,000 she had saved from a job as a radiologist’s receptionist, she installed two 1,000-gallon stainless steel tanks and a juicer in a shack surrounded by groves and borrowed a butcher’s refrigerated truck to deliver the first pallet herself. Thus was born Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Co., Natalie referring to Sexton’s first child, born nine months before.
“In those early days, I had a terrible fear of poverty,” says Sexton, who was raised by a single mother who worked as a maid. Sexton herself started working at a movie theater at age 14, and later as a waitress, to help pay her family’s electric bills. “Knowing what poverty does,” she says, “I was just so driven.”
Natalie’s now sells 25 flavors — from tangerine to matcha (green tea) lemonade — in 42 countries and 5,000 U.S. supermarkets and makes private label juice for chains like Pret A Manger. Sales last year topped $60 million on a volume of 7 million gallons.
Esta historia es de la edición March - May 2019 de Forbes Woman Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March - May 2019 de Forbes Woman Africa.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Well-Grounded
Coco Cachalia, whose mother Amina was among the 20,000 in the Women’s March of August 1956, made a decision to stay away from politics – and succeed in business instead.
Art Becomes Her
A celebrated international fine artist, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi overcame the struggles of apartheid, and her work is grounded in her past.
'Not Just Pro-Women But Pro-Progress'
South Africa’s Minister of Women Susan Shabangu on the significance of the 61st anniversary of Women’s Day, and the role men can play in ending gender violence in South Africa and creating an equal society.
Diversity And Inclusion Are Part Of Baker Mckenzie's DNA
According to Law360’s 2017 Glass Ceiling Report, women make up around one-third of the attorneys in private legal practice. Among the law firms surveyed, just below 23% of partners are female.
We, Men For Women
South Africa still has a long way to go for gender justice in business and in life, but with more men openly stepping forward to be a part of the discourse, FORBES WOMAN AFRICA speaks to two male entrepreneurs, a CEO and a social activist. They acknowledge diversity makes smart social and economic sense that will benefit all.
What, After All, Does Feminism Have To Do With Men?
According to the seminal African-American writer bell hooks (her name is not capitalized), feminism is for everybody.
Blood, Setbacks And Tears
Two sisters with common failures and a dream to eventually succeed.
Fighting To The End
In May, 82 more Chibok girls were released in exchange for Boko Haram prisoners. Oby Ezekwesili, a strong advocate in the campaign to bring them back, has vowed to never stop fighting.
Not Just Hard Work, But Heart Work
As incidents of gender-based violence increase in Africa, those like Nigeria’s Kemi Dasilva-Ibru, are trying to bring relief to stigmatized victims.
Going Down The Spice Route
Essie Bartels worked several odd jobs she hated before opening a company selling mouth-watering spices and sentiments to the world.