Hunger Cues & Mountain Views: Nora of Neve on Food, Fuel & Entrepreneurship
When I say this conversation is about more than just a founder story, I mean it. Nora, founder of Neve, joined me to talk about building an athlete-focused nutrition brand, but we also got into so much more: women in mountain spaces, underfueling, unlearning old food narratives, and the very real emotional rollercoaster of trying to build something from the ground up. This one felt especially timely because so many of us are trying to take better care of ourselves while also juggling work, goals, stress, and the pressure to keep going.
🎧 Listen to the full episode below 👇
From Pennsylvania Ski Racing to Colorado Backcountry Life
Nora grew up ski racing on the East Coast and watching her mom do things that, at the time, didn’t seem “normal” for women of that generation. Her mom was skinning uphill, rock climbing, traveling for mountaineering trips, and showing Nora what it looked like to live fully in the outdoors. That example stuck.
Once Nora moved to Colorado for college, she fell in love with backcountry skiing and started going deeper into the mountain world. Over time, she also realized just how rare it was to have grown up with a female role model who made adventure look possible.
“I didn’t realize how rare it was until I realized, oh, I have like one girlfriend who has the mom who was like the inspiration for getting out.”
Underfueling, Food Noise, and Learning to Eat for Performance
A huge part of this episode centered around fueling, and I loved how honest Nora was about her own journey. As she started doing bigger mountain days, she realized she was underfueling without even really knowing it. Like so many of us, she was relying on bars that were hard to choke down and didn’t actually make her feel good.
That gap between what athletes needed and what was available is part of what eventually led to Neve.
We also talked about how complicated nutrition can feel, especially for women who grew up in the era of low-fat everything, carb fear, sugar fear, and all the weird messaging that made food feel like something to control instead of something that supports us.
“I don't earn my food. It's not about that at all. It's about putting the things into my body that are going to make me be the athlete I want to be.”
Why Nora Created Neve
Neve was born from a really practical problem: Nora wanted something easy to eat in the mountains that tasted good, worked well, and didn’t feel like one more gross sports nutrition product she had to force down.
She noticed athletes using applesauce and baby food pouches because they were portable, quick, and easy to digest, but they were not actually designed to fuel adult athletes. So she teamed up with a registered dietitian and created Neve with intentional ingredients and specific use cases in mind.
The two current flavors are designed a little differently, which I thought was really cool:
Boysenberry Beet for sustained energy
Tart Cherry Cacao for recovery support
Instead of making fueling feel more intimidating, Nora wanted to create a product and brand that felt approachable.
The Bigger Conversation About Women, Bodies, and Performance
This part of the conversation hit hard. We talked about body image, comparison, the pressure women feel to look a certain way, and how easy it is to confuse aesthetics with performance.
Nora shared openly about disordered eating tendencies, comparison traps, and the mindset shifts that helped her begin to see food differently. I think a lot of listeners will hear themselves in this part of the episode.
There is so much noise out there right now around protein, weight, clean eating, and what we are “supposed” to do. What I appreciated most about this conversation was how grounded it felt. Not preachy. Not perfect. Just honest.
Building a Business While Working a Full-Time Job
Another reason I loved this conversation is because Nora did not sugarcoat what entrepreneurship looks like behind the scenes. She is building Neve while also working a full-time job, and she talked candidly about exhaustion, sacrifice, stress, and the emotional side of trying to grow a business.
This part felt especially relatable because I know so many of you listening are trying to build something too, whether that is a business, a creative project, a new version of yourself, or just more time for what actually matters to you.
“Every day is like 10 failures and 10 reasons to cry. And then like 0.0001 wins.”
She also shared how much it means when people leave a review, recommend the product to a retailer, or simply reach out and say they love what she is building.
How You Can Support Small Brands Like Neve
One of my favorite parts of this conversation was talking about support beyond just buying a product. Yes, direct purchases matter. But so do reviews, DMs, word of mouth, and asking your local shop if they carry a brand you love.
That kind of support matters more than people realize, especially for small businesses trying to break into retail.
Easy ways to support:
Try the product and share your honest feedback
Leave a review if you loved it
Ask your local outdoor shop if they carry Neve
Follow along on social and share the brand with a friend
Follow Nora + Neve
Website: eatneve.com
Instagram: @eat_neve
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