For years, Lanning Ardente ’14 had an idea she couldn’t quite shake. It first surfaced when she was pregnant with her daughter and found herself struggling to answer what seemed like a simple question: Which products were safe for her to use?
The more she searched, the less clear the answer became. Online research led to conflicting information about ingredients to avoid during pregnancy, and conversations with her doctors didn’t always provide a definitive answer.
For Ardente, who had built a career in consumer packaged goods, the experience was surprising. In the food and beverage industry, consumers could look for established certifications for everything from organic to vegan products. Yet during a time when she was paying closer attention than ever to what she was putting in and around her body, she struggled to find the same kind of clarity.
And it wasn’t just skincare.
“I felt like my whole world turned over in terms of what I was consuming and bringing into my house,” she said.
Once her daughter was born, she found herself asking the same questions about formula, diapers, wipes, cleaning products, and more. When she went through the experience again with her second child and realized little had changed, an idea that had been lingering in the back of her mind became harder to ignore. But bringing it to life would require Ardente to do something she had spent years hesitating to do: start from scratch
“For a long time, part of the reason I didn’t do anything about it was I just was very afraid to start something because I was afraid to fail,” she said.
That willingness to move forward without having everything figured out was something Ardente had been practicing, in different ways, since Denison.
An economics major and communication minor, she arrived on The Hill as a recruited lacrosse player and found an education that gave her room to try new things.
“I felt the liberal arts education was a really good way for me to holistically learn and explore,” she said.
That exploration continued after graduating from Denison. Her first job was at Vineyard Vines, where a connection through a Denison friend helped her land an interview. After moving to Boston, she took a job in finance and quickly discovered it wasn’t where she wanted to build her career. She doesn’t consider that experience a misstep.
“I think it’s also really important to try something and learn that you don’t like it,” Ardente said. “It’s kind of equally as important as finding something that you love.”
Eventually, she found her fit in consumer packaged goods, beginning a decade-long career that took her from large companies like Late July Snacks that was acquired by Campbell’s Soup to small startups. In her final role before starting her own company, she worked with founders to help bring ideas to market, gaining exposure to more than 30 food and beverage brands.
She saw businesses succeed. She saw others fail. And without knowing it at the time, she was gathering lessons she would eventually apply to an idea of her own. As that idea took shape, so did her understanding that waiting until she felt completely prepared could mean waiting forever.
“There really is no perfect time to do anything in life,” Ardente said. “You won’t ever feel 100% ready to start something.”
Eventually, her fear of failing was outweighed by the possibility of never trying at all. She discovered how important relationships could be to building something from the ground up.
“One relationship can lead to a warm introduction that can lead to something else, and you just never know,” she said.
It’s a lesson that extends well beyond entrepreneurship — and one Ardente wishes she had understood earlier in her career.
“If there’s anything I could encourage younger alums to do, it’s build their network of relationships early,” she said.
For Ardente, Denison has been part of that network from the beginning. Some of her closest friendships started on The Hill. She met her husband at Denison during her first year, and her first job after graduation came through a connection with a fellow Denisonian. Years later, she still finds that the shared experience of Denison can open the door to a meaningful conversation.
“There is already that connection, that emotional soft spot around Denison that I think you might underestimate,” she said.
On November 12, Ardente will bring those experiences back to the Denison community through Share, Lift, Lead: How Motherhood Can Drive Entrepreneurial Passion.
Her conversation will explore lessons from a career that didn’t follow a straight line, including navigating professional pivots, finding purpose through motherhood, building meaningful relationships, and moving beyond the fear that can keep a great idea on hold. For alums attending, Ardente hopes her experience can offer something useful whether they’re considering starting a business, thinking about a career change, building their professional network, or simply wondering what might come next.
And attendees shouldn’t expect a story about having everything figured out.
Instead, Ardente will share what she has learned from figuring it out along the way — and why asking for advice, making connections, embracing uncertainty, and being willing to start before you feel completely ready can make a difference.
Because if there’s one lesson her journey has reinforced, it’s that the perfect moment may never arrive.
Sometimes, you simply just have to begin.
