Weekend Interview preview: Todd LaForest, Molly Pop

Todd LaForest didn’t set out to sell juice. He didn’t set out to sell grapes, either. He set out to be a lawyer—the kind that represented athletes, argued contracts, and maybe someday worked for a team.

That plan came apart somewhere between Marquette University Law School and a Milwaukee Brewers internship, when it became clear that sports law was a dream job, it just wasn’t his dream job. So he pivoted.

“My brother Brian had been in the produce industry since he was a stock boy at a little grocery store. He’s twenty years older than me, and I’d spent enough time around his world growing up—terminal markets, trade shows, the whole thing—to know it was interesting and you could ‘do well’ working in the produce industry.

“So I went out to visit him in Nogales right before my final year of law school, and I could see myself doing it. He always wanted me to work with him. Eventually, I said yes.

“What I’ll say is this: law school teaches you to become an expert in anything quickly. That’s probably the most useful thing it gave me. This industry isn’t easy to learn from the outside. The legal background helped me ask the right questions faster.”

For more about Molly Pop’s evolution and how cold pressed juice helped create a grape brand, come back here Saturday, May 23, to read the full interview.