Sloan Foster, Chief Seasonings Officer, Founder of Sloan Seasonings “Influential Women to Watch in 2026”
Sloan Foster is a founder, strategist, and creative operator whose work lives at the intersection of business, culture, and flavor. Known for bridging rigorous go-to-market thinking with deeply human storytelling, Sloan has built and advised ventures that blend strategy with soul, and scale without losing their center.
She is the founder of Sloan Seasonings, a modern seasoning-salt brand rooted in a three-generation family legacy. What began more than 60 years ago in her grandmother’s kitchen evolved through her mother’s refinements and is now carried forward by Sloan into a contemporary CPG brand featured in luxury gifting suites in honor of the Primetime Emmys and Golden Globes. Sloan Seasonings is built on the belief that food is a connector, that “bland is banned,” and that everyday meals deserve intention, quality ingredients, and a story worth telling.
Before launching Sloan Seasonings, Sloan spent years in the startup ecosystem as a founder, advisor, and go-to-market strategist, helping early-stage companies navigate customer discovery, product positioning, strategic partnerships, and sustainable growth. She has lived the full entrepreneurial arc, from ideation to execution, from traction to turbulence, and brings a grounded, experience-driven perspective shaped by both success and setback.
Sloan has been a mentor with Founder Institute Texas since its first Austin cohort and continues to advise founders through consulting and strategic partnerships. Her mentorship style is direct yet empathetic, blending analytical rigor with creative problem-solving. She is known for helping founders see not just what they are building, but why it matters, and how to communicate that value in crowded markets.
What distinguishes Sloan is her ability to integrate business discipline with creative intuition. She approaches strategy the way others approach art: iterative, intentional, and rooted in observation. That sensibility informs everything from brand architecture and product development to storytelling and community building. Whether she is guiding a startup through market entry or standing behind a tasting bar introducing her family’s flavors, Sloan brings the same clarity of vision and respect for craft.
Her work is deeply personal without being precious, commercial without being hollow. It reflects a belief that legacy and innovation are not opposites, that resilience can be built quietly, and that growth can be both strategic and soulful.
Sloan’s journey continues to unfold across entrepreneurship, mentorship, and brand-building, with Sloan Seasonings serving as a living case study of what happens when heritage, creativity, and disciplined execution come together. She is building not just a product line, but a platform for connection, collaboration, and flavor-forward storytelling.
What have you enjoyed about working with startups?
What I’ve enjoyed most about working with startups is the constant integration of information. Being a founder means you’re surrounded by data, opinions, constraints, and opportunities all at once. You have to filter, assess, adapt, and execute in real time. For me, entrepreneurship lives at the intersection of data, execution, and gut.
Even early on, I knew I didn’t think in straight lines. I was drawn to questions that crossed disciplines and to environments that didn’t separate ideas into silos. When I was asked to join the Foundations honors program in college, it felt less like a decision and more like recognition.
Foundations was an integrated approach to traditional study within an already liberal arts environment, and I was part of the very first cohort. It taught us to look at complexity from multiple angles at once and to understand how systems influence one another. That way of thinking stayed with me.
After college, my path moved through retail management, corporate environments, and eventually into the startup world before founding my own companies. Along the way, I saw both the potential and the pitfalls of large institutions. I watched how systems can drift, how incentives get distorted, and how decision-making can become disconnected from real people and real outcomes.
Now, on my third startup and my first in CPG, I bring a unique combination of perspectives. I’m a mentor, a strategist, an operator, and a founder, sometimes all at once. That tension can be heavy, but it’s also valuable. It allows me to see patterns, make informed decisions, and trust my instincts when the data isn’t complete.
That ability to hold complexity, and still move forward with clarity, is what I’ve enjoyed most about working with startups. It’s also what continues to shape how I build.
Chef Aiden and Sloan Foster
What was your catalyst to launch Sloan Seasonings?
I knew I wanted to build something of my own, but I didn’t know what it would be yet. I remember telling myself that the next thing would be right under my nose, and trusting that if I stayed present, it would reveal itself.
It had been there all along. I’d been using my grandmother’s seasoning salt for decades, the same one my family used on everything. It lived on the counter, not tucked away, and followed me through different chapters of my life. I used to give it away as corporate gifts or to friends, and people always loved it. My mother did the same, and still does.
I’ve always loved to cook and to connect through food. If you come to my house, you won’t leave hungry. People often told me I should open a restaurant, and that was a hard no. I didn’t want a place. I wanted something that could travel, that could live in other people’s kitchens and nourish community without requiring me to be in the room.
What shifted was when I started blending it myself. That’s when I realized there were actually two distinct recipes, my grandmother’s original and my mother’s adapted version. Seeing them side by side made something click. This wasn’t just a family habit. It was a foundation.
Launching Sloan Seasonings was both a reinvention and an extension of me. I wasn’t leaving anything behind. I was carrying forward everything I’d learned, about building, discernment, discipline, and care, and applying it to something tangible. At this stage of my life, it’s also about legacy. I’m over fifty, I know who I am, and I’m building with clarity and confidence. I’m no longer seeking permission or approval for the choices I make, but I care deeply about earning trust at the counter. If people choose to buy it, use it, and come back for more, that approval matters.
It wasn’t a pivot. It was a conscious next chapter that had been there all along.
Pure Ingredients, Vibrant Taste, No fillers!
Meet your new go-to spicy blend. Sloan’s Spicy Smoky Salt is bold, savory, and handcrafted with clean, high-quality ingredients—no sugar, no citrus, no junk. Just pure chili-forward heat and smoky depth that levels up everything from cocktails to street corn. And yes… it’s tastier than Tajín.
Every bottle carries three generations of story and flavor. Share your story.
Every bottle carries three generations, but it’s less about inheritance and more about stewardship.
My grandmother, Doris Sloan, was a pioneer. Raised in Gonzales, Texas, she built her life with independence at a time when women weren’t expected to. While my grandfather was delivering milk, they ran a nightclub centered on music and community. Later, she built her own real estate business while also helping grow my grandfather’s pest control company. At the same time, she grew much of the food for their family, cooked daily, and still found time to dance. She understood ownership, systems, nourishment, and joy long before those ideas had language.
They embodied the American Dream as it existed then, built on ownership, effort, and belief. Those values are what I carry forward now, even as the landscape has changed.
I’m named after her. Sloan. The name comes from our English and Irish heritage and means “warrior.” That sensibility shaped how she lived and how she cooked. Her seasoning salt was practical, balanced, and generous. My mother carried that forward, adjusting the measurements over time, bringing in smokiness, and cooking with it daily. The ingredients stayed the same, but the expression evolved.
When I stepped into the lineage, I brought more heat and depth. All of the blends still share the same foundation, but the ratios and intent change. That evolution reflects how food culture moves, and how legacy stays alive when it’s allowed to adapt.
That’s what Sloan Seasonings represents to me. Not nostalgia alone, but continuity through change. Three generations, one foundation, built for how we cook today.
Tell us about your Classic Collection 4 Pack Travel Pack.
The Classic Collection 4-Pack Travel Pack is designed around a simple belief: bland is banned, and flavor should be part of everyday cooking, wherever that happens.
The pack includes Roasted Garlic, Garlic, OG, and Spicy, all made with Morton’s kosher salt, packaged in 1.5 oz resealable travel packs. Each blend shares the same foundation but delivers a distinct expression, from everyday balance to deeper roast and heat. Together, they reflect how people actually cook, layer by layer, meal by meal.
For a limited time, each Classic Collection Travel Pack also includes a small sample of Citrus Sriracha, offering a bright, unexpected note and a glimpse into where the flavors are continuing to evolve.
The travel size isn’t about compromise. It’s about flavor on the go. Sloan Seasonings are meant to be staples, and the resealable packs make it easy to take that staple with you, whether you’re cooking at home, on the road, or gathering with others.
For cooks who prefer a different salt profile, the Chef’s Edition features the same four blends made with Redmond Real Salt®, also in 1.5 oz resealable packs. That option highlights the mineral complexity of the salt itself while keeping the flavors consistent.
Both packs reflect the same philosophy: make great food easier, bring flavor everywhere you go, and never settle for bland.
Get a taste of everything with our 4 pack of Sloan Seasonings! Enjoy the delicious flavors of Roasted Garlic, Garlic, OG and Spicy while feeling good about your purchase – our seasonings are kosher, gluten free and ethically sustained!
Add some flavor to your meals and support ethical practices with our mixed flavors pack! Take your culinary adventures on the road with the Chef’s Edition 4-Pack Travel Pack from Sloan Seasonings, perfect for RV trips, hiking, camping, and outdoor cooking. Each compact travel jar delivers the bold, balanced flavors of our signature Chef’s Edition blend, featuring 11 essential mineral-rich salts and a harmonious mix of premium seasonings for unmatched taste anywhere. Elevate your meals—whether it’s lunch on the go, a skillet dinner on the trail, a campfire roast, or a quick RV snack—with gourmet flavor made easy for life on the go. Ideal for all your adventures, these travel packs make the perfect companion for food lovers who never compromise on flavor.
Use it to rim your mocktails or margaritas, shake it over fruit, avocado, grilled veggies, or popcorn—wherever you want flavor with fire.
You have built your company organically and gained Hollywood recognition. Take us through the process and how the Hollywood luxury gifting suites have made a difference.
The growth has been organic because I’ve been intentional about where and how I build.
About two years ago, I joined Les Dames d’Escoffier, Austin chapter, an international service organization for women in food, drink, and hospitality. That community mattered early. Being surrounded by women who had built real, lasting careers didn’t change my direction, but it confirmed it. It gave me confidence that Sloan Seasonings was worth building thoughtfully and on my own terms.
Last April, I was laid off from a startup I’d been helping that was commercializing an important inorganic resource for the U.S. When the appropriated funding didn’t come through, the work stopped. It was disappointing, but clarifying. My partner and I were already on a three-week road trip at the time, and that pause created space. I took it as a signal to focus fully on my own company.
During that trip, I reached out to This Girl Walks Into A Bar after seeing a post about losing their home and much of their production overnight in the Palisades, California fires. It was strategic and human. We’re both woman-owned, family-rooted businesses navigating resilience in real time. We connected virtually, and that relationship helped open the door to broader exposure, including introductions into the DPA luxury gifting suites.
But belief started even earlier. WildGins, a Texas-based, female-run spirits company and fellow Les Dames brand, collaborated with Sloan Seasonings when very few others would. That early support mattered. Molly, the founder, is now a friend, and that relationship grounded the brand long before there was visibility.
At the DPA gifting suite honoring the Emmys, I met Eme of Eme’s Baked Goods. We connected there and began co-hosting live sessions together, experimenting with flavor in real time. At my suggestion, she tried our Spicy blend in her chocolate brownies. She was pleasantly surprised. That curiosity turned into conviction. At the DPA Golden Gift Suite 26, the week of the Golden Globes, her chocolate brownie made with our Spicy seasoning became the tasting sample and a standout moment.
Celebrity exposure mattered. Seeing respected, culturally influential people respond to the product helped solidify momentum and broaden awareness in a way that’s hard to replicate. But it worked because the foundation was already there. The luxury gifting suites didn’t create the brand, they confirmed it.
For me, that’s what organic growth looks like: building with intention, welcoming validation when it comes, and letting relationships and reputation compound over time.
Ms. Viola Davis and Sloan Foster at the DPA Golden Gifting Suite. Photo Courtesy of Michael Bunning.
Can you pair a few dishes with your Sloan Seasonings?
Salad
Steak, Potato and Salad
Roasted Chicken and Potatoes – Any Blend or combo of them
Avocado Toast/Bowl – Any Blend or combo of them
Chocolate Brownies – Spicy
Cocktail Rims
Air fried Chicken wings (Arrow root and any blend)
Chili (use a mix of all the blends and add some cumin)
Tomato Soup & Homemade Croutons
You can check out recipes here: https://www.sloanseasonings.com/blogs/recipes
What is in store for 2026? Any thoughts on collaborations?
Looking ahead, 2026 is about expanding access while staying rooted in legacy and community. That includes selective retail partnerships where the brand can be experienced with context, not just shelf space, alongside continued growth through direct connection.
We’re building through mentorship and collaboration, including supporting Chef Aiden as he competes internationally and developing a collaborative seasoning blend together. We’re also deepening values-aligned partnerships, including inclusion in a sipping broth mix by Hiking Pony, with additional collaborations in development that haven’t revealed themselves yet.
I’m also working on a recipe book built around my grandmother’s handwritten recipes, adapting and iterating on them for how we cook today. It feels like a natural extension of the brand, honoring where the flavors came from while letting them evolve.
From a growth perspective, we’re meeting people where they already discover food. We’ve launched on Amazon, and in Q1 we’ll be launching on TikTok Shop. TikTok is built on community and conversation, which aligns with how Sloan Seasonings has grown from the beginning.
We’ll also continue to pursue thoughtful collaborations like those with Eme’s Baked Goods, where flavor crosses categories and creativity leads.
At its core, Sloan Seasonings is about connection through food in an increasingly disconnected world. Flavor becomes the excuse to gather, to talk, to share something real. We’ve always believed that bland is banned not just in food, but in how we show up. That belief continues to guide how we grow, who we collaborate with, and the kind of community we’re building.
Website and Tasty Newsletter: https://www.sloanseasonings.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sloanseasonings/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SloanSeasonings
TikTok: @sloanseasonings
Facebook: Sloan Seasonings
