The Kara Roell
Achievement
Award.
Celebrating Kara Cissell-Roell, and the women who, like her, use their voice to open doors and bring other women with them.
The Kara Roell Achievement Award was created in Kara's honor to recognize women who, like her, leave a lasting mark on the consumer industry and on the women within it.
Women who use their voice, their influence, and their position to open doors for others. Women who make the room bigger.
Elysia joined her family's business full-time in 1999 and became CEO of Twang, the company her father founded in 1986, in 2017. Under her leadership, she grew the business from single-digit millions in revenue to a private equity partnership with Encore Consumer Capital in 2023.
Along the way, she built an all-women executive leadership team across sales, operations, and finance, and chaired a board with not one, not two, but three women on it. Today she leads Twang Foodservice as CEO following its sale to Solina and serves on the board of Twang Brands. For Elysia, building a great business and creating opportunities for other women can, and should, happen together.
Built Simple Mills from her home kitchen into a leading natural food brand found in more than 30,000 stores, through its landmark acquisition by Flowers Foods.
Created the allergy-friendly snack brand inspired by her daughter, and became the first Black woman to raise over $1M publicly for a CPG food startup.
Seasoned CPG leader who has guided Health-Ade, Nature's Bakery, and brands at PepsiCo and P&G through transformative growth and acquisition.
Co-founded Perfect Bar at 19 and created the refrigerated snacking category, growing the company past $100M through its acquisition by Mondelez.
In 2026, we created this video to honor Kara's legacy, interviewing the people who knew her best.
Her family, friends, and colleagues share who Kara was: the energy she brought into every room, the way she believed in people before they believed in themselves, and the doors she opened for so many women in consumer. We hope it helps you get to know her the way they did.
We're carrying you forward, one board seat at a time.
Kara spent her career believing in people, and that belief changed the consumer industry. Every woman we place on a board is part of the legacy she helped build.