Emily Ferrara is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of The Forward Bar, a whole-food protein bar that gets its 12 grams of protein from real seeds and almonds instead of protein powder. A former finance professional turned IIN-certified health coach, she builds the brand alongside her fiance and co-founder, Joe. 

We sat down with Emily to talk about leaving finance, her passion for wellness and the healthy CPG space, why she believes in the power of whole food nutrition, and building a wellness brand one sample at a time.👇

My background is in finance. I started my career in financial consulting and also spent some time working in fashion. After leaving finance, I decided to pursue something I had always been passionate about, health and wellness, and became a certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).

Health and wellness have always been a big part of my life. I grew up as an athlete, constantly playing sports and taking workout classes, and I became interested in nutrition from a young age. I was always looking for healthier alternatives to the foods I loved, experimenting with baking using unrefined sweeteners and more wholesome ingredients, and paying close attention to ingredient labels.

That passion ultimately became part of the inspiration behind The Forward Bar. The Forward Bar is a whole-food protein bar with 12 grams of protein from seeds and almonds, not protein powder. We wanted to create something that delivered meaningful protein while keeping the ingredients as close to their whole-food form as possible.

Our bars contain no refined sugar, seed oils, or natural flavors. They're sweetened with dates and raw honey and come in four flavors: Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, Lemon Coconut, and Vanilla Chai. Everything comes back to real food—even our chocolate chips are sweetened with dates, and the lemon flavor in Lemon Coconut comes from real lemon zest. The idea is simple: protein and nutrition from ingredients you can actually recognize.

Next time you’re in the protein bar aisle, turn over the package and read the ingredients. What does almost every bar with a meaningful amount of protein have in common? Protein powder. We started by asking a simple question: why does it have to?

It wasn’t easy to make the macros work—to create a bar with 12 grams of protein, under 300 calories, and relatively low in sugar using real, whole-food ingredients—but we did it.

With The Forward Bar, we wanted to challenge the idea that protein powder is the default way to get protein, and that protein is the only nutrient that matters. Our protein comes directly from whole seeds and almonds, so you're not just getting protein—you're getting the fiber, healthy fats, and naturally occurring nutrients that come with the whole food.

We went against the norm to create a bar that delivers more than a protein number on the front of the package. It’s whole-food nutrition, in a bar.

Our whole approach is about getting back to the basics and getting nutrition from whole foods. Right now, there is so much emphasis on protein—and while protein is incredibly important, we don’t believe it’s the only nutrient that matters.

Instead of isolating protein from its original source, we use the whole ingredient. So rather than using pumpkin seed protein or hemp protein powder, we use whole pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, and almonds. That way, you’re not just getting the protein—you’re also getting the naturally occurring healthy fats, fiber, and other nutrients that come with those foods. We also embrace carbohydrates from whole-food sources like dates rather than trying to eliminate an entire macronutrient.

Protein powders require additional processing to extract and concentrate the protein from its original food source. We wanted to take a different approach: keep the food intact and let the ingredients provide nutrition in the form they naturally come in. For us, it’s not about chasing one macro—it’s about looking at the whole nutritional picture.

We did a lot of recipe testing in our own apartment. Joe brought them to his office, one of his coworkers was our very first customer, and all of our friends and family were trying them. We literally walked around passing out samples, and everyone kept asking where they could buy it, when it was really just what we were making for ourselves. That feedback, "how does this not exist," was how we knew we were onto something. 

We created our base formula and then found a co-manufacturer to help us formulate four flavors all from real food. That part was challenging, because a lot of manufacturers told us it was not possible to make a whole-food protein bar under 300 calories with 12 grams of whole food protein. We were basically told it could not exist.

When we finally found our co-manufacturer, he asked if we could use natural flavors, and we said absolutely not, we did not want to compromise on anything. We launched last September, Labor Day weekend in the Hamptons, doing events at wellness studios. The reception was really positive in a market where people care about whole foods and fueling their body with real ingredients.

We’re primarily direct-to-consumer, but from the beginning, we’ve always said we’re building more than a protein bar—we’re building a community rooted in wellness and the idea of getting back to the basics.

A huge part of our growth has come from getting the product into people’s hands. Joe and I have personally attended more than 30 events and pop-ups, while also supplying bars to other wellness events, partnering with like-minded brands, and seeding product to influencers and creators who genuinely align with what we stand for.

This summer, we brought that community to life with our first large-scale event we hosted in the Hamptons, The Forward Collective at Gurney’s Montauk. We brought together around 200 people for two workout classes led by incredible trainers, followed by a gifting experience featuring more than 10 brands that met what we call our “Forward Standard”—brands prioritizing things like no seed oils, no natural flavors, and primarily unrefined sweeteners.

At the same time, we’re continuing to build our presence across social media and retail. For us, the goal is to create real touchpoints with consumers—whether someone discovers us at an event, on a store shelf, through a friend, or online—and build a community around a shared approach to wellness.

It is definitely a challenge and not a normal path, but our strengths complement each other. Joe handles more of the operations and business side, the finances and supply chain, and I handle the branding, marketing, partnerships, and creative. We work really well hand in hand. We each have our own roles and responsibilities, but we always go back to each other for a second opinion.

Our consumer spans a wide range of ages and lifestyles because, at the end of the day, the ingredients are incredibly simple and approachable. It could be a Pilates girl in her 20s, a mom packing a snack for her kids or grabbing something between pickups, or someone working long hours in a corporate office.

So while we don’t define our consumer by one specific demographic, we do define them by a mindset. They’re someone who cares about ingredients and pays attention to how they fuel their body. They’re likely reading labels, cooking with real foods, shopping the outer aisles of the grocery store, and choosing quality ingredients whenever they can.

The Forward Bar is for that person when life gets busy. They shouldn't have to compromise their standards just because they need something convenient and on the go.

There is so much noise in the food and CPG space, and from the outside, it can look like every brand around you is succeeding. But you never really know what is happening behind closed doors. It can be easy to compare your growth, your retail presence, or your milestones to someone else’s without knowing the full picture.

One of the hardest things I’ve learned is that there really is no instruction manual. There is no single path to building a successful food brand, because every business, product, and consumer is different. You can learn from other founders and brands, but ultimately, you have to figure out what works for your own business—often through a lot of trial and error.

For me, it has been about learning to tune out some of that noise, trust what we’re building, stay close to our consumer, and keep moving forward.

We launched with four flavors, and right now our focus is continuing to build around that core assortment. Over time, we definitely see an opportunity to introduce new flavors, particularly limited-edition and seasonal launches that keep the brand exciting while allowing us to test what resonates with our community.

On the retail side, we’re currently in more than 60 independent grocers, wellness stores, and specialty retailers. That has been very intentional for us. These smaller, curated stores allow people to discover the brand in environments where they’re already looking for high-quality, better-for-you products.

For now, we want to continue growing that footprint while staying focused on DTC and building real brand awareness. Large-scale retail isn’t something we feel the need to rush into. We want to build a strong foundation, understand our consumer, and make sure we have the right infrastructure in place so that when we do pursue larger retail opportunities, we’re truly ready to support them.

Favorite book? The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

Favorite podcast? The Wellness Process Podcast by Elizabeth Endress

Favorite player, dead or alive, you'd want to meet, and why? Dave Grutman

Current hype song? Mr. Brightside by The Killers

Favorite basketball team? The Knicks

Favorite player? Jalen Brunson

Favorite game you've witnessed? The Finals this year

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