Season 1 — Dropping October 2026

Whispering in the Grand Canyon

Twenty years. 137,000 obstacles. Still learning, still going. Pull up a chair, wherever you are in your journey.

20
Years in business
137K
Obstacles (and counting)
374
Times we almost quit
Sugar & Grit Podcast Logo - Ice Cream with a drip surrounded by flowers.

The Show

Not a guru in sight.

Sugar & Grit is about the human side of building a business: where we started, the years we spent chasing money and other people's expectations, and where we are on the journey now.

"We believe in you. And you should too."

We're two founders with polar opposite personalities, talking like two friends in a kitchen: warm, vulnerable, self-deprecating, and very, very real. We spent almost 20 years building eCreamery, America's personalized ice cream gift company. Now we're telling the whole story: how we began, why we started, going on national TV as a marketing strategy, and how our "why" got lost along the way.

If you're building something, we want you to know we've been there, and it's so hard.

Sugar & Grit

Your Hosts

Polar opposite personalities. One very honest podcast.

Abby Jordan

Abby Jordan

Co-Founder, eCreamery

Abby Jordan is the co-founder and operational force behind eCreamery, the Omaha ice cream company she launched with longtime friend and polar-opposite business partner, Becky App, in 2007. Abby helped transform a neighborhood ice cream parlor into a nationally recognized eCommerce gifting brand, leading the work that keeps it all running — marketing, content, PR, financial strategy, operations and HR — with a particular knack for scaling production, optimizing fulfillment and finding sustainable growth through the most demanding peak seasons.

She understands the challenges entrepreneurs face because she's lived them. Abby got her start in the early days of e-commerce with pivotal roles at Borsheims — where she first teamed up with Becky on an online corporate gifting program — and at Hayneedle, running specialized online stores and, in her words, "really getting my hands dirty in e-commerce." When an investor bought eCreamery.com and a local ice cream parlor in 2007 and brought the two of them in to merge the operations, Abby and Becky saw the potential, overhauled the model, and rebranded it around what they actually sell: heartfelt, memory-making gifts that happen to be delicious.

Along the way, Abby and Becky survived ABC's Shark Tank, two private-equity buyouts and approximately 523,416 obstacles. Their creations have reached the likes of Rachael Ray, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah, and appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Vogue, ESPN and other national media.

Abby lives in Omaha with her husband, Scott, and their two daughters, Effie and Frankie. When she's not making ice cream dreams come true, she's usually in the kitchen cooking up something delicious or out in the garden — the two places nobody can email her.

Becky App

Becky App

Co-Founder, eCreamery

Becky App is the co-founder and a creative force behind eCreamery, the Omaha ice cream company she launched with longtime friend and polar-opposite business partner, Abby Jordan in 2007. Becky helped transform a neighborhood ice cream parlor into a nationally recognized eCommerce gifting brand, with her hands in everything from brand concept, new products, PR Operation: Get It In Their Mouths, marketing, corporate sales, customer service and countless creative pivots.

Along the way, Becky and Abby survived Shark Tank, two private-equity buyouts and approximately 523,416 obstacles. Their creations have appeared in The New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Vogue, ESPN and other national media.

Before betting her career on personalized ice cream, Becky worked in marketing and retail strategy for Borsheims Fine Jewelry & Gifts, a Berkshire Hathaway company and  Brighton Jewelry, serving 85 independent retail clients with sales and marketing across Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado.  She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas with degrees in psychology and Spanish - both of which have proven surprisingly useful when navigating entrepreneurship and a partnership between two wildly different personalities.

Becky is deeply involved in Omaha’s Dundee small-business community and is a founder of the Dundee Creative District. She advocates for local small businesses and for making smart, affordable technology accessible to the brick-and-mortar retailers working hard to keep their communities vibrant.

She lives in Omaha with her husband, Mike, their two sons and two rescue cats, Argo and Spike, who all remain unimpressed by all business-related accomplishments.

Latest Episode

Season 1 is coming soon!

01

Season 1, Episode 1

We Took the Leap — Obstacle #1

The moment Becky and Abby said yes to something that made absolutely no sense on paper — and why that was the best decision they ever made. Or at least, the most interesting one.

Season 2 Is Coming

We've survived 137,000 obstacles. Yours might be #137,001.

Season 2 is built around you. Tell us what cliff you're hanging off right now — and we'll tackle it together. Your obstacle could be the episode someone else needs to hear.

Share Your Obstacle

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