On New Year’s Eve, 2010, Dre Slaman and her husband, G. Scott Brown, were at the Meridian on Hawthorne. The day-job/acting-hustle combo they’d moved to Portland to pursue wasn’t working out. They needed jobs with schedules that would allow them time for auditions and rehearsals. “I’ll never forget it,” says Slaman. “We wrote on this little piece of scratch paper: we want to do something that’ll get us out of working for other people. I still have that piece of paper.”

That piece of paper set the stage for the birth of the couple’s healthy gourmet meal delivery service, Farm to Fit. But Slaman and Brown’s story began not with food but with acting, when the couple met at Northern Illinois University while getting their MFAs. After graduating, they moved to LA, holding “survival” jobs to fund the hustle of the show biz on the side. The couple decided to move to Portland, almost on a whim. “I still don’t know why we did it,” Slaman laughs. Underwhelmed and undaunted by the rain, they landed jobs: he at the upscale mainstay Bluehour, she in property management.

They looked for a service like Farm to Fit in Portland — something like Jenny Craig, but with better, fresh food — but couldn't find anything. “We were shocked nothing like that existed because of all the beautiful, bountiful farms we have here,” says Slaman. A service in Seattle came close, but their unsustainable packaging counted them out. “They would FedEx the food to you in this big packaging that wasn’t environmentally sound at all,” says Slaman. With their scratch paper declaration in mind, Slaman and her husband decided to fill the need themselves. “That’s how it happened. We were like, ‘We’re just gonna do it!’” she recalls.

With acting as the end goal, Slaman and Brown set out to be their own bosses and make time for performing. But as any entrepreneur knows, starting a business is hardly conducive to discretionary time, much less growing an acting career on the side. 

“That’s the joke, right? ‘Well, I don’t want to work for anybody else, so I’m going to start a business.’ That’s the biggest joke ever. You’re working for the 30 people who are out there who are working for the 400 people that you’re serving. You’re working for everybody else actually,” says Slaman.

Luckily, Slaman wasn’t exactly a newcomer to the grueling game of startups. She had two teachers — her parents, entrepreneurs in her native San Diego, and her acting career. Slaman recalls the summer of Farm to Fit’s second year, a low point when there were only 25 clients: “I remember going to my dad saying, ‘I don’t think we can do this.’ And he was like, ‘No, you can. Put a goal in your head. If you can get to 60 by the end of the year, then you’ve got it.’ And we did.” 

As for acting, her education can be summed up in three words: how to hustle. Slaman draws on this teaching daily. “There’s something about acting that just translates over when you’re in that space,” says Slaman. Whether it was the thrill of the unknown or the harsh lessons in rejection and perseverance, working relentlessly for an acting career prepared her for the ups and downs of business ownership — insofar as preparation is possible.

One early experience stands out. At 22, Slaman was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma while she was in grad school. “I was in the middle of a show during it all – I remember the stage manager redressing my wounds during intermissions!”. After the surgery and treatment, she made a full recovery and returned to the theater. But when the next season’s cast list came out, Slaman’s name wasn’t on it. The head of the MFA acting program told her, “We didn't think you would be ready to do it.”

“You don’t yell at these people,” these people, meaning the heads of our program. says Slaman. She yelled at them.

“It was just this eye-opening experience. Nobody else gets to dictate what is good for me. My entire acting career has been that way. There’s a whole bunch of people telling you that you’re not good enough, that you can’t do it. That was my experience in tenacity.”

Farm to Fit owes its inception to acting, and it owes a great deal of its success to the passion and dedication with which Slaman has cultivated her craft. “I am such a better leader when I’m acting and in rehearsals,” Slaman says. “It just opens you up. I’m more vulnerable and a better listener.”

Slaman’s diligence paid off — Farm to Fit struck a nerve in the Portland market, and the company has enjoyed steady growth, leading them to branch out into areas as far as Salem and Vancouver, Washington. Slaman makes it clear this didn’t happen overnight. “There were years where I wasn’t doing any acting, because I didn't have the time,” she says. 

But ultimately, instead of shutting the door on an acting career, founding Farm to Fit has enabled Slaman to act more than ever. These days, Slaman’s agent books her gigs, and she’s at the point where she doesn’t have to fight for an audition — directors call her.

“I can’t believe it. This is what I’ve always wanted,” says Slaman.

Working alongside her husband is a different story. “It’s the worst,” she laughs, not quite joking. “It’s really challenging, because you take it home — it's hard not to. G. and I don’t agree on a lot of things.” He’s the dreamer and she’s the realist, but together, they make up the equation that makes Farm to Fit work. “That’s the beauty, right? Neither of us would’ve done it without the other person.” 

Between their combined strengths and years of industry expertise, Slaman is poised and ready to continue growing Farm to Fit. But she’s also the first to admit she’s still learning. “It’s hard to be the person who always has to make the decisions, always has to know the answers.” That’s where EO fills in the gaps. “It helps to have a safe space where you can tell people, ‘I have no idea and don’t get it,’” she says.

Besides a support network, EO has broadened Slaman’s scope. “When you’re working with entrepreneurs and engaging with them all the time, you’re always getting ideas and inspiration. I feel like a whole world of resources has been opened up to us.” 

With EO at her back and a future full of acting and gourmet food, Slaman has arrived. And she’s ready for more.

Written by Hannah Dugan, an Emerging Leaders intern at EO member company Thesis Agency.