Who We Are
NexxtLevel Brands was born in one of those aha! moments. You know the ones that Oprah always talks about. Don’t remember if we were enjoying a glass of wine or driving in the car, (but definitely not at the same time) we realized that if we combined our strengths, backgrounds, and skills that we would be able to really help people reach their dreams of starting their food, beverage or small goods business.
About Us
Debra Armstrong and G. Steven Cleere are life and work partners; married for 30 years and have each enjoyed their own careers before combining their skills working with entrepreneurs and their teams to help build emerging CPG Brands.
​
Steve is a Retail Marketing Expert with 25+ years of experience. He was a founding partner of a retail marketing agency in San Francisco, working with a lot of the CPG ‘Big Boys’, including Nestle’, ConAgra, Nabisco, Tetley Tea, Hasbro, McCormick, Johnson & Johnson, El Monterey and many others.
​
He began working with smaller brands and start-ups at the Food Incubator started at Renaissance, where Debra worked. Soon, he was on several boards and working with emerging brands to build distribution, expand production and raise funding. He had fallen in love with helping others who were working to grow their businesses and were following their dreams.
​
Connect with Steve on LinkedIn:
Debra is an Educator, Trainer and Coach with over 15 years experience as a business educator, advisor and trainer. She has a Bachelor’s in Business, a Master’s in Education and is an ICF (International Coaching Federation) certified coach. She and Steve were both SBDC (SBA) advisors in Northern California.
​
She has spent the last 10 years working with aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners, including as Training Manager at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Francisco. While there, she helped 100+ aspiring business owners and developed curricula that was used in classes throughout Northern California. She also works with Steve as an advisor to TechHelp, the food processing support group of the Idaho Dept. of Commerce, working to help small and medium size companies grow and scale.
​
Connect with Deb on LinkedIn:
