Nice to meet you!
I’m Remy.

I’ll be honest, it’s incredibly strange writing “we” in many sections of this website. In nearly every way, Smaller Apple is me, Remy. That’s true in practice — I’m the only full-time employee, and the sole person who leads the work this company is hired to do. Moreover, it’s true in approach & intent, as our ways of working are fundamentally shaped by my career in this same work.

That said, the “co” is because practicing these values only ever happens together. For one, I tap others where clients need an extra hand or skillset — in many cases, the very same people that shaped my outlook along the way. But most importantly, building companies & departments with clients means constantly learning from each other during our partnership.

That’s, essentially, why you’ll never find a “royal ‘we’ ” here. In everything I work on, my value takes root in collaboration, and the success it brings is shared.

Smaller Apple’s whole mission is to grow businesses through connection to others. By definition, in the long-term, success in that mission requires those others to connect & grow, too. I strongly believe such success can be built universally, across industries, because I’ve seen it firsthand as the difference in successful teams. It’s easy to say, hard to do together, and so worth striving for.

This page is about me & my background, since that’s what anyone working with Smaller Apple needs to know. You should have faith in the specific person you’re trusting to lead a department in your organization. Just know that that leadership will always extend beyond myself, as success through these values is pursued, reaped, and celebrated as a team.

Whether we work together or not, I hope that some part of Smaller Apple resonates with you!

- Remy Lupica

Founder & Consumer Strategy Lead

Clients, Peers, and Direct Reports

I don’t measure my ‘success’ solely by the growth I generate for client businesses. Success also includes the value I can provide to peer partners in their roles, and the professional growth of the junior team members under my leadership.

  • "The B2B business has operated almost as a small startup within Nespresso, requiring nuanced support and strategy unique to the main brand... (Remy) helped us bring the whole business together under a common joint strategy, and built bridges where none had been before. This approach made a world of practical difference to building ours.”


    Jessica Padula
    Vice President of Marketing & Head of Sustainability, Nespresso N. Am.
    Former Client

  • "Uniquely creative, disciplined, and collaborative. A lot of us would be lucky to have just one of those gifts, Remy has all three. On our skunkworks project for a large telco brand, he brought together strategic, creative, media, and branding teams together, to reimagine products & services in a way none could individually. It's an exciting way to work."


    Cam D'Auria
    Group Strategy Director, Hudson Rouge
    Former Report

  • “Remy’s a highly valuable partner and collaborator — engaging & insightful to partner teams, and very empowering to his teams & reports. We plugged him into many different sides of our business here as strategy lead, and every time, his warmth & specificity got many different partners onto the same page towards success.”


    Andrew Vollmer
    SVP Group Account Director, Publicis
    Partner

  • No matter the problem in front of our team, Remy is always thorough, communicative, and encouraging. His dedication & energy are infectious — across every department and every team member, he ensures that the whole team can buy into a vision & deliver it together. In short, he makes everyone he works with want to do better and be better.”


    Paul Wilhelm
    Innovation Strategy Lead, Publicis Citi Team
    Former Report

Where I’ve Worked, What I’ve Learned

Every value & process that Smaller Apple embraces, I adopted after seeing common threads across companies with vastly different sizes, structures, and products. In pursuing Smaller Apple’s mission, I pull from the structures I observed in the many organizations I’ve worked at,
and lessons I learned from the many talented teams & individuals I met there.

Structures & Principles, from companies I’ve worked within

Lessons about People, from clients I’ve worked on & for

Reach out to ask about any work / experience here — and click any logo for a specific example of what’s influenced me at each stop.

What Inspired This

For those who are interested — “regenerative farming” is the discipline that gives Smaller Apple its name & philosophy, and anchors much of my belief in the need for a sustainable world.

In short, many of the “standard” principles of farming are driven by predictability & profit margin — under-serving not only consumers, but nearly every other stakeholder as well, including growers themselves.

In contrast, regenerative farming focuses on improving soil health, which leads to healthier, more flavorful, and more bountiful crops. My belief, that businesses & their people could benefit from focusing on the inputs that drive the outputs, is very analogous to this approach.

    • Detailed explainer, from the Noble Research Institute

    • Local Roots NYC, a grassroots org building a regenerative food system, through a farm-to-doorstep Harvest Club & more

    • Red Hook Farms, a non-profit regenerative farm where I volunteer, which grows & distributes crops locally to combat food inequality