As President & Founder, Ms. Hayward is the driving force behind The Perfect Purée of Napa Valley. Following in the footsteps of her entrepreneurial father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Hayward, whose business acumen is self-taught, founded The Perfect Purée in 1988. Hayward nurtured her love of culinary arts at La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris, France. While completing the orientation course, Hayward became familiar with purees as an essential cooking ingredient which led to her decision to start the first U.S. based company producing quality purees for chefs. Her willingness to test her limitations led her to sell her home, providing her with the necessary startup capital. The first 18 months involved using a back bedroom in her parents’ home as an office while doing the intensive preliminary work crucial to a successful business launch.

Today, The Perfect Purée is the leading U.S. producer of premium fruit and vegetable purees. Its Culinary Traditions™ line boasts over thirty exceptional flavors, ranging from staples like raspberry, strawberry and banana to exotics such as lychee, passion fruit and tamarind. The line has a built a loyal following amongst the country’s top chefs, pastry chefs, and beverage professionals. Responding to customer requests for a bar line, the company focused new product resources to develop Beverage Artistry™, which is formulated specifically for beverage use. The line delivers bar chefs premium fruit bases and unique blends including Yuzu Luxe Sour, El Corazon and Passion Colada.

Ms. Hayward’s responsibilities as President for the past 24 years have focused on guiding the business development of the company, having established a core team to manage the business needs at the Napa corporate office in all areas, including production, finance, and sales and marketing of the specialty gourmet product line. Ms. Hayward is now focusing her efforts and time to leading research and development.

In addition to her certificate from La Varenne, Ms. Hayward holds a bachelor’s degree from the School of Journalism in public relations from the University of Southern California. Although her time is at a premium, she makes a point of giving to charitable causes. She supports her interest and desire to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. The company is active in the community through the Napa Valley Community Fund, with special focus on Cope Family Center and other local charities to support women and children. Proceeds from The Perfect Purée go to support the Foundation’s activities.

Ms. Hayward enjoys outdoor sports such as hiking in the Sierras and kayaking. She keeps abreast of current events and likes early world history, opera, gourmet cooking, gardening and painting.