Liz Dee, co-president of American candy company Smarties with her sister Jessica Dee Sawyer and cousin Sarah Dee, didn't always know she wanted to join the family business, which was founded by her grandfather Edward Dee in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1949.

However, Dee continued "responding to the call," working on copy for Smarties' first website when she was in middle school and helping launch and maintain its social media accounts in college and graduate school. She took on her current leadership role in 2008.

Smarties, which just celebrated its 75th anniversary, is still based in New Jersey, where Edward Dee immigrated with his family from England the same year he started the company. Since its founding, and even over the course of Dee's own tenure as co-president, the marketing landscape has changed significantly.

"It is an uphill battle to maintain relevance and shelf space," Dee says. "Even if people love your product and love your brand, [you have] maybe a few facings on the shelf when some of the other companies out there have, say, 25% of shelf space, and that's a limited resource."

Related: People Underestimated Her 'Sweet' Idea, and She Took Advantage of It — All the Way to $125 Million in Annual Sales and a $360 Million Exit

Halloween is approaching, and Smarties attributes more than 25% of its annual sales to the holiday. This year, Smarties saw the earliest demand for Halloween ever in Dee's time with the company, with requests to ship for the holiday beginning in........

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