How did VentureWell contribute to your leadership development and your professional trajectory?
VentureWell helped me pilot a unique new professional development course that functioned exactly as it was designed: It helped students build critical professional networks, while also building new relationships for the university. One of those relationships resulted in Penn State being selected to host a prestigious United Nations (U.N.) youth innovation program, the World Food Forum Youth Food Lab, for all of North America, and I was selected to lead it.
What’s the biggest change or milestone your institution or venture has experienced since participating in VentureWell programming?
The critical mass that came with the U.N. World Food Forum Youth Food Lab designation has enabled us to start building an Innovation Gap program where we’re working to help young innovators scale and de-risk new technologies. This program will build trusted networks that both companies and students can interface with in support of the world’s most compelling new agri-food system technologies.
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
In 10 years, hopefully, I’m looking back on how many impactful technologies I was some small part of helping along. And if I’m really lucky, former students and colleagues will think of me as someone who helped them find their way to impact that’s meaningful to them and to the world.