Back to All Events

Understanding Upcycling: Food Waste as Opportunity for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

This event is part of the NYC Food Waste Fair 2021. To see all NYC Food Waste Fair events, visit www.foodwastefair.com

About this event

Food waste reduction isn’t just about throwing away fewer scraps -- it’s about changing the way we think about waste. Learn all about upcycled food and meet the entrepreneurs who are adding value while giving otherwise wasted materials a second life.


Moderators: Turner Wyatt, CEO, Upcycled Food Association and Julie Raskin, Executive Director, Sanitation Foundation

Turner Wyatt is CEO of Upcycled Food Association and previously served as the Co-founder and Executive Director of Denver Food Rescue. Turner is co-founder and Board President of Fresh Food Connect, a nonprofit technology company focused on creating a market for homegrown food. Turner is the recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Colorado, the Waste360 40 Under 40 Award, and the Top 20 Emerging Leaders in Food and Ag award.

Julie Raskin is the Executive Director of the Sanitation Foundation. She joined Sanitation from American Express where she focused on developing external partnerships to drive business growth. She previously worked at the NYC Parks Department, where she developed a sustainability plan for special events and led a public-private partnership to install free public Wi-Fi in parks citywide. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from NYU.

Speakers include:

Fumi Tsukamoto, Co-founder & CEO, Abokichi

Fumi Tsukamoto is a food entrepreneur and award-winning recipe developer. Her recipe for OKAZU (Japanese miso condiment) won the Gold Sofi Award in 2020, while her Instant Miso Soup, which diverts sake brewing byproduct from going to waste, became a finalist for the SIAL Innovation Award in 2019. She is co-founder and CEO of Abokichi Inc. which has made Upcycling a core pillar of their product innovation strategy.

Ricardo Dias, Co-founder & CEO, Verum Ingredients

Ricardo is Co-founder and CEO of Verum Ingredients, a specialized ingredient supplier of South American food and beverage ingredients.

He has a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry and 15+ years of experience in R&D, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affair in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Ricardo coordinates Verum Ingredients and owns Research and Development programs on upcycled, functional food ingredients for gut health derived from agroindustrial by-products.

Beth Kennedy, Co-founder & CEO, Seconds

Beth Stockli Kennedy, CEO & Co-Founder of Seconds, has over 15 years of marketing and general management experience in the CPG industry. She held leadership positions at companies from startup to Fortune 500 including Peeled Snacks, Target, Tetra Pak, and Del Monte Foods. Beth is experienced at growing brands, commercializing new products, and scaling supply chains all while managing a P&L.

Chris Oates, Co-founder & CEO, WAJU

Chris Oates is the Founder of WAJU, the only beverage brand to source water entirely from the naturally occurring water in real fruit.

To create WAJU, Chris has partnered with US fruit suppliers to sustainably save and upcycle water from Organic fruit, giving you the goodness of fruit, but leaving behind all the sugar. He hopes his new sustainable water source used in WAJU can serve as a platform to evolve the entire water industry.

Previous
Previous
June 14

Food Waste Policy Action: Setting & Reaching National Targets on Food Waste

Next
Next
June 14

DonateNYC & Rescuing Leftover Cuisine Host UES Food Rescue