My story so far

As the first investment associate at Matter Ventures, I led the charge in building and running a bi-coastal accelerator, shaping the trajectory of early-stage media entrepreneurs. My strategic focus on user-centered product innovation resulted in the successful acceleration of 49 companies and several outside innovation programs for legacy media companies like The New York Times, The Associated Press, KQED, and more.

To further hone my skills in business, design, and engineering, I pursued a dual MBA/MS program at MIT Sloan School of Business.

I was particularly interested in how to apply behavioral economics to the challenge of food sustainability. My proudest accomplishments include:

Yum Lab. For my final design project, I created an internal "farmers market" innovation service for large retailers with the goal of creating the same culture of butcher shops for vegetables. We prototyped with a live pop up event to test the desirability of our offering, resulting in introductions to innovation arms of large CPG companies and retailers.

Comparative LCA of Impossible and Regenerative Ranching. I investigated the claims around regenerative ranching at scale to understand the portfolio of options to reduce the environmental impacts of meat.

Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Adoption of Plant-Based Meat. In my final year, with a Net Impact sponsorship, I designed a real-world behavioral experiment. My hypothesis is that parity in cost and tech are not enough to combat psychological meat attachment. Informed by an extensive literature review, I created a unique “test kitchen” experience to investigate how language, storytelling, and tradition can overcome this barrier.

My thesis can be read here.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I pivoted my expertise to where it was most needed, leading a dynamic team in scaling up testing and vaccination initiatives across the United States.

As Head of the Design Team, I built a team of designers and user researcher to better inform our product strategy and development with both qualitative and quantitative user research and insights. Together, we orchestrated the development of cutting-edge software that powered three labs nationwide, facilitating over 21 million COVID-19 tests and 1.5 million vaccinations within a span of just under a year.

In my current role at Arcadia Science, we’re harnessing biology in an unbiased way to solve real world problems in therapeutics.

My role is a blend of startup studio creation and product management, where a lot of the value I bring is in my design-forward business lens as applied to innovation in biotech.

I’ve also initiated and currently lead our product design team at Arcadia to harness our predictive datasets for internal tooling.

Food is still a big part of my life. During some time off, I trained as a commercial deckhand on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska, worked as a seasonal trail mix designer for Nuts.com, and even went so far as to start a little side project called virgo supperclub that has grown a little cult following.

I also love playing volleyball, learning languages (currently Japanese), and doing the crossword.