Hey, New Yorkers! Join us for the first installment of NFE Talks, a series of live conversations between The New Food Economy’s editorial staff and the people changing how and what America eats.
DATE AND TIME
Wed, June 20, 2018
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
LOCATION
Bob and Sheila Hoerle Lecture Hall
The New School University Center
63 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
DESCRIPTION
Join us for Planting Seeds: Bringing Women to the Ag-Tech Table, the first installment of NFE Talks, a series of live conversations between The New Food Economy’s editorial staff and the people changing how and what America eats.
We’re collaborating with Karen Karp & Partners and the Food Studies Program at The New School University to host the East Coast premiere of the short documentary From Farms to Incubators: Telling the Stories of Women Entrepreneurs in Ag-Tech, followed by a conversation with filmmaker Amy Wu; Dr. Le Vuong, founder/CEO of The Redmelon Company, one of four entrepreneurs featured in the film; and Louisa Burwood-Taylor, editor of AgFunderNews. The discussion will be moderated by Karen Karp.
The 30-minute film follows several women as they enter the male-dominated ag-tech sector, putting a spotlight on the challenges that women and immigrants face and the important role they increasingly play in this rapidly expanding field. The film has screened at Western Growers, the Steinbeck Festival, and the Carmel International Film Festival.
After the screening and discussion, guests are invited to meet the filmmaker, panelists, and other attendees at a special reception featuring complimentary wine, beer, and seasonal hors d’oeuvres provided by Chef Alexis Tanen Shaw.
This program is organized by The New Food Economy and Karen Karp & Partners in collaboration with the Food Studies Program at The New School University.
Speaker Bios
Louisa Burwood-Taylor is a food and agriculture journalist focused on new technology and startup investment. Louisa is head of media & research at AgFunder, the online venture capital platform, and chief editor of AgFunderNews. Her career spans 10 years and involves a variety of different beats, mostly financial, including time at the Financial Times Group and Euromoney in Asia. She turned her attention to agriculture nearly five years ago as the founding editor of Agri Investor, the first publication dedicated to investment in the sector.
Le Thuy Vuong is founder and CEO of the Redmelon Company, a startup developing products from the Gac fruit for the dietary supplement and natural ingredient markets. Prior to the Redmelon Company, she served as chief operating officer and director of global R&D at Vitalea Science, Inc., a contract research organization specialized in accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). Formerly, Le was a consultant in the field of food and nutrition research for clients like German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Sight & Life, a division of Roche. In 2002, Dr. Vuong pioneered the use of AMS to study bio-conversion of beta-carotene to retinol in infants. She co-founded Lokiva Pediatrics to make drugs safer and more available for children and served as the company’s chief operating officer. Dr. Vuong received her Ph.D. in nutrition sciences and epidemiology from the University of California at Davis. She completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Western Human Nutrition Research Center at UCD, and the Cancer Research Center of the University of Hawaii.
Amy Wu is the founder and chief content director of From Farms to Incubators. She is a veteran journalist with significant international reporting and teaching experience, having worked at Time magazine, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, for the USA Today Network; and has written for The New York Times, HuffPost and Wall Street Journal. She spent six years working in Hong Kong, widely reporting within the Asia-Pacific region including Shanghai and Singapore. She earned her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese.
Karen Karp (moderator) is a fourth-generation food entrepreneur. As President and Founder of Karen Karp & Partners (KK&P), Karen has established the company’s well-regarded niche: developing a range of bespoke strategies that strengthen the interconnections between agriculture, food, policy and people, and how to marry common interests of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. KK&P has grown to become a nationally respected boutique consultancy with a uniquely skilled staff and a diverse roster of clients. Karen and her team are equally adept in the boardroom, in the kitchen, or on the land – their systems-based approach is always both conceptually rigorous and grounded in practical understanding.