Building Empire State of Food At Cornell Tech
Working in the technology practice area of a management consulting firm, I realized early on in my career that there are certain giant industries that are massively overdue for a tech disruption. Agricultural supply chains certainly are. With Leanna Mulvihill’s vision and expertise, I started on this journey to try and change the way we source food as our spec project for our Information Systems degree. I am glad, that Leanna and I have teamed up with Daniel Nissani and Paula Barmaimon to build this as a standalone product for our Startup Studio class.
At Cornell Tech, we are encouraged to think outside the box and apply technology solutions to places which need them most. We are encouraged to take classes to build our tech skills. But we are also taught to apply them so that they can make a lasting impact. Through my electives here, I have chosen to focus on learning how to build data products. I have taken classes on data science to sharpen my technical toolbox and also taken classes in business to hone my skills in building products that actually survive the world and are used by the intended audience. For startup studio and Empire State of Food, I want to combine these skillsets to bring a project that I care about to fruition.
Backing up to the second semester of the program, I teamed up with Leanna to work on a project with which she wanted to change how institutions source food. She wanted to use data science and use what she learned about the business during her time as a farmer, before starting grad school, to do this. I wanted to learn about data science and thought that this would make a for a great learning experience, so I hopped in on the idea and we worked together for a year to set the groundwork to actually build a product around this- what started as an academic project.
Leanna’s vision, passion and energy are infectious- which is why, for startup studio, Daniel and Paula joined us. Daniel, with his solid math background and admirable work ethic will provide the data science power we need to bring our idea to reality. Paula’s ability to see through problems, tell a compelling story and her strong visualization skills are much needed for our product to reach its true potential. I value my team, our experiences and our camaraderie and am excited to build the Empire State of Food to change the way institutions source from local farmers in the coming months.
