Starting up: How Feat went from Idea to Action
Feat is a young project founded by self-described food innovation dreamer, world citizen, and healthy lifestyle lover Chiara Cecchini. With a background in international management and business, Chiara spent many of her academic years abroad. But two years ago, she returned home to her native Italy to work on a project that was once only an idea in her mind. Feat was born to bring together two things that Chiara valued most in her daily life: good food and fun physical activity.
Today Feat is a visionary project. It is a company that gathers, collects, shares and creates: technology, people, lifestyles, wellness routines, healthy food, and community. Feat aims to use scientific research to encourage behavior change for improved overall health and wellness through a system that rewards physical activity with nutritious food. It has been made tangible through the production of FeatApp, but continues to evolve and expand as a concept to reach a larger audience.
As Feat celebrates two years from the first vision, we’re taking the opportunity to get to know Chiara and the Feat story. This is part one of a two-part interview that discusses the beginning inspiration of Feat.
Food and physical activity were two huge catalysts in starting Feat. How did that come about?
Growing up I was always active. Sports, especially volleyball, we’re so ingrained in my daily routine that I never gave a second thought to keeping track of my daily exercise or questioning my physical wellness. Volleyball was fun and rewarding, and the success I achieved in sports was a result of my love and enthusiasm for the game. Nor did I grow up giving good food much thought. Hot meals and healthy food were just as part of my daily life as sports and friends and fun. As an Italian, it was natural to sit down to long meals in good company. These two aspects of my life, food and physical activity, were woven so well into my life that it was impossible to see them clearly until they both unraveled.
What happened to help you understand the importance of food and physical activity?
At 18 I was forced to step out of my usual routine for a knee injury, and take a break from the life that I had so long considered normal. No longer could I engage in what kept me happy and fit, nor could I barely do the minimum physical activity. When sports were ripped from my life, I noticed finally how big of a hole was left in their absence.
The food part came later. I had started studying business administration at the University of Florence and as part of my coursework had to fulfill an internship. I chose to go to France in 2012 and work in the Paris Chamber of Commerce. It was my first real experience of living away from home and Italy. France has a similar food culture to Italy, but I was still learning for the first time how to cook, how to find good food, and how to keep myself fit and healthy. It wasn’t easy!
How did you decide to study international business and management?
In high school, I concentrated more on accounting, but I realized that while I liked to play with numbers, I was not really in love with math. I also always loved foreign languages and travel, so I wanted a way to incorporate that. International business gave me a chance to get experience abroad, learn languages and understand different cultures while still playing with numbers a bit. My studies took me to France for an internship and a semester of studies, London to practice English and then in September 2014 I started a Master’s program in Moscow at the State Institute of International Relations. That was a big shock!
How was Moscow different from your experiences in London and France, for example?
In Moscow, all of a sudden small issues become big issues. These two crucial things in my life, food and physical activity, were once again jeopardized. It was so cold outside I couldn’t engage in the usual routines that kept me happy and active, like running outdoors. And the food was much different from what I was used to. It was tough figuring out how to maintain a healthy lifestyle in a foreign environment.
From your enthusiasm for a balanced healthy lifestyle, how did you create Feat?
When I was studying in Moscow, I started sharing my experience about finding a balance of rewarding physical activity and nourishing food in a healthy environment, wherever I was in the world. I talked to teachers, mentors and students about the link between these two in maintaining wellness. Slowly ideas about how to put these two concepts together started forming in my mind. I was encouraged by a mentor to apply to The Barilla Center for Food Nutrition (BCFN) Young Earth Solutions! program. The program brought young and experienced minds in the food and nutrition world together to create ties, work for a better food future and share knowledge.
At that point, I was back in Italy. But I put the dream down on paper. The idea was called MindFood. It was a questionable pitch of 10 slides where I outlined an idea to reward people for their physical activity with healthy food. It was an educational tool in mobile application form. There was no real model behind it but it was already possible to envision the impact could be possible.
What did it take to transform Feat from an idea to a tangible project?
It’s impossible to say everything! But the first step was that application to the BCFN. By writing my lived experience, and putting it into words, what would later become Feat translated itself from thought to project.
What advice do you have about turning ideas into a reality?
Share! If you don’t open up and talk about your experiences or ideas, then it’s hard to turn them into action. When I started sharing my experience (or actually struggle) in maintaining a nice balance of healthy food and physical activity, I found encouragement and support to take things to the next level. I could never have achieved what I have without the support of so many people!
