Creating healthy ecosystems, starting in our own backyards. www.groundwork.life

Spoon University a digital food media brand powered by a distributed network of chapters at universities around the world. Spoon was born out of a need to connect with likeminded people over food, as founders Mackenzie and Sarah were undergrads, and like many other students, learning to feed themselves as independent adults. What began as a campus food publication exploded into an international movement; for the first time, young people around the world could have a voice in the food space. Spoon developed propietary technology to scale this community-based media model while still maintaining the local ethos that powered tight-knit communities. Spoon was accepted to Techstars NYC in 2015, went on to raise $2.5M from VCs in SF, NYC and Chicago, and was later acquired by Scripps Networks Interactive in 2017.During her time at Spoon, Mackenzie grew the team to 30 full-time employees, which supported hundreds of chapters and 25,000 student members. She was personally responsible for developing Spoon’s business model and establishing brand partnerships, and towards the end of her time at Spoon ran the community and experiential teams to expand its presence and produce Brainfood, a next-gen food conference, in 3 cities.

Alpha is a private, invitation-only network for founders, CEOs and thought leaders passionate about the next generation of technology. Our mission is to create the premier peer networking organization in the technology startup community and connect leaders and influencers through forums and events where they can engage in meaningful, candid, dialogue and forge deep relationships with their peers. Alpha advisory board members organize and host events in their cities, refer new members to join the collective and make connections between existing members. Http://alpha club.org

https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2018/media/#207460502158

Spoon University was acquired by Scripps Networks Interactive in 2017 which then was acquired by Discovery, Inc.