Thursday, October 18, 2018

1:00 - 1:45 PM

Track I: Transforming the Food Culture and Food Industry, Ahmanson Hall

The Farm to Table Transformation - The Food & Wellness Ecosystem - The Home - The Restaurant - The Institution

Wendy Coleman, founder, LA Urban Farms

Christian Titze, Head of Brand & Marketing, The Farm Project & Lettuce Grow

Mark Anderson, CEO, Farmer Mark

Melisa Nicola, renown restaurateur, co-owner, Nic's Beverly Hills, President, Culinary Arts Kids Eat (C.A.K.E.)

Ryland Engelhart, Co-Founder, Kiss The Ground & CIO, Cafe Gratitude

Moderator - Mark Kapczynski, President, Storymill

Wendy Coleman is the founder of LA Urban Farms and has found her passion inspiring & helping others grow their own healthy food using vertical aeroponics. LA Urban Farms first location in Santa Monica, California was the very first aeroponic vertical rooftop farm on a commercial office building in the city of LA and her company currently grows for the Mayor of LA Eric Garcetti and his family at The Getty House. LA Urban Farms works with families in their backyards, students in schools, business owners and chefs at top restaurants, resorts, hotels and universities in Los Angeles, across the country and Europe helping them to grow their own nutrient- dense delicious local food!

Commercial clients include popular restaurants in Los Angeles (such as Chef Timothy Hollingsworth’s Otium, Tender Greens, Chef Ray Garcia’s Broken Spanish, Craig’s, Cafe Vida and Malibu Farm, famous chefs (such as Disney Chef and host of “That’s Fresh” Helen Cavallo), hotels and resorts (including Hilton,  Marriott, Radisson, Hyatt, Remington, Bellagio in Las Vegas, Belmond El Encanto in Santa Barbara and Ponte Vedra Resort & Spa in Florida), businesses (Kennedy Space Center, IKEA, Sodexo, Sony Pictures, CBS, Mattel, ECOS, Jessica Alba of The Honest Company and Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP) and schools (USC, UCLA, Caltech, San Diego State , UCSD, Stanford, University of Florida, University of Michigan and Auburn University) LA Urban Farms other collaborations include Disneyland, Ford, United Airlines, Sodexo, Snapple and Pottery Barn. LA Urban Farms is also very proud to work with the LA Mission, LAMP, & LA Kitchen to provide healthy food to those who need it the most.

Mel Nicola is a visionary restauranteur who is presently inspiring under-served youth to live a healthy lifestyle. Mel believes that wisdom and guidance combined with opportunity will lift youth up out of poverty and into a life of prosperity and balance. To cultivate this experience Ms. Nicola has created, Culinary Arts Kids Eat a dynamic non-profit set to engage youth to become ambassadors of health to their communities. As the executive director of CAKE, she provides hands on training in culinary arts, and professional expertise in the restaurant & hospitality industry. Youth learn to grow own food, develop fresh healthy recipes, create a cookbook, and study health-wellness and nutrition. Practice yoga, mindful meditation and become social entrepreneurs. CAKE youth receive hands on training empowering them to enter the workforce or pursue higher learning. The CAKE program has empowered the lives of 550 teens and recognized by L.A. Times, ABC and NBC as an innovative and sustainable approach to breaking the cycle of poverty. With so many requests from adults to attend the CAKE classes, Mel has since launched Cayenne. A series of sensory adventure workshops - mini retreats where you experience a true alignment with the inner soul. Guests enjoy activities to harness our state of flow…all the senses are engaged; culinary arts, healing arts, soulful music and supercharged inspirational speakers to guide us on the journey.

 Each series is rooted in lifting you up and filling your life with purpose, gratitude balance, vitality and bliss. Mel brings three decades of expertise in the hospitality industry combined with her visionary service to community. Humans, being…..we are all connected. It is when we nourish the planet, harness our energy and connect deeply we then can nurture our souls becoming rooted in our humanity.

Christian Titze heads the Brand & Marketing teams at The Farm Project and Lettuce Grow. Founded by Zooey Deschanel and Jacob Pechenik, the Los Angeles and Austin-based organization uses the collective impact of media, technology, and transparency to create thriving, localized food communities that are in the hands of the people. Driven by the ethos Know It or Grow It, The Farm Project empowers everyone to grow their own food, regardless of knowledge or geography. Using hydroponic growing devices, farmer-grown seedlings, and compelling digital tools, everyone can grow on their balcony, in their backyard or at their business. Educational experiences and transparent access to other locally-sourced, thoughtfully grown foods ensure a successful fresh food experience – all powered by a decentralized information backbone and fulfillment infrastructure. Your Food’s Roots with Zooey Deschanel is The Farm Project’s own media channel, created in collaboration with ATTN:. Its exclusive content – illuminating important issues around our food system – has garnered over 100 million views to date. By inspiring everyone to make a difference, The Farm Project aims to create a new food system that nurtures us and our planet. By way of Berlin, Christian joined the Farm Project after spending over a decade in creative agencies across the globe – from Germany to China and the US. As a brand and digital expert, Christian has guided various global brands through complex transformational processes, including Volkswagen, Haier, and Northern Trust. He led the distributed, interdisciplinary team of designers, developers, and strategists to launch Red Bull’s new content streaming and engagement platform: Red Bull TV. His work has been awarded with the iF Design Award, Google Play Award, and REBRAND 100 Global Award, among others.

Ryland Engelhart is the Mission Fulfillment Officer and co-owner of Cafe Gratitude and Gracias Madre. He is a co-founder of Kiss The Ground, a non-profit that educates and advocates about the connection between soil, human, and planetary health. He is also a co-creator of the award-winning, transformational documentary film, “May I Be Frank.” He is an entrepreneur and activist, using his restaurants as a platform to inspire more "gratitude" into our culture. He speaks on sacred commerce, tools for building community, and regeneration.

Mark Anderson, aka “Farmer Mark” currently operates five farmers’ markets throughout the Los Angeles & Orange County area. After a career in investment banking, Mark stumbled upon a career in agriculture when his dot.com aspirations burst with the bubble in 2001. He spent six years running a small tomato and vegetable farm in Ventura County using Organic, hydroponic and conventional growing methods. During this time, he gained intimate knowledge of farmers’ markets having sold at numerous markets throughout Los Angeles County. With a passion for healthy eating, background as a small farmer and a desire to see farmers’ markets grow, “Farmer Mark” started managing markets. Starting with the opening of his first farmers’ market in 2009, the organization has since grown to managing five farmers’ markets. For eight years, Mark served on the California’s Certified Farmers’ Market Advisory Committee advising the Secretary of Agriculture. He currently serves on the Board of Grow Good, a small urban farm growing food to support a Salvation Army homeless shelter. Mark presented at TEDx Santa Monica in 2012. He highlighted his story with his talk “How I Fell In Love with a Tomato”  TEDx Santa Monica Talk

Mark Kapczynski has a successful track record as a serial entrepreneur, chief executive, and cross-industry expert.  He serves as an Executive Director of the UCLA Venture Capital Fund, helping to foster innovation connected to the university.  Programs include early stage investing, mentoring, and access to Intellectual Property from university patents. Mr. Kapczynski advises startup businesses as part of the LA Chamber of Commerce’s Bixel Exchange.  In this role, Mr. Kapczynski assists technology startups in Southern California to design their businesses, build out their teams and raise capital to fuel their growth. He also serves as a Venture Partner for Arrowroot Capital in Santa Monica, CA. At Arrowroot, Mr. Kapczynski focuses on investments in the SaaS market in need of growth capital to further develop their businesses.  The areas that Mr. Kapczynski addresses are Big Data & Analytics, Financial Services, and Consumer Internet. Mr. Kapczynski last served as VP of Corporate Development and Strategy for Experian's consumer businesses which include leading consumer brands: Experian, FreeCreditReport.com, and ProtectMyID. Through executing on over 8 M&A transactions, Mr. Kapczynski helped to facilitate Experian’s under-lying growth and profitability. Mr. Kapczynski graduated from UCLA film school and continues to be active in multiple industry associations that span media, mobile telecom, technology, and consumer internet.  He has 12 patents to his name and an additional 40 patents pending.