Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed with passion yet unsure how to channel it? Do you ponder the enormous scale of the problems with our current food system and find yourself feeling daunted? Did you know there was an organization called Food Sol that 'supports eater-entrepreneurs to uncover and articulate what they care most about influencing in food-and then determine the "bite-sized" action they can take now to begin'? Thanks to Rachel, Food Sol does indeed exist, and we're pretty excited about it.

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

In my first year of business school, a professor said, "Many entrepreneurs are trying to solve their own pain points."  This startled me and got me thinking: What's my pain point? I considered my buying behavior. Where does my money go? What purchases really matter to me? Immediately, I pictured myself standing in the grocery aisle holding two brands of the same product and having a fit over the fact that I couldn't figure out which was the "right" choice. I was near-obsessed with making sure that my food dollars went to the businesses that I believed in and that, in turn, I was ingesting healthy, honoring food. But no matter how much I dug into and studied the issues, the landscape remained a frenzy of hidden, fragmented, or impossibly complicated information. It was driving me crazy! So with a business hat on, I thought: Maybe I can create something that will help me, and others who want to come along, to navigate the ambiguities and complexities of our food system more effectively.

How did you get your current good food job?

In my second year of business school, my advisor Cheryl Kiser (who also runs the Babson Social Innovation Lab) said, "If you have a few minutes, would you mind looking at this alum's website and sending me your thoughts? He cares about permaculture and biodynamic farming and I've been asked to write him a proposal."  Late that night, I went on the alum's website as a favor to Cheryl. I figured I'd send her one or two bullets, just for scoring points. I was up 'til 3 am bouncing off the walls - and I wrote a full proposal. The partnership never happened, but that 3 am proposal was a blueprint for what Food Sol would become.  Very long story short: After nine months of choppy waters fraught with excitement and let down, Cheryl and I launched Food Sol with start-up capital from a friend of the College. We are now in Year 2 of this food entrepreneurship lab, and recently saw kudos for our work in The Economist and Food and Wine.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

I worked in travel for 4 years - designing and selling active travel vacations and talking to customers about their fears and anticipations of the road.  My second employer was an Italian cycling touring company.  I talked to so many people who had been everywhere but kept craving a return to Italy. Food was always the first reason. On the road and when we are home, food connects us in such powerful, basic, and intrinsic ways. Through listening to Americans talk about their desires to eat in other contexts and cultures, I realized how much America hungers for a deeper relationship with food. Much of my work centers on surfacing and acknowledging food meta-values - those common denominators that link us above and beyond all else.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

Hands down: living with uncertainty. There is so much joy, health and fulfillment that comes from working in good food. But given the current state of our alternative food system evolution, the jobs in good food can be scarce, are often self-generated, and can be financially challenging.  You have to be willing to make and live with this trade off, and it can be scary on a routine basis - especially if you're like me and you don't do roller coasters well.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Good food businesses built on sound economics are exciting, rare and immediately apparent. They are exciting because they can serve increasing numbers of eaters and create jobs for folks such as yourselves who would like to work in this space. They are exciting to investors too. Investors - both foundations and angels - are looking for them.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Dinners at Blue Hill Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY) and Oleana (Cambridge, MA).  SWOON.