She never envisioned entrepreneurship nor nursed the ambition to start a company driving change in the global food industry.
For Julia Olayanju, her desire to help people live healthier and stronger lives started at the young age of seven. She had lost her dear aunt unexpectedly. Her aunt was initially misdiagnosed and by the time doctors understood what was happening, it was too late to save her life. That experience left her curious. However, it was not until a few months later that young Julia made her career decision. She had visited a corner store with her cousin when the conversation about scientists working to find a cure for cancer came up. It was her first time hearing about scientists and their work, it was also the same day that she decided to become one when she grows up.
With two undergraduate degrees in Agriculture and Genetics, a Masters training in Molecular Genetics and a PhD training in Molecular Genetics, Olayanju’s desire to discover ways to help people live healthier only grew bigger as she worked hard on the bench.
However, her curiosity took a different turn while taking care of her late father who was on a special diet to manage his health. She noticed how quickly his body changed when he veered off his diet and she got really curious about food in a new way.
She started speaking with experts to better understand food and health interactions. The small meetings and expert panel conversation that she started while working on her doctorate degree at Rutgers University grew to become internationally recognized conferences bringing thought-leaders from around the globe together to promote a healthier food system. FoodNiche® Global Health Summit creates a forum for thought-provoking conversations about food and health. With topics ranging from scientific discoveries driving innovation for healthier food products to showcasing how companies are intelligently innovating to meet consumer demands for healthier products. While FoodNiche Tech Summit (formerly Disrupt Food Summit) focuses on bringing innovators together to discuss different strategies for leveraging technology to tackle some of the difficult challenges facing the food industry from farm to fork.
What started as an effort to understand and manage a personal health challenge led Julia Olayanju into the world of entrepreneurship and advocacy. Since then she has built a community of more than 50,000 food enthusiasts, innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and investors. With the foodnicher.com she created a global platform to facilitate education, collaboration and unique opportunities for people to promote innovative food brands.
According to Julia Olayanju “ We can create a food system future generations will be grateful to this generation for, however the journey starts with strategic partnerships/ collaboration and education.”
To learn more about the innovators shaping a healthier food system or to join the global community of food industry leaders visit here.
