Rachael Floreani / Burlington Bio
Rachael Floreani, founder of Burlington Bio, speaks with us about the world of upcycled nutrition, which utilizes commonly discarded food that we often take for granted, and repurposing it into nutritious and affordable food to fight back against food insecurity.
Through the ups and downs, Rachael maintains her driven spirit to overcome life’s hardships, which she credits to the company she has built around support and care, and the incredible team she works with. Her background in teaching at the University of Vermont fuels her passion for educating people and raising awareness for the business she has built from the ground up.
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Transcript
Nicole Eaton 00:00
Welcome to Start Here, a podcast sharing the stories of active, aspiring, and accidental entrepreneurs. I’m Nicole Eaton,
David Bradbury 00:08
and I’m Dave Bradbury. So let’s get to the show.
Nicole Eaton 00:11
Today we sit down with Rachael Floreani, engineer, founder of Burlington Bio, and professor at the University of Vermont. Rachael, it’s so good to have you here today. Thank you for coming to VCE.
David Bradbury 00:23
Finally, you’re in the house. Thank you.
Rachael Floreani 00:25
Glad to be in this room.
David Bradbury 00:27
All right. Can we just start off with? Can you just say what Burlington Bio is?
Rachael Floreani 00:32
Yeah, Burlington Bio is a biomaterials engineering company, but our mission is in the food space. So we utilize agricultural byproducts waste here in Vermont, but also around the country, to upcycle those and valorize those into food ingredients. So we’re a B 2b company working with local producers, and some exciting news to follow. I guess,
David Bradbury 00:57
like you’re gonna break news today?
Rachael Floreani 00:59
No, I was. No, I was going on. I don’t want to jinx myself, but yeah, we have a really cool call coming up after this.
Nicole Eaton 01:06
Wow.
David Bradbury 01:07
Should we end now, Nicole, and just let her get to it? So, no,
Rachael Floreani 01:10
We’re good. We’re good.
David Bradbury 01:11
Okay, that was really high level. Like, just help me understand. How can I explain this to like my son or my mom? Like, what do you do?
Rachael Floreani 01:20
Yeah. So we take stuff that people would normally throw away after making food, and we can make food ingredients, and those ingredients can go into products that show up on shelves. You can think; gas stations, Seven Elevens, and most importantly, those are the products that families and parents have access to, like in the Northeast Kingdom. So, if we can be a part of creating healthier food, especially upcycled food products for children, that would be great. That’s cool. All right.
David Bradbury 01:53
So, something I would have had to either pay to dispose of or throw away, I could I could use. So, this is like like whey is that a product that you use or
Rachael Floreani 02:02
Yeah whey protein or apple pumice so that is all the stuff that’s left over after they make cider yeah
David Bradbury 02:11
Didn’t know I thought it was called mash and
Rachael Floreani 02:14
People call it a lot of stuff but we don’t use the fleshy part that’s the stuff that makes the juice and so there is a really valuable dietary fiber that shows up in the skins of apples, which they don’t incorporate into cider. So just the whole apple
David Bradbury 02:29
a day, doctor away, sort of. Sort of, sort of.
Rachael Floreani 02:32
But that’s just one example.
David Bradbury 02:34
Okay, thank you.
Nicole Eaton 02:35
Wow.
Rachael Floreani 02:35
Yeah.
Nicole Eaton 02:36
So you grew up on a dairy farm.
Rachael Floreani 02:40
Well, in the Midwest, yes, in the Midwest, in Michigan, in an agricultural community, my best friend had a dairy farm. Okay, so being best friends in a small farming community, I spent a lot of time there, and that instilled in me just like the love of the land and people working hard to feed people. You know, besides the 4-H calving, which was fun to show those cows, but really that’s what they did. Is they wanted to feed people, so that has been ingrained in my mind of like really what that community is all about.
Nicole Eaton 03:12
Wow! And so, what got you interested in being in this field? Do you think it was like growing, literally growing up on the farm, or because you are also an engineer and you are so. It’s not like you’re just like, hey, I want to feed people, but you know the science behind it.
Rachael Floreani 03:26
It’s wild. It’s wild. I didn’t think I was going to feed people. No. So when I started off in engineering, I started off in biomedical engineering. So I thought I was going to make like cool robotic prosthetics, and then I realized maybe I wasn’t too into people at that time, so I switched to mechanical. You know what happens. So in mechanical engineering, which is what I ended up getting my doctorate in, I took these basic principles of machinery, of like materials, and how to put everything together that doesn’t fail, and I did tissue engineering. So then, I’m doing tissue engineering for orthopedic tissues, and then working at the University of Vermont. I have a graduate student enter my lab in 2020, and he says, “Rachael, did you know that you can make steak using the exact same materials that you’re making all these orthopedic tissues for? And so I thought he was crazy, and he wasn’t. It’s called Cultivated meat. It’s part of the cell ag community. I had no idea what was out there. I did a deep dive on YouTube, which I do not recommend because I did learn a lot about animal cruelty and how factory farming goes about in this on Earth. So no, I didn’t come to food. I came to food, I think, because everything in my training and in my background was perfect, but I wasn’t-I didn’t have tunnel vision. It’s like I’m the kid who shows up, and I wasn’t afraid to be an idiot. And so I started asking these questions, and you know, fast forward like six years, and here I am trying to upcycle Apple. In Vermont, but it’s really the same mission of trying to help people. So that’s what I that’s what I do. I think that’s what engineers hopefully try and do. You know?
Nicole Eaton 05:08
Yeah.
Rachael Floreani 05:08
Yeah.
David Bradbury 05:09
So you have such a history of of ideas and inventions and and perspectives. So what was it about the what is today Burlington Bio that really said okay I’ve got to start this. Like, was there an aha moment, or was it I don’t know a meeting with somebody, or like, what was the one that said, “Okay, we have to do this”
Rachael Floreani 05:29
Yeah. Okay. So there are three pivotal things. So one of them is I was just kind of getting bored with being a professor. Not bored, but I knew you’re going to hear that. That’s fine. That is Kirk. I hope you’re listening. That is absolutely fine. But I was I was getting bored, and I knew I could do more in terms of translating research outside of the lab. Also, I have three children. Growing up in a small community, food insecurity was very real. And when I found out that 10% of the children in Vermont go to hungry, go to school hungry every day, that was devastating. That definitely instilled that fire inside of me. And then three, the company would not have started if I wouldn’t have been dating around town for a CEO. And I found the right CEO, and she was like, “Let’s do this. That’s we did it. I’m curious. Yeah, we did
Nicole Eaton 06:20
it. I love
David Bradbury 06:21
it. So, so was it the particular science that was like, oh my gosh, this this technology or invention, we have to go find markets to to leverage that, or was it? I mean, seems like you’re taking it sort of from the problem perspective or the benefit, right, to feeding children or keeping the planet healthier, like, like did that make it easier or tougher?
Rachael Floreani 06:45
No, it made it way easier. Okay, and that’s what I mean is, whether it’s a mom, whether it was a friend of a dairy farmer, whether it’s you know the the pets and the children and everything else, and being a professor, I see I see they’re not kids, but young adults from all social economic backgrounds. It was it was the absolute passion to make the world a better place. And I, when I first became a professor, I thought that was it. I loved teachers. I thought they were the most important people in the world. So I was like, let’s become one. But it didn’t feel like enough. And then I was even doing cancer drug delivery. Believe it or not, I didn’t feel like it was enough, but food is like food, you know. Like we we take it for granted. We literally take it for granted. So that felt like a big a big barrier that I wanted to break down.
David Bradbury 07:33
Can I ask one more question, Nicole? Yeah. So I’m curious. Like we went through the cultivated foods, the cultivated meat sort of moment, right? Where was impossible sausages and burgers and that, and then that’s out there and and growing, and then now we’re in this sort of GLP one world where people are looking for other protein sources. Like, how have those dynamics sort of shaped how you’ve positioned or growing the company today?
Rachael Floreani 08:06
Yeah, great question. And you’re going to get yourself in trouble a little bit, but that’s okay. And that’s no, no, no. It’s I just want to clarify because all the parts that you said are correct, but they’re independent. So cultivated meat is where you take materials, you take cells from an animal, and you put them together and you cultivate it literally in the laboratory, so you’re able to grow steak. Impossible foods beyond meat. What they do is use plant-based protein to try and replicate the taste and texture of it of meat. If you want to say they were doing that, it’s different than like your black bean burgers. Where very clearly, it’s you know. Can you tell I took
David Bradbury 08:42
all the business courses and like literally not one biology course? So
Rachael Floreani 08:47
no, not no. Thank you for correcting me. No, no, no. Because you have to, you have to remember. A couple of years ago, I didn’t even know this existed either. So I think the super exciting part is it is new. I do get to educate people. That’s sort of like you know occupational hazard. Love that, but otherwise it’s the cultivated meat. You have the plant-based proteins that are trying to just add something to an omnivore’s diet, and then you have the GLP one. So the GLP one. Let’s talk about the protein. So one place to get protein is plant or animal sources, but they don’t want to pay more respectfully. So, and I think that what’s going on with the climate or anything else is we’re seeing increases in animal protein, beef. Yeah. So what we’re able to do at Burlington Bio and what other people are interested using Impossible Meat for is to blend with a burger, and so that whole category in the meat space and in the market is called blended meat, and that is huge, and that is taking off. And there’s multiple initiatives. You can see how like multiple agencies would love that, but it’s also a push just to get more protein out there. It doesn’t have to come from increased factory farming, but if you were to take beef and then mix it with cultivated meat, that’s hybrid meat. That still, I would say, is on the research side, and it contains cultivated meat. So anything geographically or politically, if it relates to cultivated meat, it relates to hybrid meat, but the GLP one craze is snacking to me. Snack foods, snack foods, yeah, definitely
David Bradbury 10:30
like bars, like protein bars too, or yeah.
Rachael Floreani 10:33
So protein bars, David’s bar. But the thing that people are looking for is savory snacks, something that is like a treat to them, but also they know it’s going to be good for them. So Starbucks, I don’t know if I can say Starbucks did great with that with that marketing. So they put the protein in their beverages, fantastic because Starbucks is already a treat. It’s a little snack. Now if you have protein, you’re like, heck yes, yeah, yeah. Now I feel better about myself.
Nicole Eaton 11:02
I was at Starbucks the other day, and I sent a picture to Dave of protein popcorn that they’re selling. Yeah, yeah, right. I was at Starbucks, and I was like,
David Bradbury 11:09
“Did they charge a premium for it, or is it? I don’t know. It depends. I think Khloe
Rachael Floreani 11:13
Kardashian is doing that. It’s a pretty good idea. I’m pretty sure she’s
David Bradbury 11:17
charging a premium again. If the Starbucks is a premium, so good for that.
Rachael Floreani 11:20
Yeah, good for everyone. They’re taking part
David Bradbury 11:22
blended meat. Never heard of that. Yeah,
Nicole Eaton 11:24
yeah. This is just a question, but do you eat meat, or are you like
Rachael Floreani 11:30
a little bit? Yeah, a little bit. Um, I took my I took my son to shanty on the shore, and I had some fish. It’s hard for me to eat meat. It’s hard because when I pitch to investors, or when I write a grant, or when I talk about this, I have to be up to date on the data. I have to read the stories, and it’s it’s sad. Not all farming is sad. That’s not it. I’m talking about what goes into a McDonald’s burger, and it’s kind of sad. Yeah. So I try not to eat a lot of meat. I just can’t like pat like I just I don’t want
Nicole Eaton 12:04
to. Well, yeah. I mean, I especially with you having so much knowledge behind so many things. Like that’s why I was like, I wonder if she eats. You’re going
David Bradbury 12:12
for the fries.
Rachael Floreani 12:15
But it’s no. But I’m not. I’m not opposed to it. I’m not opposed to it. So that’s one thing. I
David Bradbury 12:20
well, it’s nice because you’re not alienating people saying you’re totally wrong or like my way, the highway. No, not at all.
Rachael Floreani 12:26
Yeah, not at all. And I’ve talked to a couple of meat processors here in the state, and it’s about their cost increasing, them still wanting to put out high protein, nutritious food products, processed meat products, sausages, meatballs, that type of stuff, and so with something like what we’re doing, or with plant-based proteins, you can extend that beef that you’re buying. So it makes sense for them, you know.
Nicole Eaton 12:57
Yeah,
Rachael Floreani 12:58
but yes, I’m not. I’m not. No, I’m not opposed to meat. I will cook a New York roast. I appreciate what farmers do. Farming is hard, and so I’m I’m talking about the farmers that we can call up, not the ones that are owned by corporations. Yeah,
David Bradbury 13:13
got it.
Nicole Eaton 13:15
I want to ask you about your experience learning about cultivated meat and becoming an expert in this space. I remember meeting you, and then I think it was a year later. You were on podiums, getting awards, all of this stuff.
Rachael Floreani 13:28
Yeah, yeah.
Nicole Eaton 13:29
What was that like learning while also becoming an expert to so many people in the field? Because I think there’s so many entrepreneurs that are diving into new markets, and
Rachael Floreani 13:40
yes, I
Nicole Eaton 13:40
don’t know.
Rachael Floreani 13:41
Oh my gosh, no. That is a really good question, and I don’t know if I would say I was becoming an expert versus a voice for the people, quote unquote. So I am coming again. When I first met you, we’re doing food. Like I was known for biomaterials research, I was known for tissue engineering. I was known for multiple things. Cultivated meat was not one of them, but because of what I was doing, I could easily transition into that field and start asking, dare I say, intelligent questions. And I think that’s how I rose to the cup. Is people knew my work? They respected what I did, and the questions I was asking were valid. I think.
Nicole Eaton 14:26
Yeah.
Rachael Floreani 14:27
Yeah.
Nicole Eaton 14:27
Wow.
David Bradbury 14:29
How did you? How did you know you wanted to be a professor?
Rachael Floreani 14:32
Oh.
David Bradbury 14:33
Or did you like? Yeah. How did that happen?
Rachael Floreani 14:36
Yeah. Okay. So the people in my life up until I graduated high school with the highest degrees were teachers and doctors, and so in my head and with my so I’m the first to go to college in my family, so everyone was like go to college, and I was like, what do you do when you get there? And so it was like doctor or you know teacher, so I chose engineer. Didn’t know what that was, but when I was in college, I saw some of my professors, and I was like, “Oh my gosh! Like they’re having so much fun, and this is fun, and I actually really like this stuff. So, senior year, actually, I I was so late to the game, but senior year of undergrad, I went to my advisor. I said, “I want to be a professor. What do I have to do? She said, “You have to go to grad school and get a PhD. I was like, “What is that? She gave me a book, literally a book on a PhD, and I was like, “Yeah, I think that’s what I want to do. So I, outside of Burlington Bio, I’ve been in school since I was five.
Nicole Eaton 15:37
Wow.
Rachael Floreani 15:38
Yeah.
Nicole Eaton 15:39
So when you get introduced to someone, or when when you have to introduce yourself, are you like I’m a professor, or do you say I’m a founder, or like what do you say? It totally
Rachael Floreani 15:47
depends on the context because if I’m meeting someone, I want to contribute to the conversation, and so depending on who they are, I I wear many hats, including this one. Yeah, but I yeah, I it depends. to be honest sometimes I’m just a teacher sometimes I’m a business or a doctor
David Bradbury 16:06
and a teacher right you know I do hopefully got both
Rachael Floreani 16:09
yeah I do a lot but I I have learned later in life that it is very very important to recognize the privilege that I have so I did have the privilege of going to college, and I did get educated, and I’ve worked in higher education for over 16 years, and I have a unique perspective. Yeah, and so I am willing to pick up my bags and carry my weight around and let people know that I have something to say, but it’s it’s just because of I don’t know the experience that I’ve had meeting lots of people. Vermont’s very small. I like people, and just recognizing there’s a lot of problems out there. And I think that getting the right people together, you can solve those problems. So that’s why I started the company.
Nicole Eaton 16:55
Yeah. How has being a part of a university helped launch Burlington Bio.
Rachael Floreani 17:01
Oh, it’s been tremendous. So, the university-I didn’t launch the company until I was there for about 12 years, and in that time, I had worked with the Office of Technology and Commercialization on multiple different projects, and I-so I knew to reach out to them, and I was sort of like, “What do I do? And the legal counsel, Andrew at the university at that time, he also was very, very helpful and started pointing to people in the business school. And one of those happened to be Bob Phillips, and so I met with Bob Phillips, and he said, “Well, you can’t run a company. And I said, “Well, thank you, but his, but it was great advice. He was like, “You need to meet your match. You need to meet someone that can be CEO because you’re not CEO. And then from there, I was introduced to Karen Cross, and then he introduced me to John Abley, who quickly became a mentor and also helped with Burlington Bio. Do you want me to turn that off?
David Bradbury 18:03
Oh, the phone! Is
Nicole Eaton 18:05
that your phone?
Rachael Floreani 18:06
That’s my phone. I’m so sorry. I thought I turned it off, and it’s like
Nicole Eaton 18:11
I thought it was coming from outside.
Rachael Floreani 18:13
Oh, okay. Well, forget about. It totally is coming from outside. Totally
David Bradbury 18:16
is. We have all sorts of noises here. Okay, that’s so funny. So for other other entrepreneurs or professors thinking about solving problems in a in a new business, were there were there resources that you’ve used along the way that were like oh my god how helpful I get the small business development center maybe or you mentioned UVM innovations and tech transfer
Rachael Floreani 18:37
yes yes so I was working really closely with the Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization, and they knew the folks in the VITA, so Department of Economic Development, something like that. And so I was introduced to blanking on his name, Nick. Yes,
David Bradbury 18:58
Vermont Economic Development Authority, VITA. That’s right. That’s right.
Rachael Floreani 19:02
And I spoke with Nick, and he seemed to just vibe with me. He kind of understood what I was like spitting out on the phone, and so he pointed me in the direction of the Elevate program. I applied, and that’s where I started getting a lot of support. And that was before we had started the company, and so I got into that point. I had an LLC, but that was just something to get my feet wet. Really, like the foundational work I was doing for Burlington Bio. And you didn’t
David Bradbury 19:32
launch VT along the way too. No, you didn’t do that. No, I didn’t.
Rachael Floreani 19:36
No, I didn’t do launch. But you have to remember, being a professor is being on the spot. There’s no editing, okay? Like I don’t get to edit, so I am on the spot for 50 minutes, and I have to educate people, and I have a job to do. And so, doing a pitch or doing a seminar or doing a podcast, it’s like, okay, think about who the audience. Think about the job that you have to do and go for it. Am I the best at giving pitches? No, absolutely not. And I think it’s because I don’t have an MBA, but that’s also why I have a business partner, so he helps. Yeah, but no, I’m not. I’m not worried about pitching. Like I see life as being one big experiment in like education because everyone learns differently, you know. Oh,
David Bradbury 20:25
for sure. And then, have you used National Science Foundation programs or grants at all? Because that’s something we don’t get to talk about a lot here. But
Rachael Floreani 20:36
yes, yeah. So if I can do a shout out to OTC at UVM again, so they have a regional ICOR program that I participated in, and this is the summer before I started the company, because I was like, I knew I wanted to do something, so I was still I was I was waiting for the person to do it with, but I started doing something, and that taught me a lot because not going to business school, all of a sudden, when someone’s like your customer discovery, I’m like, “What does that mean? Like, I business plan. I don’t want to talk. Can’t like, what are we talking about? So it was really good because I got to ask dumb questions without anything on the line. And then being a professor, I write a lot of grants, and I had reviewed small business grants for six years for NSF.
Nicole Eaton 21:22
Wow!
Rachael Floreani 21:23
So when it was ready, I felt pretty good. But I didn’t do it alone. The Elevate program helped out a lot. But NSF SBIR is incredible. It is incredible. They it’s an excellent program. The program directors blood, sweat, and tears. They reply to us within a day, and they really think about the next step because whether it’s grant or VC, as an entrepreneur and a founder, I’m scared. Like, what’s the next step? What’s the next door going to look like? And NSF, really, they are like, okay, well, we’re going to help you get here because you know you need something next, and it’s that’s helpful. That’s very very valuable. Yep.
Nicole Eaton 22:02
Wow. So I want to shift gears a little bit.
Rachael Floreani 22:05
Okay.
Nicole Eaton 22:06
As a founder, you’ve gone through more than many founders have gone through, and I think it’s really important to bring that to light because not only are founders trying to start a business and might struggle to start a business, but there’s also life that doesn’t stop. And so, could you just talk about that a little bit and talk about it in the sense of what advice can you give to others, or what advice have you been giving to others through also experiencing struggles in starting a business and trying not to like let go of the dream of Burlington Bio?
Rachael Floreani 22:39
Yeah. Oh, that’s good. So, two major events happened since I’ve started the company, and so the first one. So, Cassidy Pettit, the yin, the original yin to my yang. Like, wow. She told me she wanted to be my CEO. Like I, she didn’t even interview. She just told me she was. So that’s really interesting. So we started a really intense dating relationship. It was long distance. It was in town, and it was 18 months, and it was incredible. And I remember thinking, just a week before the accident, like I was so happy. Like I have wonderful kids, I have an amazing husband, and then Cassidy. Like, what else do you need? So when I received the news, the phone call of the accident and that Cassidy had passed away, I quickly realized that while I wanted to mourn a friend, I had to take care of the business, and that meant everything down to QuickBooks, the bank account, and that’s hard. And anyone who’s lost anyone, where you share something, some responsibility, like you’re thrust into, where’s the passwords? What’s this? You know, what are you gonna do? And I was lost. I was so lost. But the community, especially the yon community here in Burlington, they really came through and helped out a lot, but what I realized from that experience is no one goes what you go through. Like, and it’s not because my my partner happened to pass away in an accident. It’s more like sometimes you’re looking whether it’s a professor or a founder or an entrepreneur, someone to help you through a moment of crisis, someone to be like, “I got you, I understand you. And the thing with Cassidy is, I have yet to find someone who’s gone through something like that, and so I don’t, I don’t think I have to search. I don’t. If someone’s out there and they want to connect with me, feel. It’s indescribable, but it’s you. A lot of things will happen, and so that was really hard. But I figured out very quickly that I didn’t want the baby. I didn’t want the baby to pass away, and so the company was off and running. Like it didn’t stop, and so I was mourning a friend. I was running this company, but what Cassidy instilled in the company and still goes today is the culture, and so there were there’s still people there, engineers who have been there since I started the company with Cassidy, and then there were people who rallied and came on board, and so one of those is my current business partner Andrew Donahue. So he came on board with the same spirit, vision, mission. Like you didn’t have to tell him nothing. Plus, he was kind of we were always chatting. Like I, I had known him previously, but yeah, what Cassie and I did, and I unbeknownst to me at the time, was set up this culture where people care not only about the business surviving, but what the business is doing, and then the people that make the business. So then, last yes. So then last year I was cruising, loved it, love. I was like, okay, we’re doing this, everything’s going great. And then July of 25, I was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer. They caught it early, so I’m grateful for that. But oh my god, like that’s that’s really when you kind of like throw your fist in the air, and you’re like, really, are really, you know? But I, I learned that I made the right choice in the people that I work with, and I learned that Cassidy is there. Signs, I believe in them. She’s looking out for us. So when I made the decision to go through treatment without telling anybody, it was like a secret. We had planned it out so that Andrew was effectively running the company on his own for three months, and that’s pretty incredible. No one, no one whined. No one did anything. They were like, “Whatever we have to do to get into Rachael’s inbox, you know, like we’ll do it. We’ll send the emails, and they did. So again, an experience that I don’t think a lot of people have gone through, but I don’t know if that matters.
Nicole Eaton 27:23
Yeah,
Rachael Floreani 27:23
I think that just when you’re faced with a difficult problem, or if you know you you live amongst us and life happens, life happens all the time. Be really, really careful and mindful of the people you choose to depend on in your company, because you could depend on them for a lot more one day.
Nicole Eaton 27:49
Wow! I know. So it is the
David Bradbury 27:56
finding a co-founder or a partner in a business is really like tough, like like you. I think you said earlier that you knew you needed somebody, or we’re told, right? Yeah. Like, I mean, did you make a list of like, hey, these are the attributes? My, you know, the ying to my yang, or was it just a sort of bunch of discussions? Like, how would you recommend someone out there like look for their their partners in something like this.
Rachael Floreani 28:25
Yeah. Oh gosh, I viewed it as dating, and you know, now having a male business partner, I have to be really careful, right? But no, it it really is like an intense relationship, and so choosing a partner is choosing a partner, and you have to think about what’s the personality that I can get along with. Do I trust this person? I think more so in business than even in family, because family’s complicated. You have to be transparent in a business, in a company. There’s nothing that Cassie and I didn’t share. There’s nothing that Andrew and I don’t share in in the company, and that’s that’s what I need. I need someone who’s going to have my back. But the other important thing, and this is just me personally, is that yin to my yane is I need someone to tell me to shut up. I need someone to kick me under the table. I need someone to tell me to direct my attention elsewhere. I really do.
David Bradbury 29:25
To turn off the phone, for example. I, you know, tech is not my forte. That’s not
Rachael Floreani 29:29
my. That’s not what I do. But no, it’s it’s really important. Like you have to be vulnerable, I think, and you have to be transparent. And I don’t want to tell anyone you have to, but it helps, and that helps in almost any relationship.
David Bradbury 29:43
Yeah, I mean, we we kind of use the express. Yep, you do kind of speed date whether you’re trying to hire a key exec or find a partner because you don’t know what’s ahead. You don’t get to think about your plans, but like they usually aren’t. It’s not a straight line, right? Have you had a straight line? No. No,
Rachael Floreani 29:58
absolutely not. I think that’s what’s important. The speed dating aspect is a really good analogy because you’re looking for vibes. It’s like a vibe check because, Lord, no. I mean, even even Cassie and I, those first three months, we had no idea what was coming at us. So, it’s just again being able to trust someone, hold their hand, and jump off a bridge. That’s essentially what it is.
David Bradbury 30:22
You’re both so like undeniable. Yeah. Oh my god, it was fun. It
Rachael Floreani 30:27
was it was fun. And she’s still here among us. Like I said, I think you know. It’s I. I was. I don’t know. Being spunky and being like a mentor to all people, but especially women in business. That is still very much Cassidy, and I do that because she isn’t here to do it for herself. Because she had more confidence than me. She had more idea of a direction of where to go than me. She was more willing to take a risk than me, and so I learned that a lot. She’s, you know, much younger than myself, but that also taught me age doesn’t matter when it comes to conviction, when it comes to honesty and integrity.
Nicole Eaton 31:17
Wow! So when mentoring young women, after going through what you’ve been through, like how are you approaching? I feel like what you’ve learned is a lot of hey, if you’re, I don’t know, it feels more personal than just a business plan, how to do a business plan or how to be a professor and a founder. Like it’s much deeper than that. So what are you leading with when you’re mentoring people, and and even for the people listening today, what would you tell them?
Rachael Floreani 31:45
Yeah, I see mentoring as a back and forth, almost organic process because otherwise, someone could just go read a book. There’s great books out there, but I find that mentoring is useful because things come up, life happens, and to be able to give them some guidance on where they’re going, and all of the experiences that I’ve had in my life, if anything, they have taught me that there’s that foundation that we have to build on. So when I mentor all students, everybody, but mostly young women, it is that you have to be able to believe in what you are capable of, and you have to be comfortable with taking up space. I think those are some things that are that are hard, especially when you’re in a room surrounded by very confident men. It can be very very hard to feel like you deserve to be there. So that’s the biggest thing, and so for me, maybe it was this list of five things. But for every person out there, there’s a list of five things that have really shot them down, or like bummed them out, or made them stumble. But it’s it’s just getting through that process. So I love that. I never know what my students or my mentees are going to come to me with. I like that. Yeah,
Nicole Eaton 33:05
you’re so cool. Oh, I hope so for sharing all. I hope so.
Rachael Floreani 33:08
No problem.
Nicole Eaton 33:09
Yeah,
David Bradbury 33:09
I always love chatting with you and the random moments. Yeah, yeah. What’s going on? Okay, so is there anything particular about Vermont that makes growing your business here like a super advantage or disadvantage. I don’t know. We’re sort of known for food and for for sort of systems around food. Is that helpful or is it or does it take away a little bit from the science you’re bringing?
Rachael Floreani 33:38
No, no, no. It does not take away from the science at all? No, absolutely not. If anything, because I’m not in Chicago, which is I don’t, or the Midwest, the fact that we’re here, we have a low population, maybe not as many resources. People actually see that as a strength that we’re able to get things done here in Vermont. So I love that, especially in terms of food. Vermont is a brand, and I love that. Like people go to Ben and Jerry’s or maple syrup or cider. Yeah, totally love that. Keep it going. So I find that that’s very useful in working with the business. But I like Vermont because even though people are quiet, and I’m still learning everyone’s names, you know, because people I don’t know. People don’t get out there, and they’re like, “Hey, I’m fantastic. There’s a lot of fantastic people in Vermont, and little by little, I’m learning who they are. But they genuinely want to help. Like I very rarely meet people that say, “Well, what’s in it for me? Very rarely, and I’m doing this crazy endeavor just the past week and a half, trying to see if we can upcycle food that we generate here in Vermont by Vermonters. If we can maybe take one of those factories that’s closing down and like churn out some more. Vermont food goods that could be a real economic advantage. Yeah,
David Bradbury 35:05
without spilling the beans or anything, I was going to ask you about sort of the state of dairy in Vermont. Like, it’s I think we chatted maybe a month ago when you came by, right? About like, oh my gosh, there’s like three plants closing, right? A formula plant, a dairy plant, a cream cheese, or whatever it was, plant or is like, what’s going on? Yeah,
Rachael Floreani 35:27
that is a really great question because it’s
David Bradbury 35:29
terrifying. It is
Rachael Floreani 35:30
terrifying, and this is another example where I just love to learn. So I’ve been doing a deep dive, and I’ve been speaking to our local secretaries, speaking to distributors, speaking to factory owners, what have you? the The state of dairy in Vermont is that more, and this is just in general. More dairy farms are becoming larger, so then we are losing the small dairy farms that Vermont traditionally is known for. Dairy farming is also very hard, as we all know, and the the way of living is very very hard, and they’re not compensated for the work that they do to make up for that. So you don’t see a lot of young people going into dairy farming, and unfortunately, the closures of those plants is not a sign for things to come. But I see it more is an opportunity to look at what else Vermont has, so Vermont dairy is huge. I don’t think that’s going away. That’s not going to go away, but there is more that we can add to the picture. So you can imagine. Can you imagine having Ben and Jerry’s without maple syrup? Like you can’t. Like there’s there’s plenty of things that Vermont can be known known for. So making this push for upcycling. No, I lost my train of thought, but
David Bradbury 36:48
yeah, it was sort of like you know the the factories and the capabilities and the infrastructure were dairy. Is there is this sort of a new dairy kind of emerging? But but it’s not no, not at all. No, not at
Rachael Floreani 37:00
all. No, it really is just that you don’t have as many of the large farms that are out here, and as much as we hate to say it, those large factory farms are the ones that are most cost effective. So that’s why everyone’s moving out there. You look at California; they’re making a lot more money than the farmers. I read this
David Bradbury 37:17
morning, right? California makes you know whatever it is, $8 100 weight, and we’re losing $16 100. Well, it’s like
Rachael Floreani 37:23
$2.85 or something. Yep, that’s right. I read that article. That’s right. That’s right. And so when you look at, it’s not only the dairy factories, but so there’s food, and there’s agriculture, and there’s manufacturing. All of that is involved in our food. And so, if you look at the DFA plant that’s in Saint Albans, the Parago plant, the Franklin farm where they made the cream cheese, that equipment is state of the art manufacturing equipment. It really is no joke. And so, if you know, there’s a way to continue to invest in agriculture and to support dairy by really involving more economic potential in the state, and so I just think that you know dairy’s having a moment, but it’s only it only looks bad. I think is because traditionally that’s all we had. We right like now I think there’s an opportunity to really diversify the Vermont brand. So
David Bradbury 38:21
I bet she’s gonna do it, Nicole. I know. So you and Andrew, go go go.
Rachael Floreani 38:25
Yeah. What’s next for Burlington Bio? Is is that it? Oh my God! I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow. Give me something different. No, I. So the dairy, the dairy facility is a really just serendipitous moment. I mean, not for anyone, not not for the closure, for anyone losing their jobs, absolutely not. But just in looking at what we have available here in Vermont, and can we save those jobs? Can we save that facility without doing dairy? Right, and that that’s a that’s an emotional topic. So what else is next? So we’ll see if we’ll see what’s happening up there? But otherwise, no, we’re making progress as a company. I find the food space to be very interesting, and whether you have large companies such as Mars that are family-owned, you have companies that are on the stock exchange such as PepsiCo, or you have those B 2b companies that no one knows about, but they’re supplying the ingredients for McDonald’s. We’re approaching all of those avenues, and it’s cool because there’s different initiatives tied with each one of those. And I I tend to like the family offices because they can put more bang for their buck. Like really, they they put a lot of effort into what they want to do for their communities, and they have a longer timeline, which is nice to build partnerships.
Nicole Eaton 39:49
Totally,
David Bradbury 39:50
that’s so great. We got to get to magic wand here. Yeah, you ready?
Nicole Eaton 39:55
Ready, ready.
David Bradbury 39:58
She looked at you. Okay, yeah.
Nicole Eaton 40:00
Okay, I’ll do the honor. What that was in subtle,
David Bradbury 40:02
Rachael? You’re like, yeah, I’ll do it. You’re like, yes.
Nicole Eaton 40:06
What founder or leader, past or present, would you like to chat with, and why?
Rachael Floreani 40:12
Yes, I love this. And full disclosure, I knew you were gonna ask that, so I prepped. But I love that. Do my homework without a doubt, Melinda French Gates, 100% Not only is she bright, an engineer works all the way to the top. Took time because you have to take time to raise a family, to raise a family, but to never lose a sense of herself-at least to someone like me who doesn’t know her personally, but I’m willing to. But I’ve read her books, I’ve listened to her podcasts, I’ve seen that your
David Bradbury 40:50
PhD in Seattle, right? I did my
Rachael Floreani 40:53
postdoc up in Seattle, but no, the things that she does and what she stands up for, and she has not backed down is incredible, and she’s alive right now. She sees where we’re going, and that’s what I want. I want to hear someone be excited about a better tomorrow, and that’s really what she represents. I think
Nicole Eaton 41:14
that was one of the best.
David Bradbury 41:15
One of the best answers.
Rachael Floreani 41:16
Yeah. Okay, I’m glad that
David Bradbury 41:19
it’s sort of a trick where, like, have they ever listened to the full podcast before? Yeah, but that was all for that. Thank you,
Rachael Floreani 41:25
thank you,
Nicole Eaton 41:27
thank you, Rachael, for coming today.
David Bradbury 41:28
Yeah, this was an absolute pleasure.
This has been Start Here, a podcast sharing the stories of active, aspiring, and accidental entrepreneurs. This series is brought to you by the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies. Now let’s get back to work.
