Event Details

NATURALLY RISING: The Conscious Business Pitch Competition

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 | 5:30-8:30 PM | AON - One Liberty Plaza in NYC


Naturally Rising is the premier national CPG pitch event - an evolution of the successful Pitch Slam that Naturally Network celebrated for over a decade. Judged by a panel of industry experts and advised by invaluable mentors, this thrilling competition celebrates innovation, purpose-driven business, the future of better-for-you brands, and leaders in the conscious business industry.


What Sets Naturally Rising Apart?


Naturally Rising places a strong emphasis on retail readiness, ensuring that businesses competing are not only mission-driven but also well-positioned for growth and success in the marketplace. This event highlights companies that embody Naturally Network's Quintuple Bottom Lineโ€”the 5Ps:


๐Ÿ”น Passion โ€“ The enthusiasm and dedication of founders toward their product and mission

๐Ÿ”น Purpose โ€“ The company's mission and its impact in addressing a specific issue or need

๐Ÿ”น People โ€“ A commitment to community, customer relationships, and team dynamics

๐Ÿ”น Planet โ€“ A focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility

๐Ÿ”น Prosperity โ€“ Financial success and market viability while maintaining ethical practices

___


On Tuesday, May 6, Loopini, Paktli Foods, The Lucky Ox, Aunt Ethel's Pot Pies, and Wild Orchard Tea Company will take the stage to present their pitch to a live audience and powerhouse panel of judges - Holly Long (Whole Foods Market), Loan Heilner (FreshDirect), Glenn Cunningham (Fairway Market), Amaury Schoon (Rainforest Distribution), and Tanya Seber (Dora's Naturals) -for the chance to WIN $100,000 in cash and services.


Attendees will enjoy community networking, complimentary food, beverages, spirits - and walk away with a ๐ŸŽ bag of products from this year's applicants and finalists!


Special thanks to our Mentors for prepping the pitch presenters - Susie Bittker (Siddhi Capital), Roy Chin (North Castle Partners), Mathias Cohen (Kidfresh), Amy Ho (PepsiCo), Kunal Kohli (Assembled Brands), Andy Reichgut (Dr. Praegers) Kara Rubin (Makor Partners), Eric Schnell (BeyondBrands), Evan Waggoner (SG Credit Partners), Rodrigo Zuloaga (SOMOS Foods).


Thank you to our Partners for their support in making this event a huge success: Aon, BeyondBrands, BeyondCPG, Foster Garvey PC, SG Credit Partners, Propeller Industries, Fairfield Partners Executive Search, New Hope Network, Konnect Agency, NielsenIQ, Specialty Food Association, JPG Resources, Kerry, The Lead, BevNET, and Nosh!


RSVP required for entry. We hope to see you there!


Please contact info@naturallynewyork.org with any questions.

Speakers

  • Carlotta Mast (MC) (SVP of Global Community and Content Strategy at Informa)

    Carlotta Mast (MC)

    SVP of Global Community and Content Strategy at Informa

    Website

    Throughout her 30-year career as a journalist, analyst, business manager and community leader, Carlotta Mast’s purpose has been to catalyze business communities in service to people, planet and purposeful prosperity.

    Carlotta currently serves as the SVP of Global Community and Content Strategy at Informa Markets, a global events, media and information services company. In this newly created role, she applies the extensive experience she gained using content, partnership and purpose to build and strengthen the New Hope Network to support and innovate within other Informa Markets businesses.
    For 16 years, Carlotta worked in senior leadership roles within the New Hope Network business, which serves the natural, organic and conscious products industry. As SVP and Market Leader, she was responsible for the growth and impact of New Hope’s portfolio of events and content-focused products. The portfolio included Natural Products Expo West, Newtopia Now, newhope.com, Nutrition Business Journal, NBJ Summit, Natural Foods Merchandiser, Nutrition Capital Network and the new Beacon Discovery product intelligence platform.
    Carlotta is board chair of Naturally Colorado, a 1,600-member trade group with the mission of nurturing community, leadership and innovation in the Colorado natural products industry. From 2016-2018, she served as Naturally Boulder’s board president and brought the Naturally model to other communities to establish Naturally Bay Area, Naturally Austin, Naturally Chicago, Naturally San Diego, Naturally Los Angeles and Naturally New York City. She now serves on the board of directors for the national Naturally Network, is co-chair of Naturally Conscious Business Working Group and is writing a book with Eric Schnell and Marci Zaroff about the transformative potential of conscious business.

    In addition, Carlotta is a co-founder of the J.E.D.I Collaborative, which was created to foster justice, equity, diversity and inclusion within the natural & organic products industry. She has also served on the boards of the Climate Collaborative, whose mission is to leverage the power of the natural products industry to reverse climate change; Organic Voices, a non-profit created to tell the story of organic and fuel consumer and retail interest in and trust of organic products; and the Supplement Online Wellness Library (OWL), an industry-led platform to increase product transparency within the dietary supplement industry.

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  • Eric Schnell (Speaker) (Founder of BeyondBrands)

    Eric Schnell (Speaker)

    Founder of BeyondBrands

    Website

    A Natural Products Industry Socialpreneur with 20+ years launching new brands. From startups to exit, Eric is a Visionary Disruptor with deep experience creating mission-based products. Eric is the recipient of the 2007 “Sustainable Business of the Year Award”, 4 time Annual Winner BevNET.com & 2 time Annual Beverage Digest “Best Product of the Year Awards” – an annual a Top 50 Beverage World Magazine “Disruptor” and serves as a Nutrition Capital Network Selection Committee Member.

    In 2015 Eric co-founded cannabis venture mood33, marketing next gen beverages to consumers seeking the benefits of this healing plant in a new delivery format, and launched visionary agency BeyondBrands with wife, Eco-Fashion pioneer, Marci Zaroff. BeyondBrands is a “Conscious Products” consulting agency and accelerator which focuses its Super-Tribe of experts on advising entrepreneurs, CPG brands and VCs in need of developing better-for-you, products in Food, Beverage, Fashion, Beauty, Plant Medicine & Nutraceuticals. Launched 2019, the first company incubated from within was Good Catch, a plant-based seafood brand, and in 2020 plant-based frozen wrap brand Cool Beans which launched nationally in Sprouts Market.

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  • Glenn Cunningham (Judge) (Director of Center Store at Fairway Market)

    Glenn Cunningham (Judge)

    Director of Center Store at Fairway Market

    Website

    Glenn Cunningham is the Center Store Director for Village Supermarkets, which operates under the Shop-Rite, Fairway, and Gourmet Garage banners. He oversees the merchandising and strategic planning for Grocery, Dairy, Frozen, and General merchandise. With over 25 years of experience in the retail grocery industry, Glenn is also a lead buyer specializing in identifying and sourcing the latest trends for his stores.

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  • Loan Heilner (Judge) (Director of Merchandising at FreshDirect)

    Loan Heilner (Judge)

    Director of Merchandising at FreshDirect

    Website

    Loan has been with FreshDirect for 5 years. During her tenure, Loan has been a strong contributor to the Center Store Merchandising team, having previously managed Frozen, Baby Boutique, and Pet Shop categories. In her current role, she is managing assortment selection, pricing and promotional strategies, and Shopper Marketing programming for the Dairy & Perishables categories.

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  • Holly Long (Judge) (Principal Forager, Local & Emerging Brands at Whole Foods Market)

    Holly Long (Judge)

    Principal Forager, Local & Emerging Brands at Whole Foods Market

    Website

    Holly Long, originally from Whitman, Massachusetts, is a Principal Forager for the Local & Emerging Brands Team at Whole Foods Market. Holly's culinary journey started in kitchens, where she worked as a Pastry Chef and Sous Chef in restaurants, hotels, and catering companies. From there she joined the Bakery team at Whole Foods Market, where she lead Research & Development initiatives, fostering connections with suppliers before eventually moving into a Foraging role. Over her more than two decades time at Whole Foods Market, Holly has been has been discovering local and emerging brands and supporting community connection through taste of place as a Forager. She holds an Associate’s Degree in Baking & Pastry Arts and a Bachelor's in Foodservice Management, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Johnson & Wales University.

    Passionate about community engagement and promoting local brands, Holly mentors emerging suppliers and collaborates with Category Merchant Teams to highlight local products through marketing and events. She also serves as an industry expert and engages with the local and emerging supplier community through various platforms, including trade-shows, supplier summits and the Local and Emerging Brands Accelerator Program (LEAP).

    Outside of work, Holly enjoys watching her sons play sports, hiking with her dog, and indulging her passion for cooking, baking, and sharing food with loved ones – including her homemade limoncello. Additionally, Holly is a Founding Board Member of Naturally New England and a Corporator for Walden Mutual Bank, furthering her commitment to supporting local businesses in the community.

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  • Amaury Schoon (Judge) (SVP Sales at Rainforest Distribution)

    Amaury Schoon (Judge)

    SVP Sales at Rainforest Distribution

    Website

    Amaury is responsible for developing and executing Rainforest’s growth strategy, managing key retail accounts, and leading the company’s sales team.

    With over a decade of experience building CPG brands in the U.S., Amaury has worked closely with hundreds of suppliers across all categories, helping them succeed in the competitive grocery landscape.

    Before joining Rainforest, Amaury was part of the team at Brand Within Reach for 7 years, an importer and broker of premium European food and beverage products, including Volvic Natural Spring Water, Belvoir, Gogo Squeez and Evian. He built an extensive sales network across multiple U.S. regions, working with major natural channel retailers and over 20 distributors.

    Originally from France, Amaury holds an MBA from St. John’s University.

    Amaury is an avid skier, enjoys playing tennis, traveling the world with his family and recently completed his 10th marathon.


    About Rainforest Distribution

    Founded in 2012, Rainforest Distribution has quickly become the East Coast’s leading full service distributor. With a passion for brand-building, Rainforest is a distribution platform for innovative, healthy, and emerging foods & beverages. With dedicated retail customer and supplier teams, our focus is on value-added services that support your company to meet its goals.

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  • Tanya Seber (Judge) (Director of Business Development at Dora's Naturals)

    Tanya Seber (Judge)

    Director of Business Development at Dora's Naturals

    Website

    Tanya Seber has been in the natural product industry since 2003. She has been passionate about local and emerging brands that move the better-for-you food industry forward. She currently serves as the Director of Business Development at Dora’s Naturals, a lead distributor of refrigerated and ambient beverages and foods in the NYC area and beyond.

    Prior to joining Dora’s Naturals, Tanya spent over 20 years at Whole Foods Market leading both the Grocery and Whole Body regional teams before moving to the Global Grocery team.

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  • Sasha Millstein (Finalist) (Founder/CEO of Aunt Ethel's Pot Pies)

    Sasha Millstein (Finalist)

    Founder/CEO of Aunt Ethel's Pot Pies

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  • Damiano Messineo (Finalist) (Founder/CEO of Loopini)

    Damiano Messineo (Finalist)

    Founder/CEO of Loopini

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  • Seena Chriti (Finalist) (Owner/CEO of Paktli foods)

    Seena Chriti (Finalist)

    Owner/CEO of Paktli foods

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  • Kyle Nguyen (Finalist) (CEO of The Lucky Ox)

    Kyle Nguyen (Finalist)

    CEO of The Lucky Ox

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  • Michael D. Ham (Finalist) (President at Wild Orchard Tea Company)

    Michael D. Ham (Finalist)

    President at Wild Orchard Tea Company

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Community

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Tickets

Member Ticket

Must have an active membership with Naturally New York.

Member Price $50
Non-Member Ticket

Interested in becoming an active member of Naturally New York? Please visit www.naturallynewyork.org/joinus to learn more!

Standard Price $65

Venue

AON - One Liberty Plaza

New York

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