Hakuna Brands Takes Stacy's Rise Project Top Honors
Innovators learn from top PepsiCo executives
This summer, five women of varying ages and backgrounds converged in the suburbs of Dallas to begin a whirlwind journey with seemingly one thing in common: they were finalists in the inaugural Stacy's Rise Project, a funding and mentorship program exclusively for female entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry, given that female founders in the United States received only 2.3% of venture capitalist funding in the last year.
The group met again in New York City, all having earned $20,000 in business funding – but even richer after spending the last three months learning from top marketing, sales, innovation, R&D, and digital executives at PepsiCo and Frito-Lay. Fellow entrepreneur Padma Lakshmi, who helped select the five finalists from a pool of 400 applicants, brought the journey full circle when she announced Hakuna Brands Founder Hannah Hong of Los Angeles as the $100,000 grand prize Stacy's Rise Project winner.