68. Pulp Fact: Solving Hunger Two Problems at a Time with Kaitlin Mogentale

Kaitlin Mogentale, founder and CEO of Pulp Pantry, was a model student and, despite a healthy admiration for her more mischievous peers, was a high-achiever who studied and earned good grades at school while voluntarily taking on whatever extra-curricular activities she could. Attending a Women in Science event sparked her passion for the subject and sent her down the path of searching the world for its problems and solutions.

The first major problem she identified came while interning with The Garden School Foundation, an L.A. non-profit that provides schools with gardening and cooking classes. Through her work for the organization, she became aware of just how many people are living their lives with a dire lack of access to healthy, nutritional food.

The second big problem became clear, one day, when she watched her friend juice a carrot. They were about to throw the solid, vegetable leftovers away, and Kaitlin was immediately struck by just how much quality food is constantly being wasted as discarded pulp.

She saw a way that the two problems could be united, solving each other in the process, and Pulp Pantry was born: a food manufacturer with the aim to cultivate nutritious and sustainable food options for future generations.

Kaitlin came from a loving, stable family and, to this day, she’s filled with gratitude for the upbringing they gave her. It’s, perhaps, this gratitude that makes her sense of social responsibility so strong and makes her so driven to find ways to improve the world, two problems at a time. In this episode of the Gravity podcast, Kaitlin joins us to discuss the inspirations and motivations behind her successful, ethical venture.

What Brett asks:

• [01:26] Start at the beginning: tell me where you came from?
• [05:55] How was your family life, growing up?
• [13:20] Why do you have so much gratitude for your upbringing?
• [17:50] What was it about science that inspired you?
• [21:00] Where did your sense of social responsibility come from?
• [27:50] After you developed an interest in science, what happened next?
• [34:35] Did you ever wonder what your path in life was going to be?
• [42:00] What were the steps between your studies and launching your business?
• [48:40] Tell the listeners about your company, Pulp Pantry.

To learn more about intentional living, and for the complete show notes, visit: gravityproject.com

Resources:

• Pulp Pantry
• Kaitlin Mogentale on LinkedIn
• Pulp Pantry on Twitter
• Pulp Pantry on Instagram

Gravity is a production of Crate Media.