Influential Women in Food: Jennifer Stojkovic, Vegan Women Summit

If you’re discouraged or frustrated by the disparity between how men and women are represented in the food and beverage industry, then this is a can’t-miss episode. This week, we’re talking with Jennifer Stojkovic, founder and creator of the Vegan Women Summit and the author of The Future of Food Is Female: Reinventing the Food System to Save the Planet. We pack a lot of great information into this episode, from talking about how Jennifer got started to why she launched the Vegan Women Summit and penned The Future of Food Is Female. Amid the conversation about the importance of diversity and inclusion in our boardrooms, we touch on the widening gap between who gets funding in new food and beverage ventures, and who does not. We talk about why representation matters and how things like the baby formula shortage would’ve likely been prevented had there been more diversity in the rooms where decisions were being made.   We also spend some time talking about why the Vegan Women Summit is important, not only to the plant-based and animal-free food sector, but to the many product and networking opportunities that exist because of it. And like every one of our Influential Women in Food episodes, we end talking about the advice Jennifer would give and has received throughout her career. Follow along in this episode through the topics timestamped below Introduction & The Vegan Women Summit: 2:57 Following an Atypical Path 4:35 Raising Awareness About Venture Capital Bias 6:44 Advocating For Increased Diversity And Representation 14:42 About The Future of Food Is Female 19:18 Not Tokenizing Women 21:22 Advice Received at the Start of Career That is Still Used Today 24:21 Advice for Those Coming into the Food and Beverage Industry 26:49