Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Planet FWD
Julia Collins is a serial entrepreneur who realized food was her calling as a young girl in San Francisco where it was the epicenter of her community. She’s spent her career building food companies, having launched brands such as Mexicue, Murray’s Cheese Bar and Harlem Jazz Enterprises, the company responsible for the award-winning restaurant, The Cecil. She later went on to co-found Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company. When she became a mother, she knew she needed to find a way to bring delicious food to people in a way that helped heal the planet for everyone including her son.
Today, Julia leads Planet FWD, a company on a mission to tackle climate change by expanding regenerative agriculture adoption. The company is building a software platform for regenerative agriculture alongside a climate-smart snack brand that will be bringing its first product - a cracker - to market later this year.
In addition, Julia serves on the board of Black Girls Code, sits on the advisory council for Launch with GS, serves on the All Raise operating committee and is an EIR for Cleo Capital. She is an active angel investor focused on funding female entrepreneurs and BIPOC founders.