Katlyn Grasso is the founder of GenHERation, a network and online platform that seeks to empower young women by, in part, connecting them with companies and mentors. As CEO, Grasso has created the GenHERation Summer Leadership Series, as well as Discovery Days, immersive summer day trips that provide high school and college women with the opportunity to visit the most innovative companies in America. While an undergrad at Wharton (she graduated in 2015), Grasso also worked with KWHS, leading our student advisory team and conducting video interviews and audio podcasts.

This time, she’s the interviewee, joining host Dan Loney on the Knowledge@Wharton Show, which airs on Sirius XM channel 111.  

An edited version of the podcast appears below.

Knowledge@Wharton: One of the annual events we're excited now to talk about is the GenHeration Discovery Days. The company and tour was developed by Penn grad Katlyn Grasso to help give young women the opportunity to meet female executives as companies across the U.S., get a sense of what the executives do, as well as their companies, and then maybe come out of this with an idea of a career path that they want to follow. The 2017 summer tour is coming up and we're proud to have Katlyn back in the studio to talk about who's involved, the dates, all of that.

And then also joining us, great to have her with us as well, Debbie Lew, who is one of the executives involved. She's executive director of the Risk Transformation Practice at Ernst & Young. My friend, great to see you again.

Katlyn Grasso: Great to see you. Thanks so much for having me. Good to be back in the studio on a rainy day.

K@W: Let’s talk about the background first Katlyn, about how this idea came about and really what you were trying to do in the first place.

Grasso: Great question. So as a whole as a company, GenHERation is a network where young women and companies can connect. And those young women are in high school and college. So when I started the company as an undergrad, I just realized that there was a really big gap in the market. A little over 5% of women who are leading S&P 500 companies as CEOs. And that number has been increasing by one hundredth of a percent every single year. So, it's a really big problem. And I thought there are also these young women from high schools and colleges across the country who are in awe of these executives in companies, but they just don't know how to get their foot in the door.

And it's really nice, you know, I went to Wharton, I'm not complaining, but when you go to a school where you can walk across the street and you have every single major employer, every single day vying for your attention to come and work with them, 98% of students in America don't have that opportunity. And I saw it as a chance to close that gap. We’re a little over three years old. We've reached 75,000 young women. And I thought that there's a really unique way that we could bring them together in real life and on our digital platform to see what types of careers are available.

This is our second Discovery Days tour. The last tour was very successful. This year we're visiting seven different cities, hosting 10 trips across those cities with more than 200 female executives, including Debbie at EY. So the whole idea is when we roll into these cities and you sign up for your particular city, maybe in the future we will take everyone all across, but I don't think my team's ready for that quite yet.

K@W: This is over a course of what, about three, three and a half weeks as well?

Grasso: Yes, my poor team, they don't sleep. But everyone's healthy and fed. The idea is when you go into these cities you usually visit four to five companies a day. So to give you an example, in Dallas we'll be visiting Southwest Airlines, AT&T, JC Penny's and EY. And during the time you're doing tours of the companies,

Have you heard of the Impossible Burger? As you can see from the photo, it looks (and many say tastes) a lot like your favorite fast-food beef patty with all the fixin’s, but it’s actually very different. Offered on a handful of menus in the U.S.– at restaurants like Public […]

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Have you heard of the Impossible Burger? As you can see from the photo, it looks (and many say tastes) a lot like your favorite fast-food beef patty with all the fixin’s, but it’s actually very different. Offered on a handful of menus in the U.S.– at restaurants like Public House in San Francisco, Bareburger in New York City, and Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles – the Impossible Burger bills itself as the "game changer of a burger” that is 0% cow. That’s right, it’s made from plants, not animals.

Nick Halla is one of the architects behind the Impossible Burger and, more broadly, the emerging plant-based food movement. Halla, who grew up on a dairy farm, studied engineering at the University of Minnesota, and earned graduate degrees in business and energy and environmental science at Stanford, was the first employee of Impossible Foods in Redwood City, Calif. He is now chief strategy officer. Under the guidance of CEO and founder Patrick Brown, a biochemist and professor emeritus at Stanford’s School of Medicine, Impossible Foods is on a mission to research and understand the fundamentals of the properties that drive products like meat, fish and dairy. From there, the company finds pieces in the plant-based world to help recreate those foods.

“If we take the food approach to solving this problem, we would end up with a better veggie burger, which is not going to get us to where we need to be,” says Halla, who realized while studying renewable energy sources like solar and wind power in grad school that he could have a much greater impact on the sustainability of the planet through food. “The first 50 employees at Impossible Foods were almost all scientists and researchers looking at what makes meat, fish and dairy what they are. By really understanding the science of what happens, you can make simple solutions in the end.”

Solutions like the Impossible Burger. Impossible Foods’ first product for consumers, the Impossible Burger has a few key ingredients like coconut oil and potato protein – nothing artificial. The company just announced that it is in mid-construction of its first production facility in Oakland, Calif., which will soon make the Impossible Burger available in more than 1,000 restaurants in the U.S., up from its current 11. Word on the street is that the company has even been talking with McDonald's as a potential seller of the plant-based burger. Impossible Foods’ growth, as well as similar news from competitors like Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat, suggests that innovation to make the foods we eat and love even better has only just begun.

KWHS interviewer Julia Drake, a junior at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, N.J., sat down with Halla during a recent trip to Silicon Valley to learn more about the science and passion behind plant-based foods. Be sure to listen to that podcast at the top of this article!

An edited version of the podcast transcript appears below. 

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Hi. I'm Julia Drake with KWHS, and I'm happy to be here in Redwood City, California, speaking with Nick Halla, chief strategy officer of Impossible Foods, the creator of the Impossible Burger. Nick, thank you for joining us.

Nick Halla: Thank you for having me.

KWHS: So, can you share with us the history and the purpose of Impossible Foods? What is the company all about?

Halla: We started six years ago, in 2011, really looking at the food system and trying to find a better way to produce the foods that we love today. If we look at how much -- how big an environmental impact that there is behind our food system today, and behind the way we use animals as a technology to produce food, if we want to keep eating the meats, dairies, and fish products we love, we have to produce them a better way.

So, what we did at Impossible Foods is start looking at the fundamentals of what makes meat, fish, dairy -- what they are. And then [we looked] in the plant-based world to find simple sol...

Kayvon Asemani, a native of Baltimore and a 2014 graduate of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk youth in Hershey, Pa., has a fascinating story to tell. While his young life has been marred by tragedy (explained in Part I, if you missed it), he has long been guided by his […]

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Kayvon Asemani, a native of Baltimore and a 2014 graduate of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk youth in Hershey, Pa., has a fascinating story to tell. While his young life has been marred by tragedy (explained in Part I, if you missed it), he has long been guided by his passion and creativity. Today, Asemani, a Wharton junior, is a rising hip-hop star and founder of Asemani Enterprises, which includes a clothing brand.

In Part II of this two-part podcast and video, he sits down with KWHS interviewer Anthony David Williams to continue their discussion on his life, music, business and mission to motivate other young people to follow their dreams, despite the challenges they face. They kick off their talk recalling Asemani’s experiences at the United Nations in August 2016, when he performed three original songs for a crowd of 1,400 people from 193 countries as part of the International Young Leaders Assembly.

An edited transcript of their conversation appears below.

https://youtu.be/X_vV_dmLKVs

Knowledge@Wharton High School: You mention this dichotomy of untapped potential and then arriving at a place like Penn. What is that like, as someone who had that untapped potential, to then [have it] tapped at the United Nations? Tell me a little bit about your experience performing at the United Nations [in the summer of 2016]. You're young in your college career, performing in front of such a sophisticated audience, which is a world stage.

Kayvon Asemani: When I think about the whole United Nations thing, it's hard to believe. I almost don't believe myself that I did it. But I've got to remind myself that we were there. It happened.

First of all, I don't know if a rapper has ever done that before. So that's a pretty big milestone for anybody who's making music. But what it really meant for me was [helping people] understand what hip hop really is. So I'm not appropriating it in any negative way. I'm not being a negative ambassador to the culture of hip hop. You've got to stay true to that. One of my main goals is to respect the craft itself and the art form.

But at the same time, [I wanted to] bring in my own background and experiences and allow this art to be able to transcend into other audiences, environments and contexts. That’s why the whole rapping at the UN thing is so mind blowing because the United Nations isn't a context where you would expect somebody to go in there and rap. The reason why it meant a lot to me is because my whole idea is to bring communities together.

The funny thing was I decided not to approach it any differently than I would approach anything else, because if you think about it the idea of staying true to the culture of hip hop, bringing in my own personal story that might resonate with other people, and then uniting people together, just those three key pieces. It's the same thing I decided to do at the United Nations.

[It was] me and one of my producers, Waz. He’s incredible. I could sit here for three years and talk about him -- Chris, Alex, all these guys that I work with.

KWHS: The whole crew.

Asemani: Oh yeah. It's a strong team. I'm probably the least talented person on the team. But Waz, he made a mix [for the United Nations performance]. The first part of the mix was a segment of the intro of my previous mix tape. It’s called U4IC (pronounced Euphoric} and the name of the intro was also called U4IC. It’s a really dark song about my situation and what happened and what it means, the first time I experienced these issues and how I saw them and how they related on the larger level. You have to listen to the song to understand what I'm saying. Then the middle part was this song called "Breakthrough" which I released a music video for a year ago. It is a more upbeat and energetic, bring-people-together song. And then at the end it was a snippet of "Rayz,

Kayvon Asemani, a native of Baltimore and a 2014 graduate of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk youth in Hershey, Pa., has a fascinating story to tell. While his young life has been marred by tragedy, he has long been guided by his passion and creativity. Today, Asemani, a Wharton […]

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Kayvon Asemani, a native of Baltimore and a 2014 graduate of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk youth in Hershey, Pa., has a fascinating story to tell. While his young life has been marred by tragedy, he has long been guided by his passion and creativity. Today, Asemani, a Wharton junior studying economics, is a rising hip-hop star and founder of Asemani Enterprises, which includes a clothing brand. In part I of a two-part podcast and video, he sat down with KWHS interviewer Anthony David Williams to discuss his life, music, and mission to motivate other young people to follow their dreams, despite the challenges they face.

https://youtu.be/WgP1ZaAmUpg

An edited transcript of their conversation appears below.

Knowledge@Wharton High School: Kayvon Asemani is a hip-hop artist and young entrepreneur from Baltimore. He began making music as early as elementary school and continued to develop his craft throughout his high school career. Presently, as a junior at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, Kayvon continues to develop his brand after having performed for the United Nations [last summer] by furthering his clothing brand and releasing his music video for his latest track, "Rayz," which garnered more than 100,000 views on YouTube. Kayvon is talking with us today to share this journey into music entrepreneurship and what it has meant for him.

Hi Kayvon.

Kayvon Asemani: How are you doing, Anthony?

KWHS: I'm good. How about you?

Asemani: I'm good. Thanks for having me. I'm honored.

KWHS: Having started your music career so early on in life, how did you know you wanted to pursue music? What was the process like at such a young age?

Asemani: That's a good question. I think about it a lot, believe it or not. When I was in elementary school, the first rap song I ever heard was "Hot in Here" by Nelly. It was on the Music Choice channel. I was outside on the playground and my brother told me to come inside. I was five. He was eight. And he was like, "Listen to this." And I loved it for the same reasons he loved it -- all the energy, the music, the lyrics. I didn't really know anything about the message -- I was five years old -- but I loved the way it sounded.

So, I went to my room and I tried to pen some things. And you've got to remember, this is elementary [school]. This is like when you get the paper in school and it's got the big lines on it and you're trying to learn how to write your letters. Over time, when everybody else is reading Dr. Seuss and starting to read bigger books, I'm listening to 50 Cent and G Unit Is Back.

KWHS: The other rhymes.

Asemani: Yeah, exactly. And I'm writing rhymes instead of reading. That was the way I developed as a person, not only as a poet or an artist. I was just thinking of it as learning something as you would learn science in school or math in school. It wasn't necessarily a conscious decision like, oh, I want to be a rapper and I want to be an artist. Over time, I was writing it down and getting a lot better. And eventually, I was putting it on beats in middle school. And then when I got to high school, I was putting it out on the Internet. And then by the time college hit, I turned it into a business. That’s basically the story from the way it started and what it is now.

KWHS: It's actually interesting that you would leave it there, because my next question is going to be how would you say that your sound, image or brand has evolved from that time to now at Penn?

Asemani: Absolutely. That's important. I think as an elementary school student, as a five, six, seven year old, I was basically writing about what I knew from my experience, what I saw when I lived on the day to day. I was raised by a single mother [and have] two siblings. Again, it was not a conscious decision of writing about the things I'm writing about. It was just what I saw every day. So, my message wasn't foreign.

Natalie Hampton is a high school junior from Sherman Oaks, Calif. The once-bullied teen has created a new app called “Sit with Us,” a safe place for lonely kids to seek out lunchtime companionship. The free lunch-planning app allows students to find lunch tables if they don’t want to sit alone. […]

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Natalie Hampton is a high school junior from Sherman Oaks, Calif. The once-bullied teen has created a new app called “Sit with Us,” a safe place for lonely kids to seek out lunchtime companionship. The free lunch-planning app allows students to find lunch tables if they don’t want to sit alone. Other high school students can sign up as ambassadors for a “Sit with Us” club and agree to post open lunches, so that anyone who has the app and has nowhere to go can find a table and possibly make some new friends.

Hampton recently discussed her innovation on the Knowledge@Wharton show on Wharton Business Radio on SiriusXM channel 111. (Listen to the podcast at the top of this page.)

An edited transcript of Hampton’s conversation with Wharton Business Radio host Dan Loney follows.

Knowledge@Wharton: The problems of bullying and inclusion are still concerns at schools across the United States. Add in the pressure of being in high school and you get some students who feel like they might be alone, maybe don't have friends. A 16-year-old from Sherman Oaks, California, is trying to be heard in this discussion. She has come up with a unique way to handle it. It's an app called Sit With Us. It's designed to help high schoolers meet new people, maybe at lunch, and not eat alone. Her name is Natalie Hampton. And Natalie joins us on the phone right now. Natalie, welcome.

Natalie Hampton: Thank you so much for having me.

Knowledge@Wharton: Thank you. Great to have you. This is a phenomenal idea. And I'll start with how the idea to look into this problem came about. How did you decide on an app being one of the best ways to go about it?

Hampton: At my old school [a private all-girls academy], I was severely bullied. I was ostracized by pretty much everyone. I ended up eating lunch alone for a big part of my high school career. And so, when I was very, very lucky to change schools, I saw people sitting alone, and I knew how that felt. I knew the feelings of embarrassment and rejection that went along with that. So I would always ask them to join our table. Some of these people have become some of my best friends. I know how much it really changes these people's lives. And so I started doing some community service with underprivileged kids. But I realized that, as soon as they stepped out onto those school campuses, there was nothing I could do. So I thought that creating an app was the best way to help kids in their schools and their lunchrooms and help them meet new people.

K@W: Why the app?

Hampton: We decided to create an app because phones are pretty universal in all classrooms. And it's very private. So there's no rejection or no embarrassment of having to go up to someone and ask [him or her] to join the table. If you do it through the phone, you know that when you get to the table, you're going somewhere safe, and there's nothing to worry about.

Knowledge@Wharton: And you've already made that connection with something. The other interesting part about this is it does build leadership skills within the high school because you have people that are taking that lead role of saying, "Yeah listen, please join me, no problem."

Hampton: Yeah. And I think that when you have students that-- I mean lunch isn't really a big deal to most people. So it's not that big of a time commitment to get this app and start posting lunches. And I think it's these small changes of kids helping kids and kids doing something good for their community that really makes strides in the way that students treat each other within their schools.

K@W: How long has the app been active? And do you know how many downloads you've gotten at this point?

Hampton: It's been out for a little [more than] a week. And it's gotten [more than] 10,000 downloads, the last time I checked, which is just mind blowing to me. Because this was my little pet project.

Internships can be dynamic ways to try on careers, and sometimes the most unexpected opportunities will open your eyes to a whole new outlet for your skills and interests. Antione Gray is a senior in the University of Pennsylvania’s College of Arts and Sciences. While he never considered himself entrepreneurially […]

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