If you check out Riana Lynn's LinkedIn profile, you'll see that she was a nationally ranked discus and javelin thrower in college.
What you might not realize is that, before that, she was also the kicker on her high school football team until her track coach convinced her to quit in order to avoid injuries and focus on her track and field talents.
You might also see that Lynn worked in the Obama White House as an intern in the Office of Public Engagement in 2011 and 2012. But you probably wouldn't know she got to be there to claim the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period with First Lady Michelle Obama.
"The average day I would look up at 4 p.m. and realize I didn't even have lunch or breakfast," she said of her experience at the Office of Public Engagement, which regularly worked with celebrities, tech CEOs and other leaders.
Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Evanston and going to school at Northwestern University, Lynn said she was surrounded by an incredibly diverse community that influences her perspectives to this day.
"Honestly, exposure is life's greatest professor, and I can speak to that from a very early age," she said.
Her mom has also played a strong role. She had Lynn when she was in college and never graduated. But she saved every dollar she could to send Lynn to private school and enroll her in science programs.
Several of Lynn's family members have been entrepreneurs. Her dad, who she saw mostly on weekends, started a construction company in the 1990s. Her grandparents were food entrepreneurs at farms in Virginia and Alabama. Her grandma, who is now 90, was a yoga instructor long before most people had even heard of yoga.
"I'm really inspired by my grandparents and my father, and then some other family members," she said.
So it was a natural fit when Lynn started building websites in college and raking in more money than most of her peers. That, along with web development projects and inspiration from the earliest versions of Facebook, set the stage for Lynn to become a strong voice in the tech startup and nutrition scenes.
She's now co-founder and CEO of Austin-based Journey Foods, which has developed a data science platform that helps food companies large and small launch products, as well as monitor and optimize ingredients and supply chains.
Do you have a morning routine? My morning routine has changed now that I got a puppy. Spotify on my Google speakers that automatically turns on. Some tea from Brooklyn Tea — a Black-owned tea company. And then this playlist called "The Universe Wakes Up" that I made on Spotify. And then I look at the sunrise or go on a walk. I may text people. I'm kind of infamous for being a bad texter. It's just that text messages stress me out — and emails. So now I have a block on my mornings on my calendar so no one can schedule anything and I don't get any customer demos scheduled, typically from like 7:30 to 9:30.
What do you consider your non-work hobbies? I bought some fishing poles. Fishing was supposed to be one this year. It didn't happen. I just have the poles. I do a little bit of ceramics. I collect a lot of art. I spend a lot of my money on collecting art and collaborating with artists on like 3D in-canvas art. I'm working on a 3D short film that's sort of my take on the history of food. It has like a Pixar vibe to it. Learning 3D was a part of my Covid hobbies. I just sort of nerd out on Dribble and look at like hundreds of designers' stuff every week to get inspiration. And, one day I'll get back to fishing.
Social media: love it? hate it? Any favorite platforms to connect on or to just avoid entirely? For me, it's like that ex you can't get over — or like that diet that you keep failing. I don't have a big influencer following, but I have a blue checkmark on Twitter and over 10,000 on Instagram and a pretty good following on LinkedIn. My best interactions come through newsletters. I count it as digital media, but I don't really count it as social media. It's just like one of those love-hate relationships, because I hate the way that it makes me feel sometimes. I know a lot of people think that way. But I've gotten requests to speak at Harvard and met customers through it. So it's just one of those hard things where it's like "How can we make it healthier?" It's not just up to us to make it healthier for ourselves. Just like how we're working on food, we can't tell everyone to behave in a way that curbs their cancer and diabetes risk. We have to change the system and I think it's the same with social media.
Any favorite podcasts? "The Pomp Podcast" on Spotify. I like to listen to a lot of science and building the future podcasts. And I like a lot of podcasts on wellness. There are a lot of great wellness podcasts that help with rethinking how to approach problems, controlling your emotions during COVID and managing burnout. So it's really wellness, business and science for me.
What's on your playlist? Earlier today, I was listening to a lot of Khruangbin, so I'm guilty of that. I don't know what it is. I think I have a Texas soul because I like a lot of Texas artists. Erykah Badu, Khruangbin, those folks. I'm still a diehard sort of Chicago hip hop fan, like Twista and Kanye. And I also enjoy Tank and The Bangas NPR Tiny Desk. That's one of the best, especially from an up and coming group. It was just so good.
Do you think that Austin's on the right track to improve diversity amongst founders, boards and venture capital firms? No. I think for the latter two, no. For startups, it's interesting. Capital Factory has a woman and Black fund in partnership with Google. So you see some strong Black entrepreneurs here and Latinx entrepreneurs. I think that's not bad. I do see an interesting core of Blacks in tech, like people who work at Google and Facebook that are at higher numbers than in other cities. And some Texas founders who are doing better than in some other states as well. Not seeing so much in VC.
What's your favorite part of being a founder? I'm using my creative interests. I've spoken in West Africa. I've spoken in South Korea. Just all over the world. ... Like, I feel like if I were to like not be on this earth anymore, I would feel like pretty confident in some of the impact that I had.
I love to be able to build a creative team and sort of think about what's the org chart of the future and not necessarily the org chart of what's been traditionally in the food or tech industry.
What's the worst part of being a founder? Time. You have administrative things, which you just have to do if you want the freedom to make more money, to change the world, to be a servant leader, all those things. And I can agree to that, and I understand the calling for that. But my experiences have been so unique that it's so hard to replace me. I know that sounds super cocky, almost arrogant, but it's really hard to find the right talent that can execute and think the same way as you but also remain loyal to the company. And that's just what I think most founders go through.
Do you have a favorite dish that you like to make? I love to bake some of my grandmother's like passed down desserts. Everyone loves my dump cake. I make a natural dump cake. It's like a peach cobbler mixed with a crumble cake mixed with like a yellow cake. It's really interesting. It's ugly but it's so delicious.
How has the pandemic impacted your life personally? I've paid attention to my wellness and my mental health way more. I was really burning out, just running around like crazy, barely sleeping, traveling so much. I realized how much we overvalue travel and airplane travel and how we need to optimize it. I've found a deeper way to connect to my family and friends.
Title: CEO and co-founder, Journey Foods
Age: 35
Hometown: Evanston, Ill.
Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, bachelor's degree; Northwestern University, master's degree
Pets: Harlem, 5-month-old puppy
Email: riana@journeyfoods.com
