Laura DAsaro

Seattle

Summary

Food entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience building and scaling consumer brands. Co-founder of Chirps, one of the first edible insect companies in the U.S., and current Head of Commercial at Hedgehog Mushrooms. Recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and winner on Shark Tank.

Overview

years of professional experience

Work History

Head of Commercial

Hedgehog Mushrooms

Robotic Mushroom Farm

05.2023 - Current

Grew revenue from $0 to $5M ARR in 2.5 years
Closed sales to major retail and distribution channels, including Whole Foods Market, Meijer, H-E-B, and Sysco
Managed relationships across 30+ retail and foodservice accounts
Built and led a team of 3 full-time and 3 part-time employees

Co-Founder

RobeCurls

Hair Accessory Company

03.2019 - 12.2022

Grew company to $1.5M ARR in 2 years (only 3 team members)
Worked with influencers and PR to create brand recognition, driving 80% of website traffic, built & managed Amazon page (70% revenue)

Co-Founder & COO

Chirps

Cricket-based Food Company

03.2013 - 12.2021

Built multimillion dollar food brand from a previously undesirable ingredient
Launched Chirps Cricket Chips in 1,500 stores, including Kroger, as the first insect-based product in a major supermarket
Worked with design team to update brand and packaging, leading to a 20% increase in sales
Led PR efforts and secured coverage in NY Times, LA Times, Forbes, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Slate, ABC, Yahoo, Insecure, etc.
Oversaw daily operations of a team consisting of 6 employees and 3 contractors.

Education

MBA -

Stanford University

06-2022

BA -

Harvard College

Cum Laude | 3.9 GPA

07-2013

Skills

Shark Tank Winner: Appeared on CNBC's Shark Tank, secured $100K in funding from Mark Cuban
Forbes 30 Under 30: Social entrepreneurship recipient
Children's Book Author: Author of Eat Bugs: Project Startup, abook series by Penguin Random House for kids 8-12
World Records: World Record holder for Fastest Time to Crawl a mile and World's Largest Nachos

Sustainia 100 Awardee: Awarded to top 100 sustainable solutions from around the world each year (June 2016)
Echoing Green Climate Fellow: Awarded $90K fellowship to pursue bringing edible insects mainstream (May 2015)
Harvard Dean's Challenge: Awarded Grand Prize in Harvard's annual entrepreneurship competition (Nov 2014)

Timeline