Meet the 2023 Expo East NEXTY Awards guest judges
Get to know the industry experts who helped select this year's 20 award winner. The winners will be announced Sept. 21 on the trade show floor. Click through the gallery.
![Meet the 2023 Expo East NEXTY Awards guest judges Meet the 2023 Expo East NEXTY Awards guest judges](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt3287e56da5a0d4d9/64f817947434dcea194db3d4/ee23-nexty-judges-title-slide.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Category Manager, Roots Market
Cristina Kin oversees purchasing and category management for the Grocery, Fridge, Frozen, and Wellness departments at Roots Market, an independently owned natural food store in Maryland. While living in Italy, she took an interest in the slow food movement and natural living, which made Roots Market a perfect place for her to make a meaningful impact in the local community. The store focuses on clean, organic foods and a favorite destination for shoppers looking for vegan products.
Cristina brings 11 years of experience in the industry. She is very passionate about innovation in the natural products world and is always on the lookout for the next exciting products.
Executive Director, Naturally Boulder
Kristine became the executive director for Naturally Boulder on June 1. Her background includes being a food and beverage brand strategist and founder of Brand Guide. Working internally and as a consultant with pre-revenue startups and emerging brands, Kristine has led brand communication strategies and marketing programs for various natural products companies such as Frontier Brands, MyChelle Dermaceuticals, Healthy Skoop, Wedderspoon, Peak State Coffee and more.
She also created Brandamentals Academy, an eLearning branding and marketing communications course, and is a mentor with the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business New Venture Launch.
Co-founder and CMO, Nude Foods Market
One part serial-entrepreneur, two parts mum (yes, she's British), one part zero-waste obsessive, one part vegan and three parts exuberant lover of life: think dancing 'til dawn, singing—badly—out loud while mountain biking and the total absence of the embarrassment gene.
Too many parts? Maybe for most people, but not this lady. Verity's obsession with zero-waste has stealthily changed the habits of almost everyone she knows. She doesn't jam with the word impossible. There's always a way.
Market Insights Director, SPINS
Scott Dicker is the market insights director for SPINS, a leading wellness-focused data company and advocate for the natural products industry. With a background in nutrition, he believes in the importance of making wellness options more accessible to everyone and that demystifying data can make that happen. By delving into omnichannel, comprehensive, market-wide data, he identifies emerging trends and explores shifting consumer behavior, helping retailers and brands better understand the market and their audience. Scott has spoken at many leading industry events, including the Natural Products Expo, SupplySide and Plant Based World shows, plus many more. In addition, he has a longstanding involvement in nutrition and wellness, working as a sports nutritionist and starting multiple entrepreneurial businesses in the field.
Founder, Fila Manila, a three-time NEXTY Award-winning brand
Jake Deleon, founder of Fila Manila and a first generation Filipino American immigrant, is on a mission to add much-needed Filipino representation to the natural foods industry. He started Fila Manila in 2020 with a line of sauces inspired by iconic Filipino flavors and his family's favorite comfort foods. Since then, the company has expanded into three NEXTY Award-winning products that are distributed nationally through retailers such as Whole Foods Market and Target.
Jake is also the founder of FoundersHeritage.org, an industry community that connects founders in the surging global flavors space. Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Jake enjoyed a career working in consumer foods with Procter & Gamble and Starbucks.
Founder and CEO, Pop Up Grocer
Across art and music, fashion and food, Emily has worked with early-stage and long-running companies to help them identify their white space, articulate their positioning, and connect them with their consumers. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Time, Entrepreneur, Forbes and Refinery29.
Emily is the founder of Sourdough, a communications studio that works with emerging products to craft stories that spark emotion. She specializes in brand messaging and architecture, content strategy and production and influencer programs and campaigns.
Her most recent venture is Pop Up Grocer, an innovative retail experience about discovery, not just shopping. Pop Up Grocer rotates its entire inventory seasonally or in new pop-up locations to showcase emerging products. With better-for-you ingredient standards and an appreciation for aesthetics, the store introduces curious shoppers to smaller independent brands with fun designs and interesting concepts.
Senior Contributor, Forbes
Douglas Yu is a well-versed business journalist writing about the food and beverage industry for nearly a decade. Since joining Forbes as a senior contributor ½ years ago, Douglas has been offering CPG professionals exclusive perspectives on fundraising, M&A, and human-centric entrepreneurial stories.
Having documented agricultural practices across Asia, Latin America and West Africa, Douglas has brought his readers to the cornerstone of the food supply chain, deep diving into how climate, food sustainability and farmers' wellbeing are intimately intertwined.
He has been invited by several mainstream media outlets to provide commentary on the CPG industry. Additionally, Douglas is an angel investor in consumer goods and serves as an advisory board member of Naturally Network's New York chapter.
Executive Chef/Founder, EcoChef Culinary, and Chef/Co-founder, Working Title Food
Chef Daniel Asher's obsession with local agriculture, sustainable sourcing and food justice has been the heart of his three decades in the restaurant industry. He serves as executive chef/founder of EcoChef Culinary and chef/co-founder of the Working Title Food Group to share his experience and passions, and express the joy and inspiration that comes from gathering at the table.
Advocating for food equity, social justice and regenerative agriculture is his expression of nourishing hospitality. A desire to catalyze change is satiated by working with the James Beard Chef Action Summit, Slow Food USA Cook's Alliance, World Central Kitchen Chef Corps and Zero Foodprint. Chef Asher's love of ethically driven, relentlessly beautiful, celebratory food is whole-heartedly intended to forge human connections and sustain resilient communities of farmers, ranchers and food artisans both locally and globally.
Executive Chef/Founder, EcoChef Culinary, and Chef/Co-founder, Working Title Food
Chef Daniel Asher's obsession with local agriculture, sustainable sourcing and food justice has been the heart of his three decades in the restaurant industry. He serves as executive chef/founder of EcoChef Culinary and chef/co-founder of the Working Title Food Group to share his experience and passions, and express the joy and inspiration that comes from gathering at the table.
Advocating for food equity, social justice and regenerative agriculture is his expression of nourishing hospitality. A desire to catalyze change is satiated by working with the James Beard Chef Action Summit, Slow Food USA Cook's Alliance, World Central Kitchen Chef Corps and Zero Foodprint. Chef Asher's love of ethically driven, relentlessly beautiful, celebratory food is whole-heartedly intended to forge human connections and sustain resilient communities of farmers, ranchers and food artisans both locally and globally.
This year, the New Hope Network team found themselves especially challenged with the task of choosing the 2023 Expo East NEXTY Award Winners.
At New Hope Network, we understand that assessing innovation, inspiration and integrity in the natural products industry is no straightforward endeavor. Therefore, we brought in a select group of industry professionals to lend their expertise in the final round of judging.
This year's eight distinguished guest judges bring expertise from various corners of the CPG industry: natural products founders, retailers, journalists and more. Together, they comprise a formidable team who helped identify the standout products in 20 different categories.
Out of the extensive pool of 69 finalists, these guest judges are entrusted with the critical duty of recognizing the products that have distinguished themselves from the rest. The awards began with hundreds of nominated products, all vying for a coveted spot among the finalists. Only the best of the best have made it this far.
The NEXTY Awards honor the natural products industry's finest, spotlighting brands that embody innovation, inspiration and integrity. As the judges gather for each evaluation round, they engage in thoughtful discussions, sample the products and engage in measured deliberations to determine the best examples of these qualities. These deliberations, while earnest, are not without their challenges.
Click through the gallery to meet the guest judges who have been essential to choosing the Natural Products Expo East 2023 NEXTY Award winners.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like