5. Overcoming Missteps And Reinventing Your Career With Bitten CEO & Founder, Naz Riahi

Summary: In today’s episode I’m talking to Naz Ree-ah-hi, CEO and founder of Bitten, a culinary conference that set out to change the conversation around food and open an inclusive community to a wider audience. After almost a decade working in advertising and marketing, she was attracted to the food space for its innovation and creativity but felt that the space was insular. Ever the disruptor, she decided to change that. The first Bitten conference, took place in New York back in 2015. A week before the event, tickets were totally sold out. The day of, she was fielding ticket requests from people willing to pay cash to get in. More than 300 strangers came for a full day of 20-minute TED-talk style presentations showcasing the future of food told by the people who are making it happen. In today’s episode, Naz reveals for the first time that, despite toying with the idea of launching her own business for a while, she finally took the plunge after being fired from her corporate job. Unsurprisingly, the experience was scary but she was driven by the belief in her vision, knowing that sometimes you have to take risks to make things happen. Last year she took the conference to the West Coast for the first time and was one of a handful of people invited to attend the South by South Lawn festival (inspired by South By South West) at the White House. In our conversation she reflects back on all the doubts she had in the beginning, not knowing whether prominent leaders would sign on to speak and not knowing how many tickets they’d be able to sell. The next Bitten conference takes place on May 12 in NYC. thisisbitten.com