Zoe Singh, originally from Los Angeles, graduated from NYU Stern with concentrations in Sustainable Business and Finance, and a minor in Creative Writing. She will be joining PIMCO as an Account Analyst on the Client Management team.

Joining CSB

I have had the privilege and honor of working for CSB for the last two years, an experience which has proven integral to marrying my own personal interests, values, academic studies, and future professional aspirations. Throughout my Junior and Senior year, I was given the opportunity to learn and lend a hand on a diverse range of project types, in which I got to exercise many different skills, from performing background research, to editing white papers, to writing blog posts, to helping with convenings and events hosted at Stern.

The idea of working for CSB was first planted in my head during my sophomore year when I took the class Sustainability for Competitive Advantage with Professor Tensie Whelan. This class helped show me how a business degree can be used to help better the world, whether on a community level, government level, or corporate level, and inspired me to begin looking for opportunities to gain experience doing so. After staying in touch with Professor Whelan, I happened upon a job application for CSB over the summer, and started up as a Research Fellow the Fall of my Junior Year.

InvestNYC SDG and FoodMap NY

I first began my work under the InvestNYCSDG initiative headed by Marianna Koval. InvestNYC SDG aims to engage the private sector, government, and community stakeholders to develop investable projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aiming to build a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban economy in New York City. I worked specifically under Kendra Gibbs and Divya Subramanian*, on the FoodMap NY team, on the Healthy Food in Retail project. In collaboration with Cornell Johnson Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and funded by a $2M grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, The FoodMap NY team explores how we can provide long term, sustainable solutions to food insecurity with the help of both private sector engagement and intervention of the New York State yo enhance food and nutrition security.

Researching Solutions to Food Insecurity

To aid in their efforts, I conducted research with my colleague, Research Fellow Alan Fang, on different types of engagement the private sector can undertake to help solve food insecurity in areas of upstate New York. Together we covered a lot of ground. We began by assessing the viability of the gas station convenience store model as a means of bringing healthier food options to these areas. We honed on the chain Stewarts, which has pushed to stock local produce in their stores, as an example.

Alongside this, we began looking at how popular chains such as Dollar General can engage themselves within their communities through offering meal kit services. As dollar stores remain an integral source of food in areas lacking larger grocery store food chains, in combination with the greater reliance on meal-kit services post the pandemic, we found that designing meal-kit services targeted to low-income households, which is Dollar General’s main customer base, presents a viable business case.

From our research, we developed a proposal which was sent to Dollar General to launch a pilot program. We found Buffalo, where more than 45% of residents live below the poverty line, and where 12% are food insecure, would be an opportune place to launch due to the high concentration of Dollar Generals in the area.

Writing About the Healthy Corner Store Project

After spending time researching avenues in which food insecurity could be tackled in upstate New York areas, I was next given the opportunity to write a blog post covering the work done on the Healthy Corner Store project, which addressed the integral nature of corner stores, or bodegas, to low income communities within New York City. We dove into building a business case to how they can effectively be sources of healthier foods to these communities at affordable prices through innovations to their supply chains as small store models. The Hunts Point Healthy Bodega Pilot was born as a sustainable economy initiative, hoping to make use of the over 14,000 bodegas within New York City to bring low income communities healthier food options. The team found that in Hunts Point, there is a grocery store ratio of 12 to 1, meaning they host a lively bodega economy with potential to support the growth of an alternative distribution channel. Thus, the Healthy Corner Stores Project helped to show how supplying a complete selection of fresh and healthy foods is scalable, profitable, and self-sustaining.

Exploring Food As Medicine Initiatives

Alongside working with the FoodMap NY team, I was able to write a blog post for CSB, covering the work for the Food As Medicine project under FoodMap NY. My article outlined how the Invest NYC SDG team, in partnership with consulting group DAISA Enterprises is to pilot a “food as medicine” initiative, with the aim to build a sustainable produce prescription program which connects patients experiencing food insecurity and/or diet related illnesses with healthy foods via prescriptions from their healthcare providers; this was done by forming a business case for private health insurers to fund such efforts. Accomplished through numerous interviews, extensive research, and collaborating with community-based organizations such Foodlink, the FoodMap NY team is working to overcome scalability challenges and build a tech-enabled, data-informed model that can be integrated across New York State.

Editing White Papers and Supporting Events

Wrapping up the spring of my junior year and picking up once again in the fall of my senior year, I jumped into helping edit and prepare white papers, spotlight reports, and proposal drafts for distribution on all of the FoodMap NY Projects. During this time I worked closely with Marianna Koval, as I combed through reports for their Food Finance Initiative, Controlled Environmental Agriculture, and Food and Nutrition Assistance to name a few, to ensure all data was accurate and up to date and wording was as clear and concise as possible. This was a unique opportunity for myself to deepen my knowledge and understanding of the work of other FoodMap NY. During this time I helped with the GGRF Workshop, an event sponsored by CSB in collaboration with the New York Community Trust, The Community Foundation Climate Collaborative, and Amalgamated Bank to discuss the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Discussions included how organizational leaders can best uplift recipients of the GGRF to ensure their success, and how these organizations can best work with GGRF recipients and private funders to help create the shared infrastructure that is needed to reach scale. This experience showed me how sustainable finance initiatives are executed and communicated across different sectors. It gave me insight on the work I hope to one day be more a part of, contributing directly to impactful projects which bridge public funding, private investment, and community-driven climate solutions.

Building Resources for Sustainability Careers

In my final semester of college, I have had the privilege of working under the guidance of Mariah Maldonado, in which I assisted with building resources such as guides to careers in sustainability, job boards, and sustainable finance glossaries for MBA students interested in working in sustainability. Specifically, I assisted with the EmpowHER cohort, designed to empower MBA students, particularly women, to build expertise and networks in sustainable finance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.

Final Reflections

I consider myself so lucky to have been able to work for Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business. From learning about the importance of building sustainability and equity within our food system, through reworking existing business models and innovative ideas such as produce prescriptions programs, all the way to working to uplift sustainability students at Stern, the lessons I have learned through CSB have been invaluable. CSB and the people I have worked with and learned from have critically shaped my professional career pursuits, as they have shown me what it means to work with purpose, to work with passion for a better tomorrow. They have all shown me how important it is to push the boundaries presented to me, and ask questions on why things have not yet changed. I couldn’t be more grateful for my time here and cannot wait to see what CSB does next.