MBA Fellow scales sustainable systems through reusable packaging strategy at Just Salad

During the summer of 2026, Leah Sorkin (MBA/MPA '28) interned as an NYU Stern MBA Sustainability and Supply Chain Fellow at Just Salad. Read on to learn more about her time there:

Name: Leah Sorkin

Grad Year: 2028

Specialization: Sustainable Business and Innovation

I spent the summer on the Supply Chain and Sustainability team at Just Salad, focused primarily on updating and improving their reusable bowl program. I also contributed to a variety of analysis to support supply chain decision-making, and gathered data for a greenhouse gas inventory.

I was drawn to Just Salad because of its B-Corp status; I wanted to work for a company where I could see values-driven leadership in action. Over the course of the summer, I was struck by the depth of the commitment to the mission to “make everyday health and sustainability possible,” and also had several opportunities to observe the trade-offs and conflicts that arise when a company with such a deeply-held mission is faced with the pressures of expansion and scale. This is invaluable experience and will no doubt inform how I approach nuanced situations and identify opportunities to make meaningful change in the rest of my career.

Additionally, I have a long-time interest in waste reduction, so I was thrilled to get the opportunity to design a strategy around Just Salad’s reusable bowl. To me, the program represents how even a relatively small company can build a prototype of a new system, helping all of us to imagine new possibilities for the systems we interact with every day. This summer, I was able to really dig into what makes this kind of program work, to better understand the variety of motivations that bring people to the bowl, and to turn those learnings into recommendations about how to bring even more customers into the fold while also building Just Salad’s brand. There were lots of surprises as I pursued this work, and many insights I will take forward as I think about how to shift our systems on a larger scale.

Overall, my summer at Just Salad provided me with a strong foundation in the operations of a successful mission-driven model, and I am excited to take all of my experience and continue building toward a more sustainable future.