Emily Brown, co-founder and CEO of Attane Health, was born and raised with her siblings in Dallas, Texas. She had a great childhood and even better parents.
Growing up, Emily, who now lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her family, describes herself as a go-getter, which is highlighted throughout her professional career.
But her first obsession was not in the health-tech field.
“I’d say my passion growing up was really music,” she explains. “I actually wanted to be a music teacher.”
Emily says it’s important for founders to understand the level of commitment that will be demanded of them. Learning all aspects of a startup is essential.
“When you want to be an artist, you have to really love your craft,” Emily says. “You have to know it inside out, and sometimes you have to fight for it.”
This dedication to music played well into her current roles. Emily compares being a CEO to being a conductor.
“The conductor has to know the music so well that when they look at the sheet music, they can already hear it. That’s the level of intensity,” she says.
Eventually, that intensity turned to advocating for proper access to prescription food.
In 2021, Emily co-founded Attane, which provides inclusive access to personalized, nutritious groceries, and educational resources for those living with chronic health conditions.
Today, she is considered a thought leader in the “food is medicine” movement.
While Attane, whose mission is to empower individuals by improving their health through food, was established three years ago, Emily’s entrepreneurial journey truly began a decade ago.
“So before I started Attane, I actually started a nonprofit first. So I kind of have a unique journey,” she states.
Due to both of Emily’s children having chronic illnesses, they were prescribed a very restricted diet. But she soon learned the true cost of her family’s health.
“I grew up very middle class in Dallas. I had never experienced hunger. I didn’t experience hunger until my adult life,” she confesses. “What was driving our food insecurity was these medical conditions. We went through some tough economic times.”
At one point, her family was receiving WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid benefits.
“I always tell people you have to be brave to ask for help,” Emily says, recalling waiting in long lines at food pantries. “To be at a point where you need to ask others to help meet your basic needs, it’s such a humbling and somewhat traumatic experience.”
Emily experienced first-hand how little support there was around treating food as medicine. So she decided to do something about it.
She started her journey to Attane by creating the nonprofit, Food Equality Initiative, which looks to establish nutrition security and health equity for everyone. But the reason she chose to go the nonprofit route was from a lack of knowledge on the most effective methods for tackling these massive issues.
“So I started the nonprofit first really because I think that was the model that I had access to – like as a poor person navigating all these challenges,” Emily admits.
Down the line, she realized the nonprofit route was not ideal for her overall goals, which led to her co-founding Attane Health. But, she says, all the chaos of creating and running a nonprofit was a great “professional stair step” to her current endeavors.
“Not just from my lived experience, but from the professional experience of running a food prescription program through a community-based lens,” she explains. “I became obsessed with how we get the right food to the right people at the right time, and trying to find the right model.”
This drive to deliver optimal solutions came in handy when the world flipped upside down. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Attane managed to survive and learned a lot about their target customer base.
“We’re a B2B2C model, so we’ve got to sell it to our business partners. But then ultimately it’s their patients or members that are the consumers of the product,” Emily explains. “If you understand the needs of your end consumer and let data drive your decisions, then you will build products that they love.”
But it’s not just about knowing your customers.
One of Emily’s biggest pieces of advice for founders is that they should never underestimate relationships when raising capital – whether that be on the nonprofit or for-profit side. In fact, she met her co-founder through her nonprofit, which helped lead to an initial angel investment of around $250,000.
“I think when you’re raising money anyway, it’s a relationship game. You hear all the time people do business with people they like, people they know, and people they trust,” Emily explains. “I understood the power of networking, I understood the power of being in the room, being able to tell your story.”
About the Author: Tess Danielson is a journalist and writer focusing on the intersection of technology and society.
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