2023 Expo East NEXTY Judges

Kristine Carey

Executive Director, Naturally Boulder

Kristine is the Executive Director for Naturally Boulder accepting this role June 1, 2023. Her
background is as a food and beverage brand strategist and founder of Brand Guide. Working
internally and as a consultant with pre-revenue startups and emerging brands to help build
consistent messaging that connects with consumers beyond products and services. 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, Herb’n Pantry, Keef Beverages and Honey Rock Landing. 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.

Emily Schildt

Founder & 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. Evident in her in-house roles, consulting practice, and entrepreneurial ventures, she excels in storytelling through content and live experiences and in reaching, engaging, and inspiring target audiences. 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. As a Brand Communications and Marketing Consultant, Emily specializes in brand messaging and architecture, content strategy and production and influencer programs and campaigns.  Her most recent venture is founding Pop Up Grocer, an innovative retail experience about discovery, not just shopping. Pop Up Grocer flips the idea of a traditional supermarket on its head and rotates its entire inventory seasonally or in new pop-up locations to showcase new 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.  

Jake Deleon

Founder, Fila Manila

Jake  Deleon, founder of Fila Manila and a 1st generation Filipino American immigrant, is on a mission to add much-needed Filipino representation. 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 product lines that are distributed nationally with retailers like 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.  

Verity Noble

Cofounder and CMO, Nude Foods Market 

1 part serial-entrepreneur, 2 parts Mum (she’s British, hence the spelling), 1 part zero-waste obsessive, 1 part vegan and 3 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.