Braving wind chill, New York Area founders, investors, and friends learn from successful entrepreneurs and their peers.
From Ellen McGrit, Editor-in-Chief, Design Observer
Last week, the 1821 community gathered at Orrick's New York headquarters for an intimate conversation with Vanessa Rissetto, CEO and co-founder of Culina Health. The room—with 60+ attendees strong—was filled largely with founders and CEOs, many of whom are navigating their own versions of scale, capital, and conviction. What they encountered instead was something rarer: an unusually candid account of what it really takes to build a venture-backed healthcare company without losing sight of the human stakes.
Rissetto traced her path from clinical practice to entrepreneurship with refreshing clarity, describing how Culina Health emerged not from a pitch deck, but from years of trust built inside hospital systems and exam rooms. She spoke openly about bootstrapping the business before raising capital, the realities of managing payroll in a broken reimbursement system, and the steep learning curve of becoming a CEO after years as an individual practitioner. Her message landed clearly: credibility is earned long before cash arrives.
The conversation widened as Rissetto described her growing role as a public health and nutrition advocate, including her work engaging directly with policymakers. In a moment when food, health, and politics are increasingly entangled, she explained her deliberate choice to lead with science, stay apolitical, and insist on being in the room where decisions are made. For many in the audience, it was a striking example of how founders can shape systems—not just companies—without becoming consumed by the noise around them.
The most powerful moment of the evening, however, came when Rissetto spoke personally about motherhood, ambition, and the cost of carrying both. The child of Haitian immigrants has a deep sense of pride: she shared an emotional story about learning when to walk away from people who didn't truly see her—at work and beyond—and how that clarity ultimately made her a stronger leader and parent. For a community often focused on growth metrics and fundraising milestones, it was a reminder that we all have the power to clear obstacles from our own path.
