Startup Runway Chicago - May 21st, 2020

The mission of Startup Runway is introducing top under-represented founders to their first professional investor. Under-represented founders lead 40% of all startups, yet receive less than 5% of venture capital. At Startup Runway, together we turn this funding gap into an onramp.

Startup Runway is branching out from the Southeast and expanding this year by holding our ninth edition at mHUB in Chicago, Illinois on May 21, 2020. mHUB has an on-site parking lot with a handful of guest parking spots available on a first-come-first serve basis. Otherwise, there is metered street parking along Chicago Ave.

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Meet our Keynote Speaker, Ayeshah Abuelhiga

Ayeshah Abuelhiga is the founder and CEO of Mason Dixie Foods, the only ready-to-bake clean-label frozen baked goods brand, and a member of the Spring 2019 class of the Chobani Incubator program.

Growing up in the kitchens of her parents’ soul-food carry-out restaurant, Ayeshah has long been passionate about Southern cuisine, which inspired her to found Mason Dixie Biscuit Co., as a biscuit-centric restaurant and pop-up series focused on affordable, wholesome Southern comfort food. Upon identifying a gap in the $1.3B frozen baked goods category, she expanded her business with partner and COO Ross Perkins to a clean-label ready-to-bake line of frozen biscuits made with real, honest ingredients – all which can be found at your local grocery store.

Today Mason Dixie Biscuits can be found in 4,300 natural and conventional grocery stores across the U.S.

Ayeshah previously held management positions at Fortune 500 companies including Toshiba and Audi, and consulted for Microsoft. She is a graduate of George Washington University and resides in Baltimore, Maryland.