Christie Lagally

Yo, have you heard about Christie Lagally? She’s a total boss in the startup world, especially in the food tech scene. So, here’s the scoop, she’s the founder and CEO of Rebellyous Foods, which is all about making plant-based meat affordable and accessible. Like, her whole mission is to shake up how we think about meat and food manufacturing using crazy automation and new tech. No cap, she’s basically trying to change the entire food industry from the ground up.

But wait, how did she even get here? Well, she’s got a solid engineering background, both a bachelor’s and master’s in mechanical engineering. She spent almost 20 years at Boeing, designing stuff, inventing, holding five patents in manufacturing tech. Imagine that, someone crushing it in aerospace, then jumping into food tech? That’s wild, right? It shows she’s all about innovation, really loves tinkering with stuff, and isn’t afraid to jump into totally new fields.

And it’s not just about tech for her. She’s been deep into animal welfare and food justice, working with The Humane Society, Humane Voters of Washington, and the Good Food Institute. She cares a ton about making smarter food choices for animals and the planet. It’s more than just making money, it’s about actually making a difference.

Rebellyous (which was called Seattle Food Tech before) started in 2017, and she brought it to Y Combinator’s S18 batch. That’s a big deal, YC is the real deal for startups. It means she crushed it early on and got the support to scale. All this shows she’s not just a tech geek, but someone who’s got vision, grit, and a real passion for better food and sustainability.

So, what’s the story here? Christie’s process is all about combining her engineering genius with her passion for animal welfare and sustainability. She’s someone who’s not afraid to jump industries, take risks, and really push the envelope. Her background at Boeing gave her the tech chops, her involvement in activism and nonprofits shows her heart’s in the right place, and her startup is her way of fixing big problems, like food accessibility and climate impact. Honestly, she’s the kind of person who sees a problem and just goes all-in to solve it. That’s why she’s so important. She’s not just building a company, she’s trying to change the world, one burger at a time.