Julia Collins (entrepreneur)

Julia Collins is a food tech entrepreneur who has spent her career building food companies, including Zume Pizza where she became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company.

Early life and education
Collins was born in San Francisco, California. She earned her Bachelor’s from Harvard University in 2001 and her Master of Business Administration from Stanford University in 2009.

Career
Collins first started in the New York restaurant industry, co-creating a restaurant chain, Mexicue in 2010 and serving as director of Murray's Cheese in 2012. In 2015, Collins helped develop Zume Pizza as a co-founder with Alex Garden. Zume Pizza is a robot-powered pizza-making business that uses robotics and automation to create pizza. As of 2018, the Zume Pizza is worth 2.25 billion. Through Zume, Collins became the first Black woman to co-found a unicorn company.

In 2019, Collins also founded Planet FWD, a carbon management platform for consumer brands to help understand their carbon footprint. Some of the major brands Planet FWD has worked with are: Clif Bar, Blue Apron, Kashi, Numi Organic Tea. They also sell their own brand of carbon neutral snacks called Moonshot Snacks, with a focus on regenerative agricultural practices, local suppliers and recycled packaging.