PRINTCast: The PRINT Podcast Studio is a curated collection of cutting-edge podcasts we love about design, creativity, branding, books, and further subjects afield. Here’s the latest episode of Evolve CPG, a podcast about innovative leaders who are evolving the Consumer Packaged Goods industry by building better products and better brands to imagine a better world.
During his junior year in college, Parker Olson embarked on the first of a series of nutritional experiments that would change the course of his life in ways he could never have imagined. After becoming aware of the incredible properties of functional mushrooms during one of these experiments, Parker became the youngest board member of the Puget Sound Mycological Society and subsequently founded Forij, a granola product packed with mushroom extracts that is both very healthy and very delicious (as strange as it sounds!).
During this episode, Parker talks about his scrappy approach to entrepreneurship (his dedication to the cause really comes through strongly when he shares his experience of sleeping in a tent for two years), his involvement in the psilocybin treatment space, and his thoughts on the future of functional food. Tune in today to hear how mushrooms could change your life too!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The nutrition experiments that Parker started conducting on himself during his junior year in college.
- How Parker became aware of the functionality of mushrooms.
- The founding story of Forij and the process Parker went through to develop the Forij products.
- Parker’s “claims to scrappy fame,” including the two years he spent sleeping in a tent.
- Valuable takeaways from Parker’s entrepreneurship degree (and the things you can’t learn in a classroom).
- Parker’s involvement in the movement to democratize psilocybin treatment.
- What Parker’s role on the board of the Puget Sound Mycological Society entailed.
- Parker’s thoughts on the future of functional food.