Kayla Yang-Best is a food entrepreneur and founder of co-retailing – a new grocery model that allows small businesses in food manufacturing to obtain competitive pricing, while minimizing operational and logistical costs. For the last four years, Kayla has been building a network of small, local food manufacturers around co-retailing at Seasoned Specialty Foods. She is innovative, enterprising and entrepreneurial in creating social and economic benefits with and for underrepresented and marginalized populations.

Prior to embracing social entrepreneurship full-time, Kayla spent more than 20 years leading strategic operations and philanthropic investments for companies and organizations like Bush Foundation, Cargill and the Cargill Foundation, United Way, and international NGOs in Thailand and India.

Kayla’s background includes a Juris Doctorate, Certificate of Human Rights Lawyering, Masters in International Development, and Bachelors of Public Administration. She is active on the Boards of Directors of local organizations, such as the Minnesota State Foundation, Impact Hub-MSP, and the Market Entry Fund.