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Women's Press Club of Pittsburgh
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2022 First place winner: Alexandra Ross — University of Pittsburgh

4/14/2022

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According to Judy Masucci, most people are simply clueless when it comes to their underwear.
 
“No one knows their bra size,” Masucci says. “If you haven't been to see me, you don't know your bra size.”
 
Masucci, who lives in Wexford, is the owner of Levana Bratique, the only woman-owned bra boutique in the region. The store specializes in hard-to-find bra sizes, with a selection that ranges from A to X cup size.
 
Masucci says her goal is to carry bras that can fit every woman — small and large.
 
“Women who have large breasts, it's really really hard for them to even find clothing that fits properly, because your breasts are not in proportion with the rest of your body,” Masucci says. “But even women who have smaller breasts, especially really petite women, most stores don't carry small bras.”
 
Her commitment to fit every woman with a great bra has earned her a special nickname: “the bra whisperer.” She says after years of fittings, she has developed an eye for bra sizing.
 
“I can look at somebody and pretty much guess their bra size,” Masucci says. “I'm not always right, but I'm usually close.”
 
According to Masucci, wearing a good bra impacts your physical and mental health, your self-love and your confidence in your own skin — it can even change your life.
 
“I've had people tell me that I stopped them from needing to get a breast reduction,” Masucci says. “They had been thinking about getting a breast reduction because they were so uncomfortable, and once they had a properly fitting bra they weren't uncomfortable anymore. So I saved them the surgery.”
 
Years before she became “the bra whisperer,” Masucci earned a PhD in genetics from Columbia University. She conducted postdoctoral research in Seattle and worked in the biotech industry in Boston before eventually moving to Pittsburgh. After having her first and only child, Masucci decided to leave her corporate job and become an entrepreneur.
 
In 2007, she opened her first business, A Mother’s Boutique, which provided nursing bras and nursing-friendly clothing to new mothers such as herself. Eventually, after the closure of another popular bra boutique in Pittsburgh, she decided to expand her business to meet the demand for properly-fitting bras.
 
“People were literally coming to me begging me to carry regular bras, because all I had were nursing bras and there was no place to find — especially if you had a hard to find size — there was no place to find your size in Pittsburgh,” Masucci says.
 
As her boutique moved away from a focus on motherhood and nursing, Masucci needed to find a new name for the business. She says her son’s love for mythology led her to search through the names of Greek and Roman goddesses for inspiration. She eventually landed on Levana, the Roman goddess of childbirth, whose name comes from the Latin word levare — to lift.
 
Though she says her background in science has helped her with running her business — by teaching her how to think outside the box, test hypotheses and be self-sufficient — Masucci says her work is about much more than finding the right numbers.
 
“Bra fitting is more of an art than a science, because I take measurements and I do calculations but they don't always tell me what size you need,” Masucci says. “Some people just don’t measure what they should be wearing.”
 
Besides running Levana Bratique, Masucci is also the director for the Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter of I Support the Girls. I Support the Girls is a 501(c)3 nonprofit which distributes free bras, underwear and menstrual hygiene products to women experiencing homelessness, impoverishment and distress.
 
To date, Masucci and her team have donated more than 100,000 of these products to women and families in western Pennsylvania  since 2018 — and more than 60,000 of those donations took place during the pandemic.
 
As a result of her charitable work over the years, Masucci won the nation’s top honor for Philanthropic Excellence at the Curve Awards in New York City in 2021.
 
Masucci says she has always had a love for volunteering and philanthropy, and was looking for a way to combine her bra business with charity work when she found I Support the Girls.
 
“It makes me feel like I'm helping the world be a better place,” Masucci says. “When I had my business, I was trying to think of ways that there was a logical fit with my business and with doing philanthropic work, and really the I Support the Girls organization was a perfect fit for me.”
 
Masucci says she always tries to make her business a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone, including through her social media pages.
 
“If you look at my social media, you will see bodies of all types,” Masucci says. “We don't just have ‘model worthy’ photos on our social media. We try really hard to have all skin tones represented, all body types represented. We've had transgender models.”
 
Just like most businesses, Levana Bratique needed to make many changes when the pandemic hit — and while some precautions, like constant sanitizing, have since been relaxed, Masucci says going from mostly walk-in customers to appointment-only was a beneficial change for everyone.
 
“It's a win-win-win,” Masucci says. “My employees are happier, my customers are happier and the business is doing better.”
 
Looking towards the future, Masucci says she hopes to see her business get to a point where she doesn’t have to be in the store every day, continuing the growth she has seen over the past few years. According to her, that growth has come from the best form of advertising there is — providing great services and great bras to her customers.
 
“I do almost no advertising, and my business grows every year,” Masucci says. “When you have happy customers, they're your best form of advertising.”

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2022 Second place winner: Erin Yudt — Point Park University

4/14/2022

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The “Bra Whisperer:” How a local woman changes lives one bra at a time
 
Judy Masucci never imagined herself owning a specialized bra business. She thought she would be a genetics scientist forever, but something changed the course of her life forever, having her son.
 
Masucci earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College and her PhD at Columbia University, which led her to live all over the country, from Washington state to Boston and then to Pittsburgh after she met her husband. At the time, Masucci was working about 14 hours a day in the marketing department at a local Biotech company.
 
“I was working my way up the corporate ranks like every other person in society,” said Masucci. “I had very little time for anything other than work.”
 
However, this all changed when Masucci became pregnant and gave birth to her son in 2006.
 
“When I went back to work, I was doing 11 hour shifts all while having to pump every hour,” said Masucci. “I would only see my son for about an hour and a half a day, and even then, it was when he was sleeping.”
 
Masucci simply could not keep up, so she made a big decision and left her job 15 months after becoming a mom. For four months, she devoted all her time to son.
 
“I did the mom thing for four months,” said Masucci. “I did all the mommy play dates and just tried to catch up on the time that I missed.”
 
Through these play dates, Masucci observed not only her struggles but the struggles of all mothers with young children like problems with breastfeeding in public due to difficult clothing and having difficulties finding correctly fitting bras after having a child and breastfeeding. This gave her a “lightbulb moment.”
 
“I knew that I could not not work forever,” said Masucci. “And these events gave me the idea first to have a mom cafe where moms could meet and have advice talks, but I knew that would not compete with large brands, so I wanted to open a store.”
 
Masucci first started with bringing the store to the mothers as she understood how hard it was for mothers to coordinate how they were going to get to the store with a young child.
 
“I first did at home appointments and brought the store to the mothers,” said Masucci. “This was difficult as I was still a mother to my young son, but it was a great start. We all were in the same boat, so no one minded if I brought my son or had to work around my son’s schedule.”
 
As Masucci got more inventory, it became harder to bring all her supplies to women’s homes. Her business was growing, and she needed a place to accommodate it. In 2007, Masucci officially launched her first business and retail location called “A Mom’s Boutique,” a store that carried essentials for mothers that included nursing bras and clothing. Her first retail location was in Wexford, on a side street near the local Whole Foods, which presented its challenges.
 
“The location was very difficult to find,” said Masucci. “I would often say that customers needed a medal when they found the store, but I still just kept in mind my focus, which was to bring functional items to mothers across the Greater Pittsburgh area.”
 
Masucci supplied these women with a variety of items ranging from nursing bras, which she helped fit and specialized for each woman, nursing clothing, diaper bags and even breast pumps. She also completed an online course through one of her nursing bra retailers on how to properly fit women for bras, but for the most part, Masucci learned as she went on and worked with a variety of customers.
 
“I think my science background helped a lot in terms of becoming a Jack of all trades,” said Masucci. “It helped me pick up things quickly, be more creative, think outside the box and overall become more balanced. I did everything in my business, from HR to contracting and so forth, so science helped me balance all of this.”
 
Masucci also grew up in the middle class, which she pulled experiences from to help start and run her business.
 
“I grew up working with a plan and working for what you want,” said Masucci. “I didn’t have everything growing up, so I knew how to make the most out of situations with little expense.”
 
As time went on and Masucci transitioned from being a mom of a newborn to a young child, she saw less of a need for nursing bras and clothing, for moms around the area were becoming moms to young children as well. It was time for another change.
 
“I got my kind of saving grace when Pussycat, a local bra boutique that carried hard to find sizes, went out of business with no warning,” said Masucci. “I knew that this was something I could take over for the area.”
 
After two years of reconfiguring the focus of her company, Masucci relaunched in 2016 as “Levana Bratique.” The name Levana comes from the Latin word “levare,” which means to lift.
 
“I knew the name of my business had to change because we were no longer simply a mother’s store,” said Masucci. “So, I wanted to also make it special and tie it to something with my son. At the time, he was very into Greek Mythology.”
 
Masucci researched Greek Goddess names on Wikipedia and their origins and stumbled across Levana, the Roman Goddess of children who lifts children and delivers them to their parents.
 
“Levana was the perfect name,” said Masucci. “It encompassed everything that the relaunch was, lifting women up through correctly fitting bras, and it brought the past and future together through her ties to children.”
 
In the over $250,000 inventory, Levana Bratique carries 250 different sizes of bras in about 50 to 70 different styles from an A to X cup, with their most popular sizes being an H or I cup, unlike most companies who usually stop at a DD cup. They additionally carry lingerie and swimwear and have an online website for those who are unable to make appointments in person for a one-on-one fitting.
 
“I am very proud that we are able to have that one-on-one experience fitting for those who need bras,” said Masucci. “It is so very important because that is the only way you are going to get a properly fit bra. Everybody has a different size and shape and needs to be accommodated for.”
 
Masucci and her fitters try their best to properly educate women on bras and how to find ones that best fit their body.
 
“Most people don’t know that the cup sizes change with the band size, so truly a DD is actually a H,” said Masucci. “Some women go their whole lives without having the right size or properly fitting bra. I get women in their 70s like this.”
 
In addition to having a diverse range of bras, the company also has branded their business on having diverse models and inclusive language.
 
“When you go on our website, you don’t see the typical model body, which rarely even exists in the real world,” said Masucci. “Our models of all ages have all different kinds of sizes and skin tones. We also have models who are transgender, and we try to use gender neutral language in our branding as much as possible to create a store welcoming environment.”
 
Another large part of Levana Bratique is helping address customers’ body image issues and helping them rebuild confidence.
 
“When you have a one-on-one fitting, you get to hear their stories and their struggles,” said Masucci. “There is nothing better when you see someone walk out their store standing taller, not only because they now have a fitting bra, but because they truly see themselves in a different light and one that is of value.”
 
To further expand her knowledge and her business, Masucci attends a bra conference in New York twice a year, meeting up with her vendors and attending training classes on how to properly fit bras.
 
“There is never a time where I don’t come back learning something new,” said Masucci. “It is so hard to learn sizes and a 36 is not always the same in a different brand, so meeting the vendors is great as well.”
 
Masucci was recognized at this exact conference in August of 2021 for her philanthropic excellence at the conference's Curve Awards, being chosen from more than 18,000 bra and lingerie shops.
 
Along with running her business, Masucci manages Pittsburgh’s chapter of I Support the Girls, a nonprofit that restores dignity to women experiencing homelessness and low income. The chapter is volunteer run and operates on a “shoestring” budget. The organization collects donations of bras and inspects to find gently used ones to give women dignity as “poor people do not deserve crap.” They also collect menstrual products that are individually packaged. Masucci’s chapter has donated over 100,000 menstrual products with 60,000 being to women all throughout the Greater Pittsburgh area during the pandemic. The group also made gift bags for nurses, recognizing women on the frontlines. Donations can be made through their website and social media pages and needed items can be viewed on their Amazon Wishlist.
 
“I truly believe that all people are kind at heart,” said Masucci. “People want to help. They just need to know how, so we clearly lay it out for them through things like the Wishlist.”
 
While former scientist Masucci may have never seen herself running a bra business and women’s nonprofit, she is “grateful” for where life has taken her.
 
“I am truly proud of the things that I have accomplished through my work,” said Masucci. “I do not do these things I do for recognition, but it feels great when I am recognized and to see that I am truly helping others, which is all I want to do.”
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2022 Third place winner: Punya Bhasin — University of Pittsburgh

4/14/2022

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Judy Masucci ‘the bra whisperer’ reflects on her bra-fitting business

 
From genetics labs to bra and lingerie shows, Judy Masucci, the owner of Levana Bratique, has made it her life goal to change the world — one bra at a time.
 
The Women’s Press Club of Pittsburgh hosted Masucci to talk about Levana Bratique. Masucci said when she opened the business in 2007 her original focus was to create proper nursing bras for new mothers. After the closure of a local bra-fitting shop, The Pussycat, Masucci relaunched her business in 2016 to cater to even more women by supplying harder to find bra sizes.
 
However, bras were not Masucci’s original passion. Masucci said she received her Ph.D in genetics from Columbia University and then went on to climb the corporate ladder. Masucci said after her baby, she realized she didn’t want to work the long hours of her corporate job.
 
“After I had my baby, I didn't want to work 14 hour days anymore,” Masucci said. “ I was only working 11 hours a day and I felt like I wasn't doing a good job at home because I was only seeing my son for an hour and a half a day.”
 
After the birth of her child, Masucci said she found a passion for helping new mothers and saw a need to provide adequate and better nursing wear for mothers.
 
“So, I originally started my business because I wanted to help others as I had a baby and it literally changed my life,” Masucci said. “So, I wanted to be able to help other new mothers in their breastfeeding journeys and I wanted to, you know, do something that can make money. “
 
Masucci said she originally wanted to create a “one stop shop” for nursing mothers and bras had been an afterthought.
 
“For me personally, when I had my baby, I had to nurse in public and breasts are beautiful but bellies are not so I started my business with the clothing that would allow you to get access to the breastfeeding area without exposing your belly,” Masucci said. “And then I brought in bras honestly as an afterthought. I wanted to have a complete solution so that people could have a one stop shop.”
 
Masucci said she saw that there was a much greater need for bras than she initially thought she began to primarily sell bras for nursing mothers.
 
“I soon realized that bras were a must have and nursing friendly clothing was nice to have if you can afford it and so I started specializing in bras,” Masucci said.
 
Masucci attributes some of her success to knowing when to shift the focus of her business. When the local Pittsburgh bra-fitting business, The Pussycat, went out of business Masucci saw a large demand for bra sizes that couldn’t be found in normal retail stores.
 
“So, when I first started carrying bras, I was only nursing bras and in 2014 and there used to be a bra store in Squirrel Hill called the Pussycat and the Pussycat went out of business and so there were all these women coming to me looking for these bra sizes that you couldn’t find anymore,” Masucci said. “So, it took me two years to revamp my business and in 2016 I relaunched my business to cater to women with harder to find bra sizes.”
 
Masucci said while she considers herself a “self-taught” expert when it comes to bra fitting, she also continues to take classes to maintain her expertise.
 
“So, a lot of what I did was self-taught but then I went and took online courses and then courses in New York and now when I go to the city in between my appointments with my vendors, I just go and I sit in classes and every single time I learn something new,” Masucci said.
 
Masucci also discusses the shortcomings of other popular bra retailers such as Victoria Secret. Her business offers over 250 different bra sizes with cup sizes ranging from A to X, with the most popular sizes being H and I cups.
 
“People get frustrated when they're uncomfortable and as women we wear our bras all day every day and it's uncomfortable when your bra doesn't fit properly,” Masucci said. “And so a lot of women don't know that these sizes even exist, but they do know that Victoria's Secret is not doing them justice, and that's how they find their way to me.”
 
Masucci said her business tries to be inclusive of everyone by including models of all shapes and sizes, including transgender models on Levana Bratique’s social media.
 
“We try to make people feel confident about their bodies, and especially through our social media we try to include pictures of all different type of women like transgender women and women whose bodies might not typically be represented in the media,” Masucci said. “We even try to use gender neutral pronouns because we feel body positivity is really important.”
 
In addition to selling bras, Masucci said her love for helping people made an easy transition to managing her charity, the Pittsburgh Chapter of I Support the Girls, whose mission is to restore dignity to women and girls experiencing homelessness. Through her charity Masucci has donated over 100,000 bras, menstrual products and toiletries to families in need in Western Pennsylvania.
 
Masucci said her charity work is to provide women dignity and confidence with their bras.
 
“I don't care how destitute you are, nobody deserves a crappy old bra,” Masucci said. “People deserve dignity and that's why with my charity I make sure we inspect all our donations carefully so that when we donate our stuff gives people dignity.”
 
Masucci said her future goal for the business is to continue her dedication to a quality customized experience for bra fittings.
 
“So, my goal is to be able to have clients booked all the time, have as many fitters as I have clients, so that we can continue our one on one service,” Masucci said. “I think a personalized service is what really sets us apart.”
 
Masucci said one of the most rewarding aspects of her business is when a customer feels comfortable and happy in their bra.
 
“I think happy customers are one of those things that you cannot buy,” Masucci said. “When I see someone super happy and lifting their shirt up and saying ‘look at my new bra’, it’s really a life changing experience.
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2021 First place winner: Lorynn Watt — DeSales University

4/12/2021

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Keeping What You Have By Giving It All Away

30-year-old Bethany Hallam sits on a Zoom call, laughing about her inner lip tattoo and her love of smuggling food and drinks into Pittsburgh Pirates Games. On the surface, she is a loud, funny, and strong lifelong Yinzer. However, this is not all there is to her. To put it frankly, as Hallam herself would, she is in long-term recovery for substance abuse disorder and is the Democratic Allegheny County Councilperson At Large. Not the typical combo, but nothing about Hallam or her story is typical.

Hallam's story begins with a torn ACL in high school, for which she was prescribed painkillers. The daughter of a pharmacist, Hallam was not one to abuse her prescription. However, after 18 months on painkillers, she was suddenly cut off. She complained to a friend at school that she felt ill, who informed her she was withdrawing and offered her an easy solution: another pill.

And so it began for Hallam. She graduated from North Hills High School in 2008, before attending Duquesne as a Public Relations and Spanish major with the dream of one day working for the Pittsburgh Pirates. But for Hallam, attending college was like living a double life. She was working to graduate, while also trying to keep funding her drug habit. In her junior year, she sent a friend to go retrieve some painkillers for her and they returned with heroin. And she took it, starting a more difficult chapter of her life. Somehow, she still managed to graduate, and instead of working for the Pirates, she found herself living in her car, shooting up multiple times a day.

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2021 Second place winner: Colleen Hammond — Duquesne University

4/12/2021

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While every teenager finds great excitement in getting their driver’s license, this long awaited day for Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam came with a slew of emotions. She had finally done it. The last piece she needed to regain her life from before her decade-long battle with substance-use disorder had finally fallen into place. 

Now in her early thirties, Hallam is a licensed driver and sits on one of the largest legislative bodies in the country, just six years after being incarcerated for drug related offenses. 

Hallam grew up in Pittsburgh’s North Hills neighborhood and lived a comfortable, upper-middle class lifestyle with her family. She was involved in her schooling and has two loving parents who encouraged her to participate in sports. 
“Little did they know it would be the catalyst for the trouble in my life,” Hallam said. 

Early into her high school athletic career, Hallam suffered an ACL injury that required surgery, extensive physical therapy and prescription painkillers. Once recovered, on her second day back to practice, Hallam sustained a similar injury to her other leg, restarting her entire journey. 

This cycle of injury, rehabilitation and re-injury began Hallam’s struggle with substance-use disorder. 
“I was really living a double life,” Hallam said. 

Hallam graduated high school and started college at Duquesne University, but her addiction remained at the forefront of her life. Eventually, she transitioned from prescription painkillers to heroin as a necessity. 

“I didn’t care about anything else because I needed the drugs to get by,” Hallam said. 

During this incredibly dark part of her life, Hallam stated that she “lied, cheated and stole” to feed her addiction. She even admitted to selling her mother’s engagement ring to get money to purchase drugs. 
​

“I was just someone that today I wouldn’t even recognize,” Hallam said.

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2021 Third place winner: Katia Faroun – Duquesne University

4/12/2021

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Growing up, Allegheny County Councilperson Bethany Hallam always had an addictive personality. The first time she tried mac and cheese as a child, her parents said she had it every day for weeks. She’d make a new friend and spend every weekend having sleepovers with her.

So in hindsight, it wasn’t surprising that Hallam became addicted to prescription drugs in high school.

Hallam dedicated much of her energy to playing varsity lacrosse at North Hills High School. It was her niche — her main focus.
“Sports was always my thing in life. My parents thought that if I was involved in a bunch of sports, it would keep me out of trouble,” Hallam said. “Little did they know that it was actually going to be the catalyst that actually started the trouble in my life.”

Halfway through her high school career, Hallam tore her ACL — twice. During her 18 months of surgeries and physical therapy, Hallam was prescribed Vicodin — a strong painkiller. She didn’t realize she was addicted to the drug until she experienced withdrawal symptoms immediately after her refills stopped. After a friend offered her a pill, she began what would become 10 years of prescription and opioid addiction.

Because of her addiction, Hallam spent a decade getting caught for misdemeanors and felonies related to using and selling drugs, getting bailed out by her exhausted parents each night she found herself behind bars. She led a double life during her four years at Duquesne University, balancing schoolwork and a job that funded her addiction. She dated “sketchy guys,” lived in her car, shot up under bridges and eventually lost her driver’s license after being charged with a DUI.
​

“I needed the drug to get by, and my whole world revolved around it. If you didn’t support me using drugs, then I didn’t care about you,” Hallam said. “... I was just someone that today, I wouldn't even recognize that person.”

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2020 First place winner: Ollie Gratzinger – Duquesne University

5/14/2020

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Imagine a farm that spans 80 million acres. This farm uses all the water produced in California, Texas and Ohio combined; it harvests enough food to fill a 40-ton tractor-trailer every 20 seconds. But instead of being purchased, prepared and eaten, this food — all perfectly good — is taken to a landfill, where it will produce greenhouse gasses until it decomposes.

This hypothetical farm, first theorized by multi-stakeholder nonprofit ReFED, is based upon the fact that 40% of all food in the U.S. is thrown away. That translates to more than 1.7 trillion apples and 1 billion bags of potatoes — or enough food to fill a farm three-quarters the size of California.

An organization called 412 Food Rescue is working to change that.

According to CEO and Co-Founder Leah Lizarondo, 412 Food Rescue got its start in 2015, and its mission is two-fold: preventing food from being wasted and redistributing it to those who need it most.

“In 2012, the National Resource Defense Council released this report called ‘Wasted.’ It was the first major report from a major research organization that brought to life the fact that we’re wasting half of our food supply,” she said. “On the other side of that, we know that there’s so many that don’t know where their next meal is coming from. We talk ... about GMOs — how can we make more food? But why are we making more food if we have enough food to feed everyone three or four times over?” ​

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2020 Second place winner: Neena Hagen – University of Pittsburgh

5/14/2020

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The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed 10 billion people -- more than the Earth’s entire population. But even in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, 37 million residents don’t know where their next meal will come from.

Leah Lizarondo has been working to change that. She founded 412 Food Rescue in 2015, a service that recycles food by delivering it from events, grocery stores and other sources to needy families in Pittsburgh. The organization has now recycled more than 10 million pounds of food since it got off the ground. It has partnerships in more than half a dozen cities that now provide the same services, and Lizarondo said she hopes to expand the program to the rest of the nation.

“I like to solve problems,” Lizarondo said. “If you see a solution, it’s hard to unsee it.”

At the program’s inception, it was just Lizarondo and a few volunteers delivering food to hungry homes, but the program has now expanded to 8,000 volunteers. Together, they make 60,000 food trips a day. Those volunteers, with a 99% success rate for delivery, are now more reliable than Uber eats, where the delivery people are paid.

Lizarondo attributes that success to America’s ingrained “culture of volunteering,” and the almost video-game-like reward structure of delivering the food.

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2020 Third place winner: Janine Faust – University of Pittsburgh

5/14/2020

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Leah Lizarondo is trying to make sure food moves around a lot more — just not in the direction of a landfill.  

Utilizing her experiences and interest in technology, food and civic engagement, Lizarondo is the co-founder and CEO of 412 Food Rescue, an app-based, volunteer food recovery program established in Pittsburgh. 

The award-winning social enterprise, which was initially launched via Facebook in 2015, now operates through an app, called “Food Rescue Hero,” that coordinates volunteer drivers who “rescue” leftover food, typically perishables, from local business and retailers. These volunteers then take the food directly to nonprofits and community groups who distribute it to food-insecure individuals. 

412 Food Rescue has prevented more than 10 million pounds of food from going to landfills as of 2019. Lizarondo’s social enterprise has since spread to several other cities and amassed a network of more than 10,000 active volunteers — something Lizarondo said indicates how easy it is to incite change. 

“We think we are out for ourselves, but we’re not,” she said. ​

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    Winning Gertrude Gordon Contest Entries

    These stories were submitted by contestants after an hour-long group interview and two-hour writing time limit.

    Contestants in 2021 interviewed Allegheny County Councilperson At-Large Bethany Hallam, and 2020 contestants interviewed Leah Lizarondo, CEO of 412 Food Rescue.

    ​Read more about the winners, our annual contest – and how to enter next year – on our scholarship page.

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