@Macaulay Entrepreneurs featuring Ethan Frisch ’08 Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Burlap & Barrel

@ Macaulay new Entrepreneurs Series will feature alumni who are taking risks and venturing into the world of start-ups. Our first guest speaker is Ethan Frisch ’08.  Ethan leads Burlap & Barrel’s sourcing, importing and international logistics, as well as supply relationships with restaurants and manufacturers across North America. Join us as we learn how and why he started his own company and what it really takes to maintain a small business.

Joining him in conversation will be Jayne Chen ’21 (Baruch) who is currently on her last semester majoring in Communications and Entrepreneurship.

Ethan Frisch ’08
Cofounder of Burlap & Barrel

Ethan Frisch is the cofounder of Burlap & Barrel, single origin spice company and social enterprise working with smallholder spice farmers around the world to build new markets for heritage ingredients. A native New Yorker, entrepreneur and activist around food systems and social justice, Ethan has worked in kitchens as a line cook and pastry chef in New York and London, and as the chef behind Guerrilla Ice Cream. He left kitchens to become a humanitarian aid worker and worked with NGOs including the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan, Maries Stopes in Sierra Leone, and Doctors Without Borders on the Syrian/Jordanian border.

He is honored to serve on the Boards of Directors of the Bond Street Theatre, which uses theater to teach conflict resolution and resilience in areas of instability around the world, Restaurant After Hours, addressing the mental health crisis in the restaurant industry, and the student-led racial literacy and justice organization CHOOSE, as well as on the Advisory Board of Fragments Theater, a youth theater company in Palestine. He is also on the Organizing Committee of the Queens International Night Market, and has been an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York and an instructor with the Experiment in International Living’s Leadership Institute.

He holds a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Conflict Studies and Education and Social Change from Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York, and a Master’s Degree in Violence, Conflict and Development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Jayne Chen ’21
Moderator

Jayne Chen was born and raised in Queens, NY. She started her career in Equity & Community Engagement when she joined Lyft Corporate at 19 years old. Currently still at Lyft as a Program Manager, she focuses on bringing equitable access to transportation for low income populations and communities of color. In her role, she runs an annual Community Grants Program which supports NGOs and community organizations across NYC. She also consults on community & equity strategy across various corporations.

Prior to her career at Lyft, she worked as a Freelance Photographer specializing in portraiture and events, which sparked her interest in finding the intersection between social impact, creativity and solution-oriented entrepreneurship.  Her clients range from artists such as Gunna and Teyana Taylor, to small women-owned businesses like HappyFish Fashion. As a freshman in college, she worked at a media company producing events for Columbia Records and the Butter Group.

She is currently finishing her last year of studying Entrepreneurship Management at Baruch College, where she is a proud Macaulay Honors student.