Culina Health
“Nutrition is the frontline of healthcare” - Vanessa Rissetto
In this episode of Closing Time, Vanessa Rissetto, registered dietitian and co-founder of Culina Health, pitches her company's personalized nutrition platform. Culina Health pairs patients with registered dietitians to provide one-on-one nutrition counseling, with 91% of patients utilizing their insurance benefits. Rissetto discusses how her company is democratizing access to clinical nutrition care, leveraging technology and AI to make dietitians more efficient, and generating compelling health outcomes data. She also shares insights on the powerful combination of GLP-1 medications with personalized nutrition for weight management, and her vision for making nutrition counseling a standard part of preventive healthcare.
We cover:
Going from making $1 million in their first year of business to $5.8 million this year
Developing creative user acquisition strategies with $0 marketing dollars
How GLP-1 medications has impacted the business
The pros and cons of taking funding from payors
Digital health business models including D2C and B2B2C
Vanessa's personal journey with breast cancer and how it influenced her mission to improve healthcare access and health literacy
Culina Health's $10 million Series A fundraising round, and the company's potential exit strategies
Meet the Founder
Vanessa Rissetto is a registered dietitian (RD) and the CEO and Co-founder of Culina Health, a revolutionary clinical nutrition care company created in 2020. Prior to starting this venture, she served as the Director of Dietetic Internships at New York University (NYU), where she led the clinical nutrition treatment for a diverse patient population and mentored early-career dietitians — many of whom now work at Culina Health.
Before changing careers and becoming an RD, Vanessa earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Fordham University and a master’s degree in marketing from NYU. Today, she seamlessly integrates her passions for business, entrepreneurship and nutrition as the CEO of Culina Health.
Under Vanessa’s leadership, Culina Health has raised $13 million in venture funding. Culina Health has become a leading trusted care provider for physician referrals, with patient outcomes consistently surpassing industry averages. She has also cultivated an all-female leadership team, who strives to make nutrition care more inclusive and accessible for everyone.
A sought-after speaker, Vanessa is a frequent guest on the Today Show and has shared her expertise at investor and industry summits such as Rethink, Graham & Walker, and Tensility. Her insights have garnered national press coverage in publications including The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Vogue, Women's Health, Shape, Good Housekeeping, Men's Health, Prevention, PopSugar, Well+Good, Refinery29, INSIDER, and Allure.
Vanessa’s accolades extend beyond her entrepreneurial success. Recently honored by Goldman Sachs as one of the “Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs in 2023,” she has also been recognized by Essence as one of the "Black Nutritionists Who Will Change the Way You Think About Food," by Byrdie as one of the "Dietitians Carving Out Space for Black People in the Nutrition Industry," and by NPR as "A Black Dietitian Wants to Close the Nutrition Gap."
Beyond her professional endeavors, Vanessa is known for her love of Doritos, her commitment to her community, and her uncanny ability to remember people’s birthdays.