Christelle Brandt MBA’26 Provides Food for Thought
When food scientist Christelle Brandt MBA’26 arrived at Babson College, she was struck by the range of backgrounds and ambitions. At other graduate business programs, “I found 40 of the same person,” she says. “Either they were all consultants or they were all scientists.”
At Babson, Brandt met classmates with eclectic resumes: “Someone from the fashion industry in India, someone building tiny houses out of Madagascar, and someone from a Mexican family farming business,” she recalls. “They came from very different worlds, but they were still all connected by a drive to do something meaningful.”
COMMENCEMENT 2026: Learn more about Babson’s ceremonies May 16.
That mix of creativity, entrepreneurial energy, and global perspective made Babson a clear choice for Brandt, who will deliver this year’s graduate Commencement speech. It also became the launchpad for a fast-evolving career at the intersection of food science, entrepreneurship, and artificial intelligence.
‘The Spotlight Industry’
Brandt entered Babson with a background in food science and innovation, motivated by a childhood shaped by food allergies.
“I’ve always read ingredient labels,” she says. “I was always curious what all these weird-sounding ingredients are and why they’re there.”
That curiosity led her toward the science behind how food is developed, stabilized, and scaled. While consumers often contemplate food through restaurants or recipes, Brandt was fascinated by the systems that shape what ends up on store shelves.
“Food is one of the last industries to modernize or adopt new technology because it has low margins: The entrepreneurial mindset is a survival skill in food.”
Christelle Brandt MBA’26
“A lot of science goes into making something that’s always the same to a consumer,” she explains. “Making a gummy shelf-stable for two years is actually very complicated.”
Brandt spent several years as a senior scientist at Boston-based food lab startup Chew. Some of her projects focused on sustainability, strategizing ways for companies to transform food waste into consumer-friendly ingredients. Others involved helping major confectionery brands create “better for you” candies that met changing health regulations without sacrificing taste or texture. For Brandt, the work is about much more than snacks or trends.
“Food is the industry that causes a third of our global greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. “It employs over a billion people. It should be the spotlight industry.”
At the same time, she believes innovation can’t come at the expense of humanity. “I never want food to lose its soul,” she says. “The thing that makes a child smile, or that gets you through a breakup or brings people around the table. It should have science and joy.”
Helping Founders Solve Problems
That balance of science and soul became fundamental to her work at Babson. Brandt originally entered Babson’s Summer Venture Program with plans to build a plant-based milk and creamer company focused on nutrition and health equity for the European market. During the program, her vision evolved. She realized she was even more energized by helping other founders solve problems than by building a single product line herself.
That realization led to the creation of her consulting venture, Chimera AI, which partners with food startups on technical strategy, commercialization, and AI-powered systems.
“I work with founders who have a great product but are stuck figuring out how to price it, position it, or get it onto shelves: strategy, commercialization, go-to-market. This is the kind of thinking a big consulting firm would charge a fortune for, except those firms aren’t built for startups, and startups can’t afford them anyway,” she explains. “Food is one of the last industries to modernize or adopt new technology because it has low margins: The entrepreneurial mindset is a survival skill in food.”
Outside the classroom, Brandt immersed herself in Babson’s growing food entrepreneurship ecosystem. She oversaw the Food and Agriculture Technology Club; helped co-found the Food and Beverage Business (FABB) Lab; and played a key role in organizing Babson’s inaugural Food Summit, which united students, alumni, startups, and industry leaders from across the Boston food world.
“I want Babson to be number one in food entrepreneurship. I think food deserves it,” Brandt says.
After Commencement, Brandt hopes to grow Chimera.
“Babson didn’t give me one big thing to make this happen,” Brandt says. “It gave me a hundred small ones: the confidence to speak before I’m ready, the clarity to know what I’m actually good at—and the belief that helping people and building a business can be the same thing.”
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