Mckenna Polich, MCAS ’19: English major, self-starter, entrepreneur

Mckenna Polich ’19 never saw herself as an entrepreneur. When she arrived on campus in the fall of 2015, she wanted only to be an English major, because “I was good at reading and writing.” She stuck with that plan, until fears of being a college-educated barista sent her running to her advisor to talk about a business degree.

Her advisor reassured her that every company needs a good writer. But the seed of doubt had already been planted, and by her junior year Mckenna ended up working not in a coffee shop but with Accelerate@Shea.

That’s how she learned about BRÜZD Foods, a subscription-based food service just getting off the ground. Intrigued by the unique twist on the farm-to-fork concept behind the startup, she reached out to co-founders Alex Wong, an economics major at BC, and Parker Hughes, a consumer psychology major at Emerson. As an English major with a passion for environmental issues, Mckenna thought she could complement the co-founders’ skill sets.

“All of my experience had been in marketing, copywriting, and branding, but I was a foodie and saw BRÜZD as a great way to get involved,” she said.

Alex and Parker agreed, and one phone interview later she was on the team.

Crash course in biz dev

What followed was a “crash course in business development—and wearing a lot of different hats,” Mckenna said.

One of her responsibilities was social media marketing for the fledgling BRÜZD Foods, which rescues “ugly” but edible produce from farms throughout Massachusetts and delivers a five- to eight-pound box each week to Boston area homes, for a very nice price.

“One of our first customers posted a picture of her delivery on Facebook,” Mckenna said. “They were raving about it, and the next thing we knew we had 70 people signed up overnight.”

It was a good problem to have, but they had to scramble to meet deliveries. In the meantime, Mckenna was already participating in Accelerate@Shea, a 10-week entrepreneurship accelerator program that met for two hours every Thursday night.

“We were matched with professional mentors through emails, and I had three to four phone calls with them a week,” she said. “It was feet-to-the-fire for me, which was great in a lot of ways.”

Mckenna also had an academic mentor, Amy LaCombe, associate dean of undergraduate curriculum for the Carroll School of Management, who told her, “I’m giving you my undivided attention. I’m going to set aside an hour a week to talk with you about your business.”

“I wasn’t expecting that at all, especially since I consider myself someone outside the business school,” Mckenna said.

Mckenna was impressed with the dedication not only of the staff but also of the students. “One of the strengths of Accelerate@Shea was having a cohort of students to check in with, helping each other solve problems,” she said.

Intense competition

Last fall, the Shea Center asked Mckenna to represent BRÜZD in the annual Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture competition in North Carolina.

She was nervous but game, drawing confidence from a win in her first elevator pitch competition at BC. Being a writer helped, she said. “I wrote my own pitch.”

At the ACC competition, Mckenna said, “I got lucky that I went first” in the first round, which was “very intense. Everything’s filmed, and they give you a countdown. Plus, there are 15 people ready to tear your business idea apart.”

Mckenna did get torn apart in the questioning, but she still made it to the semifinals. From there, it was on to the Strakosch Venture Competition, where BRÜZD was one of seven teams. Led by Mckenna, they took the top prize of $15,000.

Reflecting on her success, the unlikely entrepreneur said, “For me, entrepreneurship is more about being someone who innovates, not necessarily someone who’s taking accounting.”

Life-changing experience

Mckenna looks back on Accelerate@Shea as something she “thought was just a passion project, but it’s turned my whole life around.”

Today, BRÜZD has grown to a team of eight people that makes 500 deliveries a week. They’ve diverted over two tons of waste from just one farm and have letters of intent from other farms. “If we can do that much with one farm, imagine what we could do with more,” Mckenna said.

Not surprisingly, she’s now considering pursuing an MBA in social impact and entrepreneurship. But first, she’ll be working as a customer success manager for Jebbit, whose BC-alum founders she connected with through the accelerator. They were anything but concerned about Mckenna’s extracurricular business activity.

“Jebbit saw the value in me,” she said. “And it was super-validating that they said I can have my own venture. They said, ‘You’re a self-starter and that’s a strength.’”

Between BRÜZD and Jebbit, we can’t wait to see what this self-starter does next.