Rachel Sumekh | Founder @ Swipe Out Hunger

About this video

Rachel Sumac recounts how she co-founded Swipe Out Hunger, a nonprofit that enables college students to donate unused meal plan funds to address food insecurity among their peers. Starting from a grass-roots effort at UCLA, the program expanded to multiple campuses and eventually caught the attention of California legislators, resulting in a $7.5 million state fund to support college student hunger initiatives.

Key takeaways

• Rachel overcame resistance from UCLA administrators and sexist dismissals of her leadership capabilities by community organizing, creating a business plan, and committing to her vision full-time.
• The program evolved from collecting donations without clear impact to focusing specifically on college student hunger—a measurable problem affecting one in four students at UCLA and UC Berkeley who skip meals due to lack of funds.
• Innovation often involves re-examining existing systems and resources (like unused meal plan balances) to solve problems in new ways, rather than relying solely on technology.

Episode details: published November 1, 2017 · 1.2K views · 10:09 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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