Erika Hang envisions a world where people understand the food they’re eating – where it comes from, who grows it, and how they can access it. A 2019 graduate of the USC Iovine and Young Academy with a Master of Science in Integrated Design, Business and Technology, Hang has had a longtime interest in farming and sustainable growing practices, and now she’s helping to bridge the gap between buyers and producers.
Hang is the founder of Sustaina, an online marketplace that develops software applications for farms, food producers, farmers’ markets, and agricultural producers to plan, manage, and sell direct to consumers. She’s seen first-hand just how these vital producers operate, from their farming techniques to their need for e-commerce tools that can help their businesses, well… grow.
“We originally created Sustaina to incentivize and organize landowners, workers, agricultural experts, and their communities to create sustainably-sourced local food through backyard farm cooperatives. We built software tools that would help plan, manage, and track the farms,” Hang explains.