Minnesota Rising 101

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Why Minnesota Rising Matters [to]: Eric Sannerud

Minnesota Rising is excited to celebrate 5 years in May 2014! To commemorate the occasion and the amazing folks who have crossed our paths, we're featuring several blog testimonials throughout the month on "Why Minnesota Rising Matters."

Eric Sannerud is co-founder of Sandbox Cooperative and Mighty Axe Hops. He believes in a better food system for Minnesota and is acting to make it happen. He is a Udall Scholar, Pave Prospect, and Minneapolis Global Shaper. You can find him on Twitter at @EricSannerud or @SandboxCoop!


While I can no longer remember exactly why I registered for Minnesota Rising's #UnConference2013, the people I met and the impact it had on my life will never be forgotten.

Where do I start?

The gorgeous space? The good food (coming from a foodie: lunch was great)? Neither. The thing that made Minnesota Rising's Un/Conference unforgettable was the people. The Un/Conference could have been hosted in a haunted house with pizza hut (sorry) for lunch and the people would have still made it great.

As a presenter I had the privilege to engage in conversation with a room full of eager, smart, caring young folks. Besides the enormous support and intriguing new perspectives from the audience I found new friends: Nick, Andrew, Jenna and Jeny.

Nick and Andrew and I are now working together to expand the idea presented about, 'Community Consulting', and Jeny is co-founder with me on a crazy new young farmer and leader incubator called Sandbox Cooperative.

These four new friends are the enduring relationships built from Minnesota Rising's work in our State. Un/Conferences are 9 hours, friendship is forever. 

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