Michelle Ruiz

Michelle arrived in the U.S. from Ecuador at age seven, grew up in Miami, and studied chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. She spent the first part of her career as an engineer at ExxonMobil. In 2021, Michelle co-founded Hyfé to use waste to enable biotechnology and break our dependence on carbon-intensive industries. Hyfé uses nutrients washed away in food manufacturing wastewater to power the creation of low-cost chemicals, materials, fuels, and foods that are better for the planet.