How to make a Unicorn

​Unicorns aren’t born, they’re made. From punk basements to biotech labs to venture capital boardrooms, creation has always come from defiance. At Arlene’s Grocery, Josie Zayner, PhD, genius scientist and founder of Embryo Corporation, joins Andy Weissman, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, for a conversation on how rebellion, imagination, and risk give rise to the impossible.

​Doors open at 6PM

​Talk starts at 630PM

​Free Entry and Open Bar

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Josie Zayner, PhD
Founder & CEO of Embryo Corp, once called the Mad Pirate Queen of Biotech, she is a scientist, artist, and entrepreneur known for pushing biotech outside the walls of academia. From making and testing her own covid vaccine, building CRISPR kits now housed in the Smithsonian, to creating the first community driven genetic engineering tools and pioneering work in embryo editing and genetically engineered animals, Josie has made a career out of turning impossibility into reality. Her work blurs the line between science and culture, carrying the same raw charge as a punk show.

​Andy Weissman
Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures, Andy has spent his career leading teams that have invested in companies that disrupt culture and create new ways of connecting, from Tumblr and Kickstarter to Coinbase and SoundCloud. Before USV, he co-founded Betaworks, a startup studio that helped seed the early web’s creative chaos. Known for his “chaotic curiosity” and belief in consensus over voting, Andy has shaped venture capital into something more experimental, more participatory, and more true to the unpredictability of startups.