Jennifer Nelkin passed up medical
school to learn how to grow plants in a
controlled environment at the University of
Arizona. Her work has brought her a bit of
fame. Her start-up urban farming company
could bring her fortune.
By Tom Gibbons
When Jennifer Nelkin first told her family that she had decided on a new career path,
the news brought tears to her mother‟s eyes.
And they were not tears of joy.
Nelkin had left New York for Arizona on a medical school track. Then at a
conference in 2002 in Tucson, Nelkin learned about the possibilities of growing
plants in a controlled environment.
“I knew I wanted to be a greenhouse girl,‟ said Nelkin, now greenhouse di-
rector of Gotham Greens, a pioneering company that grows commercial crops on
rooftops and sells them to New York City grocers and restaurants.
Good bye, medical school. Hello, growing basil for a master's degree.
“Now they're so happy,‟‟ Nelkin said of her family.
Why not? Nelkin's advanced degree led to her earning a small degree of fame.
She's been interviewed by Dan Rather, featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio, in
the New York Times and a host of other media outlets. Film director Spike Lee visited the company rooftop greenhouse and tweeted enthusiastically about it.
Hey, how many parents of doctors can go into a local grocer and see posters
of their daughter plastered all over the store?
Nelkin is a star at Whole Foods in New York City, and she was certainly a
star at the recent the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture
Center‟s short course at the Westward Look Resort in Tucson. The center, which
trained Nelkin, honored her with an award at a dinner. Earlier, she delivered a talk
about her company and a throng of conference attendees wanted a conversation with her. One told her he had flown from Europe just to talk to her.
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Growing recognition stardom