Meet the Team
Co-Founder & CEO
Monica Talbert
Monica is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Plant Based Seafood Co. For more than 20 years, Monica worked within the conventional seafood industry beginning with her family-owned market to the creation of a gourmet CPG brand, The Van Cleve Seafood Co. in 2013. She grew The Van Cleve Seafood Co. to thousands of grocery stores shelves, foodservice distribution, and landed on Oprah's Favorite List.
In 2020, Monica Co-Founded The Plant Based Seafood Co. which has quickly been recognized as the leader in the alternative seafood space, continuously expanding to grocery stores nation-wide as well as food service. Monica was named 'Top 10 Women Saving the Ocean' by VWS in 2021 and as a mother of 2 small children, is passionate about keeping our oceans thriving for future generations.
Monica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clemson University in Chinese and International Trade.
Co-Founder & CIO
Shelly Van Cleve
Shelly is a pioneering culinary innovator with over 23 years experience as an award-winning culinary artist that has a reputation for seeking newly discovered ingredients and technologies to invent new products and concepts. Her food creations are distributed in all channels including retail, foodservice, e-commerce, specialty catalog, and home shopping, In the later years she has dedicated all of her work to the replication of foods from the sea by using plants and void of any soy ingredients. Shelly's bold decisions are always forward-thinking and always mind blowing.
Marketing Manager
Erica Batterman
Erica Batterman is the Marketing Manager at Mind Blown Plant Based Seafood Co., where she leverages her expertise in strategic planning, creative content creation, and social media management to drive brand engagement and expand the company's online presence. Since joining in June 2020, Erica has organically grown the company's social media following from zero to over 11,000 engaged followers and won the gold award for Social Media Page of the Year at the 2023 MARCOM awards. Erica excels in crafting compelling marketing content, managing food photography, and fostering community engagement across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Her innovative approach and dedication to enhancing brand awareness make her an invaluable asset to the Mind Blown team.
Erica holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Christian University in Communication and a Minor in Sociology.
Videographer
Jordan Epping
Jordan was born and raised in Oregon and grew up taking advantage of all the Pacific Northwest had to offer. In high school, he developed a passion for telling stories through videos. Jordan did a six-year stint in the US Navy flying in the back of helicopters while still making videos of his adventures. With his active duty career behind him, he is now studying Economics at Yale while serving as the head video creator for Mind Blown.
Celebrity Chef & Investor Partner
Chef Spike Mendelshohn
Spike's career, spanning nearly three decades, is marked by creative diversity as a chef, restaurateur, television personality, food policy advocate, and consultant.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Spike worked with renowned chefs like Thomas Keller and appeared on Bravo TV’s Top Chef and other cooking shows. In 2008, he opened Good Stuff Eatery in Washington DC, beloved by political elites, including President Barack Obama. This success led to more restaurants: We, The Pizza, Béarnaise, Santa Rosa Taqueria, and speakeasies The Sheppard and The Morris.
In 2019, he co-founded PLNT Burger, a fast-casual chain dedicated to sustainable comfort foods, and Eat The Change, a snack company focused on nutrient-dense, planet-friendly snacks. His consulting projects include Sunny’s, Campton Yard, and Vim & Victor.
Spike is also a food equity advocate, working with CARE, DC Central Kitchen, Wholesome Wave, and Food Rescue US. He served as the first chairman of DC’s Food Policy Council, focusing on school lunches, healthy food access, and SNAP protection. He executive produced the documentary The Inn at Little Washington: A Delicious New Documentary, available on Amazon Prime Video.
Spike lives in the DC area with his wife, Cody, and their son. When not in the kitchen or lobbying on The Hill, he enjoys surfing.
Celebrity Chef & Investor Partner
Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio is the chef and owner of Crafted Hospitality, overseeing Craft and Temple Court in New York, Craft Los Angeles, Heritage Steak and Craftsteak in Las Vegas, and Small Batch in Garden City, NY.
A passionate social justice advocate, Tom executive produced the 2013 documentary “A Place at the Table,” which explores hunger in the U.S. He actively advocates for food access, affordability, and nutrition in Washington, DC, collaborating with figures like former First Lady Michelle Obama on initiatives such as the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act.
Tom frequently appears on MSNBC, CNN, ABC, and Bloomberg, and hosts the iHeart Radio podcast, Citizen Chef. He is the head judge and executive producer of Bravo’s Emmy-winning Top Chef.
Through Crafted Hospitality, Tom supports the community via partnerships with FEAST and board roles at Children of Bellevue, City Harvest, and Wholesome Wave. He also helped found The Independent Restaurant Coalition to aid local restaurants during the COVID-19 crisis. Tom lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Lori Silverbush, and their three sons. Outside the kitchen, he enjoys gardening, fishing, and playing guitar.