Our Team
Paul Antico
Founder/CEO
Paul Antico is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AllergyEats. He is also the father of five children – three of whom have food allergies. Paul is a former equity portfolio manager for Fidelity Investments in Boston and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paul utilizes his financial and public speaking skills to advocate for the food allergy community, giving presentations to both food allergy audiences and restaurant management teams looking to understand the value of properly addressing and serving guests with food allergies.
Paul has served on the Board of Directors for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, as well as its New England chapter, the Institute of Medicine’s Advisory Panel for the Consensus Study on Food Allergies, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Food Allergy Working Group, and the National Peanut Board’s Food Allergy Education Advisory Council.
When not in the AllergyEats office, Paul enjoys time with his family and coaching youth baseball and ice hockey. According to his wife, his obsession with everything related to ice hockey (especially his beloved New York Rangers) borders on the unhealthy, though he does have other outlets to help maintain balance as well, namely acting, golf, softball, and anything having to do with improving the lives of children.
Sharon Studley
Vice President of Operations
Sharon Studley is the “#2”, ensuring that AllergyEats is running efficiently and effectively. Sharon manages many day-to-day operations, overseeing and coordinating all AllergyEats team efforts, addressing user concerns and feedback, ensuring that the AllergyEats app and website are up-to-date and functioning correctly, supporting partnership efforts, acting as one of the critical decision-makers, and so much more.
The mom to a son with a peanut allergy, Sharon’s diverse background includes many positions involving food and children. As the owner/instructor at Cook-A-Doodle, she taught cooking classes to children in pre-school, day care and after school programs. She also worked as a cooking instructor for the Duxbury Recreation Enrichment Program. Sharon enjoys teaching children to cook healthy, fun, peanut-free and tree nut-free dishes, from appetizers to desserts, demonstrating that it’s possible to cook delicious, nutritious, allergy-friendly meals.
In her spare time, Sharon enjoys traveling with her husband and son. A history buff, she incorporates historical tours into her trips whenever possible, much to the chagrin of her sports-obsessed husband, who would rather visit baseball stadiums than historical venues. She loves to cook and entertain, often inviting friends and family over for dinner parties, book clubs, and nights by the fire pit.
Jesse Pezzullo
Consumer Marketing Manager
Jesse Pezzullo is the Consumer Marketing Manager of AllergyEats, charged with promoting AllergyEats to the food allergy community, and encouraging people to use it to find and rate restaurants, thus benefitting everyone with food allergies and intolerances. Jesse manages much of the “face” of AllergyEats, through social media, email campaigns, online advertising, industry events, and the well-respected AllergyEats Blog.
Jesse brings over a decade of interactive marketing experience to AllergyEats. She worked at successful start-up Family Education Network, an Internet portal designed to connect schools and parents, where she was responsible for crafting online advertising packages and overseeing account management. Then at Answerthink/Think New Ideas, she helped the agency’s clients – including DuPont Consumer Health and Fannie Mae – develop their online brands. Jesse ultimately became the company’s first Director of Content Strategy, establishing the methodology for creating, sourcing and delivering content to meet consumer needs.
Jesse has 2 children, one with egg and dairy allergies. While her husband appreciates that Jesse has found her dream job, combining her love for interactive marketing and her passion for the food allergy community, he secretly blames Paul for the significant increase in their entertainment budget, as their family now regularly eats at restaurants all across New England! Jesse is an avid reader, home cook, self-proclaimed foodie, and travel lover, the perfect “recipe” for an AllergyEats team member.