While in college, Sarah spent a summer as a product development intern for a major food company. While grateful for the opportunity, she realized that she wanted to do something that had a greater and more direct impact on creating a healthier food system. Sarah studied food science, and discovered her passion for nutrition while working on an organic farm in Massachusetts, where she became aware of the knowledge gap that exists for most people when it comes to understanding where their food comes from. This led to her FoodCorps service with New London Public Schools in Connecticut from 2013 to 2014, where she shared her love for food and wellness with the students. Sarah served directly with food service directors, managers, and cooks, and it was this hands-on experience that helped her fall in love with the work. Now she leads the school district in menu planning, food procurement, staff development, and more.

Stephanie’s experience as a FoodCorps service member opened her eyes to the possibilities of using her training in culinary nutrition to connect kids with healthy food. After serving in Arizona with Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA), Stephanie was hired to join the TOCA staff as the Food Services Development Coordinator, analyzing existing school food systems to implement scratch-cooking and culturally appropriate meal programs for this close-knit indigenous community. After two years with TOCA, she became the Culinary Specialist and the the Supervisor of Nutrition Services at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District in California. At MPUSD, she works with a motivated and enthusiastic team to prepare and serve student-approved quality scratch-made meals with locally sourced foods. Stephanie recently started a new position with Brigaid. Following the model of “one chef, one kitchen,” Stephanie will be responsible for leading a scratch-cooking program in one of the elementary schools within New London Public Schools by overseeing the preparation and execution of the menus in the school.