Foodprints for the Future

Foodprints for the Future Ambassadors

If you ever feel like you need inspiration, look no further! Foodprints for the Future Ambassadors are some of the most caring, creative and sharp minds using their power for justice, the environment and creating delicious food.

Meet the Foodprints for the Future Ambassadors

Cory Beattie
“Be a Climate Voter” Spokesperson
| Generation Progress

Cory Beattie is a former wildland firefighter and current student studying climate change. He is a “Be a Climate Voter” spokesperson for Generation Progress, where he advocates for people to pledge to vote for pro-environment officials.


Genesis Butler
Founder | Genesis for Animals

Genesis Butler is a 12-year-old activist and the youngest person to give a TEDx talk. Inspired by her great uncle, civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, Genesis’ talk “A 10 Year Old’s Vision for Healing the Planet” discussed the negative impact of animal agriculture on the environment. Genesis has worked with dozens of nonprofits to promote a plant based diet, including Farm Sanctuary, Humane Society of the United States, and Mercy for Animals. She was the face of the 2019 Million Dollar Vegan campaign, where she met with an international coalition of scientists, environmental activists, and politicians to discuss the role diet change can play in fighting global warming. Genesis is the founder of the nonprofit organization, Genesis for Animals, which raises funds for sanctuaries around the world.


Erick Castro
How to be Vegan in the Hood

Erick Castro runs the popular Instagram account “How to Be Vegan in the Hood” which has more than 29,000 followers. Based out of NYC, Erick is an entrepreneur, specifically focusing on the accessibility of a plant-based diet and eating well on a budget. In his everyday life, Erick creates awareness around plant-based diets, their accessibility and benefits.


Valeree Catangay
Co-Founder | UCLA Environmentalists of Color Collective

Valeree is a co-founder of the Environmentalists of Color Collective at UCLA and 2018 Brower Youth Awardee. Her work with the Collective challenges mainstream environmentalism to prioritize the narratives of people of color. She is also a Carbon Neutrality Initiative Fellow for the University of California, engaging students in the UC system-wide goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Now a senior at UCLA, Valeree strives to amplify values of sustainability and environmental justice within the corporate sector.


Isra Hirsi
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director | US Youth Climate Strike

Isra Hirsi is a 16-year-old high school student from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a climate and racial justice advocate who is the co-founder and co-executive director of the US Youth Climate Strike. She worked on getting hundreds of strikes organized across the country on March 15th and May 3rd, 2019. Isra started her climate activism her freshman year of high school by joining her school’s environmental club. US Youth Climate Strike started in late January 2019 and now has 100+ organizers. With her identities as a black Muslim woman in this work, she focuses on has long been an advocate for intersectionality and diversity within the climate justice movement, as well as in her daily life.


Evan Lutz
Founder & CEO | Hungry Harvest

Evan is the co-founder & CEO of Hungry Harvest, which is a food delivery company working to eliminate food wastes and stop hunger. They deliver box subscriptions of off-size, off-color, “ugly” or overproduced products with reduced prices. He was featured in Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs.”


Jamie Margolin
Founder | Zero Hour

Jamie is a 17-year-old Colombian-American writer, community organizer, activist & public speaker. She is the founder of the international youth climate justice movement, Zero Hour, that led the very first “Youth Climate March” in Washington, DC and 25 cities worldwide in 2018. She is also a plaintiff on Our Children’s Trusts’ Youth v. Gov Washington state lawsuit, suing the state of Washington for denying her generation’s constitutional rights to a livable environment by continuing to make climate change worse.

Her debut book, “Youth To Power,” the ultimate guide to being a young activist, is hitting bookstores worldwide in 2020. Jamie’s identity as a Latina Jewish lesbian influences her drive and passion to fight for those who are marginalized. Her love for her Pacific Northwest home and the Seattle environment fuels her drive to protect Mother Earth. 


Ryan Pandya photo

Ryan Pandya
Co-Founder & CEO | Perfect Day

Ryan Pandya is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Perfect Day, a food company on a mission to create delicious animal-free dairy products, while leaving a kinder, greener footprint on the planet.


Dejah Powell
Founder | Get Them to the Green

Dejah Powell is a graduate of Cornell University, where she studied environmental and sustainability science and minored in business and community food systems. There, her passion for education, the environment, and food justice grew. During her sophomore year, she founded Get Them to the Green (G2G), an organization that aims to foster a love for the environment amongst Chicago youth. Currently, Dejah works as an analyst with Civic Consulting Alliance, a non-profit in Chicago whose mission is to make Chicago a great place for everyone to work and live.


Kayla Soren
Founder & Executive Director | International Student Environmental Coalition

Kayla Soren is studying International Relations and Environmental Studies at University of Southern California. She founded and is the executive director of the International Student Environmental Coalition (ISEC), which engages 30 countries and thousands of young environmental activists worldwide. She was named a Local Pathways Fellow by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a Global Champion for Change by UN Women.


Haile Thomas
CEO | The HAPPY Org

Haile Thomas is an 18-year-old international speaker, health activist, vegan food and lifestyle influencer, and the youngest certified integrative nutrition health coach in the United States. On top of this, Haile is the CEO of the non-profit The HAPPY Org (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth). Haile founded The HAPPY Org at age 12 to address the need for free plant-based nutrition and culinary education. Her goal is to be a positive example and to create a sustainable future.


Merissa Underwood
Miss Montana USA 2020

Merissa Underwood, 27, has always had a strong connection to animals. The majority of her life has been dedicated to loving and caring for animals. Raised in the country, she was a member of the Future Farmers of America, which was formative to her understanding of how people see animals as commodities instead of equal beings. She has been a vegan and an animal rights activist for nearly 5 years, and is using her title of Miss Montana USA 2020 to bring greater awareness to the negative impact that factory farming has on our environment. She encourages people to adopt a whole-foods plant-based diet, eliminate single-use plastic, reduce food waste & compost, and walk or take public transit whenever possible. Outside of her activism she is a poet, DJ, and loves dubstep.


Maia Wikler
Media & Communication Coordinator | SustainUS

Maia grew up in Philadelphia, where the impacts of pollution directly affected her life and spurred her advocacy for climate justice at an early age. Maia seeks to connect dynamic and diverse audiences on issues of climate justice and human rights through research, film, writing and community organizing. She was recently recognized with the CC Faces of Innovation Award for her work identifying the challenges of climate change as a youth delegate with SustainUS at UN Climate Talks. Maia is a published writer, her most recent work appears in Teen Vogue. She currently lives on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Tsleil-Waututh territories where she is working on her Master’s degree in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on forced displacement impacts from mega resource development projects.  


Lana Weidgenant
Advisory Board Member | Plant Dining Partnerships

Lana started a Change.org petition that reached nearly 20,000 signatures asking Dunkin’ to add the plant-based Beyond Sausage to its menu for increased plant-based accessibility and as an amazing business opportunity in 2019. The campaign achieved success as Dunkin’ responded to the consumer demand displayed by the petition by launching a Beyond Sausage breakfast sandwich in its New York locations with the commitment to expand to the national supply chain. Lana is a 20-year-old college student at Johns Hopkins University where she is an active advocate for plant-based options and other sustainability practices. She serves as an advisory board member with the national non-profit Plant Dining Partnerships where she connects with not only national chains but also local food service industries in helping them offer plant-based options for their communities. Lana is also involved in the climate movement as co-deputy partnerships director at Zero Hour, an international climate justice organization led by students.


Sarah Yi
Director | FEAST

Sarah Yi is currently a sophomore at Occidental College studying Urban and Environmental Policy with a minor in Computer Science. She is the director of FEAST at Occidental College, which stands for the “Food, Energy and Sustainability Team.” The organization is involved in a wide variety of sustainability initiatives on campus, and it mainly focus on promoting organic garden-to-table food and native plant restoration. 

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