An interview with Eden Gold
It’s okay not to know exactly where you’re going. And sometimes what feels like a detour ends up being the defining moment in your career. I thought that Pilot Light would be a short stint while I finished my doctorate, and here I am (happily) –12 years later! Listening to yourself and following what you love can open doors you never imagined.
The landscape of education is undergoing a profound transformation, propelled by technological advancements, pedagogical innovations, and a deepened understanding of learning diversities. Traditional classrooms are evolving, and new modes of teaching and learning are emerging to better prepare students for the complexities of the modern world. This series will take a look at the groundbreaking work being done across the globe to redefine education. As a part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn.
Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn is the Executive Director of Pilot Light, a national nonprofit making food education a part of everyday learning for PreK-12 classrooms. Since 2014, she has led the organization’s growth from a single Chicago school into a nationwide movement, reaching over 25,000 students and 350 teachers across 26 states. A strong advocate for teacher leadership, creative learning approaches, and building sustainable food systems, Alex has spearheaded the development of the Food Education Standards and championed innovative programs that link classrooms, cafeterias, and communities.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the “backstory” behind what brought you to this particular career path?
My first role out of graduate school was at Harlem Hospital Center in New York, where I managed its Stroke Center. I saw firsthand the importance of stroke knowledge in saving lives, but there are real challenges to engaging communities in health education. The reality is that pamphlets and posters don’t get you all the way. So, I was fortunate to work with my colleagues to develop school-based stroke education programs that harness hip-hop music to engage young students in stroke education and empower them to act on what they learned. What surprised me was how powerful hip-hop music was in breaking through: kids lit up when the information was set to a beat, and before long, they were not only absorbing stroke education themselves but also teaching their families how to recognize the signs and symptoms and the importance of 911 activation. Seeing this impact led us to establish Hip Hop Public Health, a nonprofit in New York City that continues to utilize music and culture to make critical health education accessible to children and communities.
Later, for family reasons, I moved to Chicago, where I discovered Pilot Light. It was a new nonprofit founded by leading chefs who were inspired by Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign and wanted to bring the power of food into schools. What excited me was the similarity to what I had seen with music: food also has a unique power to engage children and open the door to meaningful learning about health, culture, and community. Joining Pilot Light allowed me to bring that same creative, evidence-based approach into classrooms, but working hand-in-hand with teachers, where I was excited by the opportunity to connect to learning.
My academic background and training are in epidemiology and health education, so throughout my career I’ve been grounded in the science of how people learn, change, and act on health information. However, what continues to motivate me is the joy of discovering those unexpected ways — whether through music or food — to empower students as leaders for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
One of the more meaningful moments of my career happened on the subway in New York. I looked up and noticed a young boy sitting across from me, reading one of our Hip Hop Stroke comic books, which we gave out during our school-based stroke education programs. It was worn and creased, like he had poured over it many times. At that moment, I realized that the work wasn’t just a drop in the bucket, but something that could stick with a child.
The lesson I took from that is that we don’t always get to see the impact of our efforts, but it’s there. And if we’re lucky, every once in a while, we’ll catch a glimpse of it in a moment like that, which reminds us why we do the work in the first place.
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority in the education field?
I would say that I consider myself an “authority” only in the sense that I’ve spent many years building Pilot Light’s model of partnering with teachers to embed food education into everyday learning. But the truth is, any expertise I have comes from standing alongside incredible colleagues and teachers who bring their own deep knowledge and lived experience into this work every day. I rely on them constantly to guide, challenge, and shape our programs, and I think that collaborative spirit is what truly makes our work strong. Through that collaborative spirit, we developed the nation’s first Food Education Standards, which guide the integration of food into classrooms in ways that are practical for teachers, engaging for students, and meaningful for schools and communities.
Can you identify some areas of the US education system that are going really great?
It’s a hard moment right now, especially with the recent cuts to SNAP-Ed, which have left critical gaps in nutrition and food education for schools and communities that need them most. At the same time, I see incredible things happening in teacher leadership all across the country. From rural to urban districts, teachers are stepping up to creatively integrate food into their lessons, engage families, and advocate for resources, showing that when we invest in educators’ passion and leadership, students everywhere benefit.
Can you identify the key areas of the US education system that should be prioritized for improvement? Can you explain why those are so critical?
One area we urgently need to prioritize is food education. We all eat, yet most students move through school without ever really learning where their food comes from, how it affects their health, or how it connects to culture, community, and the environment. Food education is not an “extra” that only a few students should have access to. It’s essential because food touches every part of our lives.
When students learn about food, they gain the tools to make informed, healthy choices, think critically about the food system, and engage their families and communities in meaningful conversations. I’ve seen this come to life in the classroom. For example, a student who tasted snap peas for the first time through our SnackTime Explorers program not only became more curious about food and developed tasting skills when trying them, but she also went home and asked her family to purchase them. That kind of ripple effect demonstrates how food education empowers children to take charge of their own health and that of their families.
If every child received consistent, impactful food education, the potential benefits would be enormous. Today, the U.S. spends an estimated $1.1 trillion annually on chronic, diet-related diseases. Imagine the difference if the next generation had the knowledge and skills to make choices that support their own health, their children’s health, and the health of our food system.
Ultimately, food education is an investment in all of our futures. By empowering young people with the knowledge and confidence to shape the food system they will inherit, we can build the foundation for a healthier, stronger nation. And this is critical: we cannot afford to wait another generation to make food education a core part of every child’s learning.
Please tell us all about the innovative educational approaches that you are using. What is the specific problem that you aim to solve, and how have you addressed it?
The problem we are working to solve is that while food touches every aspect of our lives–health, culture, environment, community–most students move through school without ever learning how to think critically about food or connect it to their own lives. As a result, students miss out on the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices for their health and to understand the food system.
Our innovative approach at Pilot Light begins with the Food Education Standards, the nation’s first framework that defines what every student should know and be able to do in food education, from Pre-K through 12th grade. The Standards provide a clear roadmap for integrating food education into core subjects, such as science, reading, social studies, and math.
Teachers use the Standards to integrate food into their existing instruction, whether that’s fractions through recipes, history through foodways, or science through nutrition and agriculture. By aligning with educational standards and building on teachers’ expertise, we’ve made food education not an “add-on,” but a natural part of the learning process.
Over the past 10+ years, we’ve learned that this approach can address the problem at the classroom and system levels: teachers gain tools and confidence to incorporate food into their teaching, students acquire lifelong skills and develop a curiosity about food, and schools and districts foster a stronger culture of health and learning that extends into families and communities.
In what ways do you think your approach might shape the future of education? What evidence supports this?
Learning through food is true innovation! Food connects to every subject, every culture, and every child’s lived experience, so when we use it as a lens for learning, it makes education come alive in a way that few other tools can.
A third-grade teacher, Chandra, told me she had been struggling after over a decade in the classroom and was looking for new ways to engage her students. She welcomed Pilot Light into her classroom and described how her students’ eyes lit up, how they were “rocking with excitement and energy” after leaving a food-based lesson. At that moment, she realized she had found something special. She has been teaching through the model ever since, which was ten years ago.
We see this transformation all the time at Pilot Light: teachers are re-energized after many years of teaching, students are fully engaged, and families are drawn into the learning process. I have countless stories about this–and data–to support that teachers embrace the model. And that’s why I believe our approach can shape the future of education. Our goal is to spread it everywhere.
How do you measure the impact of your innovative educational practices on students’ learning and well-being?
At Pilot Light, we measure impact qualitatively and quantitatively, because we know that data and stories together give the clearest picture of what food education can do.
On the quantitative side, we use teacher and student surveys, pre- and post-program assessments, and classroom observations to understand student development of knowledge and skills aligned with our Food Education Standards. We look at growth in areas such as food literacy, student engagement, and the ability to connect classroom concepts to real-life food experiences. Just as important, we assess teachers’ capacity and confidence in using the model, because when teachers feel equipped and supported, they are more likely to sustain food education in their classrooms and share it with their colleagues across the school.
We also elevate the qualitative evidence–the stories from students and teachers. We collect stories from across grade levels, content areas, and regions of the country, and use them to understand how food education comes to life in different contexts. For instance, the high school teacher in Arkansas who partnered with the pumpkin farm next to her school for lessons throughout the school year, or the teacher in Massachusetts who worked with her students to organize a food drive for a local food pantry as part of an advocacy project. These stories help us refine our training and resources to strengthen our offerings.
Ultimately, measuring impact for us is not just about proving outcomes, but also about improving our practice. By understanding teachers’ experience in leading food education, we can continue to learn, adapt, and strengthen our programs so that food education has the greatest possible impact on student learning and well-being nationwide.
What challenges have you faced in implementing your educational innovations, and how have you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges we face is that, for teachers, any new initiative can feel like “one more thing” on an already full plate. Breaking through that initial perception is essential to making food education stick. Once teachers see the model in action, they realize it actually supports their teaching by engaging students more deeply, but earning that trust takes work.
To overcome this, in 2018, we developed the Food Education Standards, a clear roadmap for integrating food into classrooms in ways that align with existing curriculum rather than add to it. We also intentionally recruit teachers to help design our resources and strategies, ensuring everything we create is practical, relevant, and informed by real classroom experience. And just as important, we approach every partnership with empathy and a commitment to building trust. Teachers quickly come to see that the Pilot Light team is here to support them, invest in them, and make their work easier, not harder.
It has taken us more than a decade to get this right, and we continue to learn and improve. That ongoing process of listening to teachers, refining our approach, and centering their leadership has been the key to making food education sustainable in schools.
Keeping in mind the “Law of Unintended Consequences” can you see any potential drawbacks of this innovation that people should think more deeply about?
We emphasize that food education is not about telling students what they “should” eat, but about giving them tools to think critically, celebrate their own food cultures, and make informed choices. By centering empathy, equity, and teacher leadership, we’ve been able to avoid many of those unintended consequences and instead create an innovation that lifts up both teachers and students.
What are your “5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started”?
- It’s okay not to know exactly where you’re going. And sometimes what feels like a detour ends up being the defining moment in your career. I thought that Pilot Light would be a short stint while I finished my doctorate, and here I am (happily) –12 years later! Listening to yourself and following what you love can open doors you never imagined.
- It’s also okay to not know what you’re doing and to ask for help. In the early days of Pilot Light, especially, I was trying to build an organization with people I had just met in a city (Chicago) that I’d just moved to. Daily, I was overwhelmed and wasn’t quite sure where we were headed. But with the support of an incredible board of directors and the broader community, I found my footing.
- Partnerships are everything. Whether with teachers, school nutrition staff, or community organizations, meaningful collaboration multiplies impact far more than working alone, and we should lean into each other’s expertise and experience.
- Data and stories go hand-in-hand. I came in with an epidemiology lens, but I’ve learned that stories, such as a classroom building a garden for its school community, can be just as powerful as numbers when it comes to learning more about your work and how to improve on it, and in garnering support.
- Most importantly…. And maybe I knew this then, but I appreciate it more now: You can’t do everything alone. No one person can grow an organization by themselves. The most meaningful progress happens when you surround yourself with people who bring different expertise, skills, and perspectives, and you give them the trust and credit they deserve. I love to look back on Pilot Light’s path and point to the people who shaped our future; I am indebted to them and inspired by them.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My grandmother’s recipe cards had this Audrey Hepburn quote at the top, and it’s one of my favorites: “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” That idea has guided me both personally and professionally. In many ways, food education feels like planting a garden–you may not see the impact immediately. But every lesson, every tasting, every conversation is a seed that can grow into something powerful in a child’s life. When I see teachers develop new lessons or food advocacy projects, or students light up as they connect food to their health, culture, or community, I’m reminded that we are cultivating knowledge today, but also hope for tomorrow. That belief–that investing in children’s learning now will build a stronger future for all of us–is at the heart of my work at Pilot Light.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I’d love to have lunch with Ina Garten because she embodies the idea that food is more than just nourishment; it’s about making people feel welcome. Her recipes are my go-to at home! They’re approachable and joyful — the meals I want to share with family and friends, which is exactly how I think about food education: it should feel accessible, fun, and a source of connection.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
The best way to follow our work is through Pilot Light’s website at www.pilotlightchefs.org, where you’ll find our Food Education Center with hundreds of free lessons and resources. You can also stay connected by signing up for our e-newsletter, and by following Pilot Light on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook (@pilotlightchefs).
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
Alexandra DeSorbo-Quinn Of Pilot Light On Innovative Approaches That Are Transforming Education was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.