Sophie Egan

Sophie Egan is an author and leader at the intersection of food, health, and climate. She is celebrating the recent release of her second book: How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet (Workman, 2020). This radically practical guide offers bottom-line answers to the most top-of-mind questions about what to eat.

She is also the founder of Full Table Solutions, a consulting practice that’s a catalyst for food systems transformation. Her launch portfolio is centered around what she calls The Defining Decade Project: a concerted effort to address the urgent need for climate action by 2030—and harnessing the positive, powerful potential contributions from food consumption and production.

For over five years, Sophie served as the Director of Health and Sustainability Leadership and Editorial Director for the Strategic Initiatives Group at The Culinary Institute of America. In that role, she helped improve millions of meals served each day, across restaurant chains, foodservice companies, K-12 school districts, and institutions—from phasing out antibiotics in the meat supply to boosting the appeal of vegetables. She is honored to continue working on behalf of the CIA, in partnership with Stanford University, as Co-Director of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative.

As an undergrad at Stanford, Sophie studied history and math, competed on the triathlon team, and managed a student dining hall. In 2014, Sophie earned my MPH in Health and Social Behavior at UC Berkeley, where she studied food systems, food innovation, and food writing under Michael Pollan. She was also a Fellow at the UC Berkeley Center for Health Leadership. Two years later, Sophie was named one of the UC Global Food Initiative’s 30 Under 30.

A firm believer in lifelong learning, in 2018 Sophie completed the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership program at Harvard’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment. She also returned to Stanford, this time as a lecturer in the Earth Systems Program, where she co-teaches an exciting course cultivating the next generation of food systems leaders.