Food has a way of bringing people together across cultures and backgrounds. Kids are notoriously picky eaters and need guidance to make healthy food decisions. Pilot Light is a nonprofit partnering teachers and chefs to make learning about food fun. Alex DeSorbo-Quinn is the executive director of Pilot Light and joined Aine for a conversation about food and self-care on this week’s edition of Rock Your Joy.

Listen to the conversation to find out how Pilot Light was inspired by Michelle Obama, why the partnership between chefs and teachers is so meaningful, and how to find self-care in unexpected moments. Join the conversation!

• (02:19) - How to make health education fun
• (04:42) - The power of music
• (07:48) - Defining food education with Pilot Light
• (17:46) - Growth & expansion
• (23:21) - Changing food in the home
• (28:05) - Practicing self-care
• (29:40) - How is Alex cultivating joy?

Pilot Light Programs:

• Food Education Fellowship
• The Food Education Center
• Family Meal Resources
• Pilot Light Anywhere
• Food Education Standards

Alex DeSorbo-Quinn is the executive director of Pilot Light, a nonprofit that partners teachers with chefs to encourage food education.

She is originally from upstate New York and now lives in the Chicago area with her husband and three young children, Tommy, Oliver, and Poppy.

Alex started her career at Harlem Hospital in New York City, where she became involved in school-based health education programs that gave young students the knowledge and tools to save lives through hip hop music. Recognizing the power of the creative arts to engage students in learning, she decided to devote her career to it and has had the honor of serving as Pilot Light's first executive director since 2014.

Together with an incredible team of educators and chefs, Pilot Light has reached more than 12,000 students nationwide with important food education by teaching about food–through food–in subjects like math and English.

Aine Rock is an artist, entrepreneur, mom and High Performance Coach working on becoming the best version of herself and inspiring others to do the same. Rock Your Joy is a place for women to share the unique ways they find, cultivate, and celebrate joy. We’re often so focused on things happening to us that we forget that joy exists within us. Tune in every other week as we find that joy, together.

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