Samantha Derrick, co-founder and program director at Plant Futures, went from studying public health at UC Berkeley to leading Plant Futures, a rapidly expanding new initiative connecting the dots between plant-based food, public health and entrepreneurship. Along the way, it creates a global talent pipeline for the plant-based food industry. "I wanted to focus on plant-based food and nutrition in my master's program but quickly realized that there weren't really any classes, resources or even conversations at the school about the plant-based food sector," Derrick told me. She decided this needed to change at a school famous for its food systems and sustainability teaching. She found a mentor in Will Rosenzweig, one of her professors and faculty co-chair at the Berkeley Haas Center for Responsible Business. He encouraged Derrick to create a syllabus for a new course on the topic — which she did.