![]() ![]() I think that definitely helped me realize that my voice was valid and important on that stage, just as much as a 40-year-old or Michelle Obama even. My mom has always told me to be a leader, not a follower. What was the experience like as a 10-year-old to get in front of a big crowd? That eventually led to me to working with Hyatt Hotels for a few years on making their kids’ menu healthier, and then eventually founding my nonprofit. I talked about my family’s journey and also how important it is for a kid to be in the kitchen and be involved in their personal health and the health of their family. I didn’t really think I wanted to be a speaker, but they saw something in me and just wanted me to kind of try it out and see how I felt. They gave me an opportunity to speak at the Partnership for a Healthier America summit. They accepted my application based on my family’s story and how eager I was to learn more and try to make a difference in my community.Īnd with that, it was kind of like a domino effect, really. At that point I was about 10, and of course I didn’t have any experience with public service, but just really wanted to find a way to get more involved and become more educated if possible. At the time, they had a youth advisory board, and they were looking for applicants to represent all 50 states. Luckily, we were able to find a nonprofit called the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. I also kind of felt betrayed by my school and by my community for not having nutrition education as an essential part of my learning experience at really a young age. I would see my friends with candy and chips and pizza and think about how they really don’t know that what they’re feeding their bodies truly can lead to illnesses in the present and in the future. I started to notice how my peers and their families were unaware of just how impactful their daily food choices were. Once you realized how successful these sort of eating changes can be, you started talking about it in public. ![]() ![]() Within about a year we were able to completely reverse his condition without medication by changing our lifestyle, educating ourselves on the choices we were making, getting into the kitchen more and finding ways to make fruits and vegetables taste really good. So, we took the path of food instead of medicine. When he was diagnosed, we started looking into his medication and side effects and realized quickly that wasn’t a route that we wanted him or our family to go down. I come from a family that really loves trying lots of different cuisines, enjoying food and all of its amazingness without really looking at it as something that could be powerful and healing. It started with my dad being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2009, when I was around 8 years old. Your interest in food started at a pretty young age. Thomas recently took some time away from her impressive schedule to chat with me about engaging with food change at a young age, nutrition education and what the future of food should look like. With an online HAPPY course and a book in the works, she’s expanding her reach exponentially. Now 18, the inspiring Thomas has no intention of slowing down. Through school cooking, nutrition programs and camps, HAPPY teaches kids to think about their food choices and how they impact personal health. To share her newfound food knowledge and encourage healthy eating in her peers, Thomas founded her nonprofit HAPPY (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth) in 2013. The extremely driven Thomas was drawn towards healthy foods after her father’s Type 2 diabetes diagnosis and later recovery thanks to the family’s diet changes. (I, on the other hand, have done none of that.) Eight years later and Thomas has presented at conferences all over the country, is the youngest Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in the US, and has personally engaged over 15,000 kids. Haile Thomas was speaking about healthy food at conferences like TEDx. When I was 10, I was interested in watching TV, shopping for new clothes and baking anything sweet. ![]()
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