Ariel Demas, a CNS Community Leads Grant Awardee, grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, home of the Center for Nutrition Studies and the Food Studies Institute. After graduating with a BS from Cornell University, she taught public school children nutrition, cooking and gardening, based on her mother's curriculum Food is Elementary in Baltimore, MD. After teaching for 5 years, she pursued a Master’s degree in Education and a teaching license from Goddard College, in Vermont. She was fortunate to return to her dream job teaching food literacy in Baltimore where she first got her hands dirty gardening and cooking with kids.