Lauren Bernardi joins the IISAAK OLAM Foundation after connecting with co-founder Eli Enns through her Master’s degree course work at the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica. During this time, she pursued research in agroecology, food sovereignty and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) through an Ethical Space lens.

Lauren is deeply curious and passionate about the intersections of food systems, place-based education, climate adaptation, and peacebuilding. Throughout her career, Lauren has gained unique knowledge and experience in program management, community engagement, and pedagogical design. She has cultivated her skills in organic and agroecological food generation, equitable food policy analytics and advocacy, capacity building for community and school food security initiatives, and curricula design focused on environment and food for youth in various locations including British Columbia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, the UK, and Australia.

Lauren is inspired by a vision of a global food system rooted in peace that empowers community self-determination, is informed by culture, is ecologically restorative, and leaves no one behind. Lauren is a Canadian settler with Italian and Hungarian ancestry and was raised in Ligwiłda’xw territory in Campbell River, but currently calls the unceded territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples in Victoria, B.C. her home.