Besides serving as a Servas Youth Representative to the United Nations Department of Public Information, Earlene is the founder of KitchenConnection.org - a platform that allows lay and professional cooks to host or participate in live, online, and interactive cooking classes that support SDG 2: Zero Hunger. She is a James Beard Scholar Award Winner and has been nominated as one of the special envoys on youth under the UN Secretary-General for her work with the Zero Hunger Sustainable Development Goal. She sits on the board of two nonprofits, promoting social entrepreneurship and peace through tourism.
Earlene completed her Master's degree in Social Entrepreneurship and Food Studies at the Gallatin School of New York University. Her scholastic research focuses specifically on the power of food to unite and/or divide people. Her passion is for bringing people together, especially through (food) culture and the power that it has to (often) transcend conflict. Her previous work included supporting film and bilingual programs through the French Embassy in New York City. Her personal passion for bilingualism has led her to speak four languages, and she is now learning her fifth: English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.