Pioneer in Plant-Based Foods, Human Health, and Planetary Health

MY IMPACT

Sarah Bentley is the visionary founder of Made in Hackney, the community cookery school building a global plant-based movement. The school opened in 2012 and has inspired over 400,000 people worldwide to grow, cook, and eat more plant-based foods for the betterment of planetary and human health.

MY JOURNEY

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her team provided over 200,000 emergency meals to households in need. More recently, she helped launch Plant Prospects, [SB1] an international training initiative to accelerate a movement of plant-based community cookery schools.

Sarah built Made in Hackney gradually over the course of 12 years. It started as a London-based charity, then spread nationally, and ultimately, internationally. One of the important drivers as it grew was the ambition that everyone can access the healthy-eating programs and cooking classes. [SB2] Through growth, she desired to create spaces where people from different backgrounds could interact and grow community[SB3] . Now that Sarah has transitioned to a role of Ambassador for the organization, she focuses her time on public speaking to spread awareness about the benefits of plant-based eating, [SB4] working on cookbooks, [SB5] and consulting on social impact.

From a young age, Sarah was inspired by watching her mom, who was always engaged and active in giving back to her community. Sarah volunteered with her mom at community gardens [SB1] and became a vegetarian at age 9. She studied journalism in university, and was very successful, as she wrote about music, health and the environment. Then, she decided to use her skills as a journalist to write a funding bid application to build a healthy food movement, which led to the formation of Made in Hackney.

Sarah recommends that the next generation of prospective social impact leaders really know their worth and pay themselves for the hours that they work. She believes that it is important to not overstretch and to not undervalue oneself. In addition, she recommends being bold to remove barriers to social impact, and to advocate for more resources to be given where the impact would be greatest. In the next generation of people making an impact, she is inspired by organizations such as Rise 365, an organization aiming to enable young people to reach their goals, despite challenges or lack of access to resources in their upbringings.