S02 E09 — What It Really Takes to Fix School Food

Episode Description

Every school meal starts with the same goal: feed kids well. But creating healthier school environments takes more than simply putting better food on the tray.

In this episode of Cafeteria Confessions, we sit down with Nancy Easton, founder and executive director of Wellness in the Schools, to look at the bigger picture of child nutrition. Nancy shares what she has learned from two decades of working with schools to expand scratch cooking, train school food staff, introduce students to new foods, and make physical activity part of the conversation around student health.

We also dig into the systemic barriers that make change so difficult, from limited funding and outdated infrastructure to procurement restrictions, staffing challenges, and the need for stronger policy. And with examples from New York City and the 200 districts participating in ScratchWorks, Nancy shows what can happen when districts, community partners, and policymakers work toward the same goal.

Because feeding kids well isn’t just about what’s on the tray. It’s about building a system that makes healthier choices possible.

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About the Guest

Nancy Easton is the Executive Director and Founder of Wellness in the Schools (WITS). Since founding WITS in 2005, Nancy has grown it from one classroom at the Ella Baker School (NYC PS 225) into a national organization that now reaches more than one million students in over 2,000 schools nationwide.

Nancy is a forward-thinking, entrepreneurial leader, lending her passion and expertise to expand the WITS wellness vision, both personally and professionally. As a parent in NYC public schools, she helped to build a rooftop greenhouse for her children’s school. In 2019, as WITS’ visionary, she started ScratchWorks, a collective that supports school districts to cook from scratch. As a thought leader, Nancy is a regular commentator and speaker on school food and child wellness and has been recognized for her leadership. First Lady Michelle Obama honored her at the launch of Chefs Move! to Schools, acclaimed chef-food activist Jamie Oliver named her a Food Revolution Hero, and Ann Cooper, the “Renegade Lunch Lady,” designated her as a Lunchbox Hero. In 2020, Nancy was named one of the 2020 Top Women in Metro New York Foodservice & Hospitality. Nancy received a 2025 Spirit of NYC Mayoral Impact Award and a 2025 Hunter Food Policy Changemaker Award for her innovative work.

She has spoken at The 2nd Annual Health Equity Forum at the 2024 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Food Tank’s Food is Medicine and Eating for Health panel at 2025 Climate Week, TedX Montclair, Just Food conference at Columbia University, Teach for America’s 20th Anniversary Summit; and has been interviewed on Food with Marc Bittman, The Spoon’s My Food Job Rocks!, Family Meal at Rethink Food Podcast, to name a few.

Before founding WITS, Nancy spent 15 years as a teacher, mentor, and school leader at the New York City Department of Education. She was a partner of The Learning Project (TLP), a nonprofit that designs and manages schools, where she co-founded and directed TLP One Middle School.

Nancy holds a Masters of Education from Bank Street College of Education, an Administration and Supervision certification from Fordham University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, where she was a three-sport athlete. Nancy is also a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and has her certification from the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.

Nancy is a founding board member of Girls on the Run Manhattan (GOTRM). She serves on the board of the Samara Fund and on Friends of Princeton Track, from whom she was awarded the 2013 Larry Ellis Alumni Award for her distinctive service to track and field and cross-country.

A mother of three, a lifelong athlete and competitive triathlete (including the Ironman distance), Nancy brings the same energy and discipline she models at home to her mission of creating healthier schools nationwide. When she’s not posting miles on Strava, she can be found on a Citibike in NYC, riding to meetings from the Bronx to Brooklyn.