My Story
Hi, I’m Samantha Derrick,
the Founder and Executive Director
of Plant Futures Initiative, a nonprofit designing culture change to accelerate the shift toward a plant-centered food system that’s better for people, animals, and the planet.
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I was born and raised in Florida in a bicultural household - my mom is Mexican, my dad is American - and I grew up moving between two very different worlds. These contrasting cultures shaped my perspective and made me deeply aware of the social and health inequalities that exist across communities.
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When I was 12, I saw a video of how animals were treated in slaughterhouses, and my life changed forever. I told my parents I’d never eat animals again, and I never did. That decision shaped the course of my life. My concerns for public health, the health of the planet, and the welfare of animals drove me to adopt a plant-based diet early on and pursue a path rooted in environmental and health activism. Over time, I started seeing the same thread behind issues that kept me up at night: animal suffering, diet-related chronic disease in my communities, and the accelerating climate crisis. The connecting force that could help address all three became surprisingly clear to me: plants.
Eating more plants became my mission, and helping others make that shift became the way I chose to create impact. Why not? Everyone wins.
​My dream was to go to UC Berkeley for school and in 2010, I moved to California to study Environmental Policy and Economics at Berkeley.
I joined the animal rights club on campus and went on to work across the U.S., Mexico, San Francisco, and India in clean energy, wildlife conservation, and environmental advocacy. But in my heart, I knew I wanted to work to transform the food system. It was where I could make the biggest impact.
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After working in clean energy for a few years in San Francisco, I decided it was time to switch my career path and went back to UC Berkeley for a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition. Despite applying to 10 Master’s Programs and almost moving to the Northeast, my heart pulled me back to UC Berkeley and I didn’t know why. Now I know.
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I didn’t know what to do with that realization - until I met my professor, Will Rosenzweig, in a course called Edible Education. Will asked me a simple question: “What do you care about?” I told him how frustrated I was that there were no plant-based food initiatives on campus. He encouraged me: “Why don’t you start one?”
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That moment sparked the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. For a class assignment, I designed a course and a syllabus - essentially, the kind of education I had wished for when I first came to Berkeley. At the time, I thought it was just a project. But when I submitted it to Will, he got excited and said, “We should submit this to the university. I think we’re onto something.”
When I arrived at UC Berkeley to study public health nutrition, I was energized by the idea of focusing on plant-centered food systems. To me, that was where the most powerful levers for change existed - at the intersection of food, health, and sustainability and that's where I wanted to build my career path. But to my surprise, I quickly realized that there was virtually no education on plant-centered food systems, and almost nothing at all on animal agriculture. I was stunned. How could a leading public health program be missing this critical piece of the conversation?
Sure enough, a few months later, the course was officially approved for academic credit at UC Berkeley’s Business School.
I launched it and co-taught it with Will, along with my co-founders Brittany Sartor and Nina Gilbeaut. That course became the foundation for what would grow into Plant Futures - global nonprofit and a movement that started in the classroom and reached far beyond what I had imagined.
Today, Plant Futures is a nonprofit social enterprise offering a globally accessible curriculum and a growing ecosystem of students, educators, and mission-aligned partners. We’ve built a network of nearly 100 University chapters and we’re working to activate the next generation of food systems leaders - people who are values-driven, impact-focused, and ready to create real change. Through our courses, events, and community-building work, we’ve reached thousands of students and collaborators around the world.
Plant Futures is about more than food. It’s about supporting the next generation of leaders to create a better world through careers rooted in values, purpose, and integrity. I’ve seen what happens when passion aligns with mission - it unlocks transformation, both personal and collective. And the most exciting part? We’re just getting started! Join us, don't miss out on the fun!