Photo credit: Sebastien Bicard

My name is Nina Guilbeault and I am a sociologist, author, and educator. My work is broadly about the challenges and joys of curating an intentional life in alignment with our deepest values.

I trained as a cultural sociologist at Harvard University, and for my Ph.D. thesis, I conducted a rigorous ethnographic study of the vegan lifestyle movement around the world, including in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. I interviewed over 150 entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, activists, doctors, and influencers, and conducted five years of fieldwork in three languages (including French & Russian).

After my doctoral work, I became a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of California Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, writing my book while affiliated with the Sustainable Food Initiative. While at UC Berkeley, I co-founded Plant Futures, an educational non-profit that connects students to opportunities in the plant-based sector, and from 2022-23 served as Director of Partnerships. In 2024, I will be an Instructor at the Haas School of Business for the Plant Futures Challenge Lab.

I have been an expert consultant for major food brands and an invited speaker at several conferences and universities, including the Haas School of Business, Harvard Business School, and UC Santa Barbara. My scholarly work has been covered by media such as The Atlantic, The Telegraph, and Refinery29. I earned a Certificate of Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, served on the award committee for the Greg Steltenpohl Pragmatic Visionary Award, and co-authored my first book Habits of Inequality while an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto in Canada.

For most of my life, I have been an advocate for intentional living, and I am deeply passionate about well-being. I have trained as a yoga teacher, a mindfulness teacher at the Mindfulness Training Institute, and have sat multiple intensive meditation retreats at Spirit Rock, the Esalen Institute, and the Dhamma Vaddhana Vipassana Meditation Center. I enjoy supporting local farmers markets, hosting dinner party salons, and exploring topics such as consciousness, design, community, spirituality, and the nature of reality. My first solo-authored book The Good Eater: A Vegan's Search for the Future of Food will be published by Bloomsbury on April 16th, 2024, in honor of Earth Day.