Become a Food Hero: Webcast

Shonah Chalmers , WCCE

Vice-chairwoman, Worldchefs Feed the Planet Committee

Chef Shonah Chalmers has been a culinary educator at Humber College for the last decade. A frontrunner in the movement, she is greatly involved in the world of food sustainability, educating the next generation of chefs on its importance all over the world.

Shonah can be found assisting with many local, national and international food initiatives, from learning about urban beekeeping, donating her time at the Daily Bread Food Bank, and teaching workshops on International Chefs Day.

Chef Chalmers currently holds the role of Vice-Chair on Worldchefs Feed the Planet & Sustainability Committee, which she hopes will make a difference in the food service industry. She is currently the only chef in Canada to who holds the accreditation of Worldchefs Culinary Educator (WCCE).

Ekaterina (Kate) Trofimova

Community Investment Program Coordinator, Electrolux Food Foundation/Electrolux Sustainability Team

Ekaterina (Kate) Trofimova was raised in the artistic family and came a long way from studying design, later shifting to management and marketing and finally finding herself applying design principles in order to develop community investment program for the business.

Currently Ekaterina is working at Electrolux Group Sustainability Affairs team and Electrolux Food Foundation. Ekaterina is responsible for the engagement projects such as Food Heroes and www.replate.com aiming to educate broader audiences on making sustainable eating the preferred choice. She is humbled to combine her own passion for food and sustainability and work with it on every day basis. Since the end of 2015 Kate advocates for SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production in her private life and aspires to optimise her own consumption patterns.

Elis Ponce

Global Project Manager, AIESEC

In the early years when choosing a major, Elis decided to study Political Science, so she would be able to work with public policies that could change realities. As soon as she started in the university, she also joined AIESEC, the biggest young-led organization in the world. There, besides impacting their city’s reality, she got interested in people development, management, and cross-cultural understanding. 

8 years later, now with experiences in Brazil, Croatia, Bahrain, and many other remote ones, Elis works as Program Manager for Food Heroes, coordinating AIESEC entities and volunteers that participate in the implementation of the lessons.  Always searching for a better and inclusive world, she strives to enhance her own consumption habits and believes in the power of connection and community to make changes happen. 

Chris Koetke, CEC CCE HAAC

Chairman of Worldchefs Feed The Planet Committee; Corporate Executive Chef at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc

Chef Christopher Koetke, CEC CCE HAAC, is currently Corporate Executive Chef at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc. He learned his craft the old fashion way, working in kitchens and learning on the job.  He was the executive chef at Les Nomades in Chicago for five years and also worked at the famed Le Francais restaurant in Wheeling, IL. He formerly served as the executive director of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, in Chicago, and vice president of culinary arts for Laureate International Universities, where he was responsible for strategic leadership of culinary arts programs at 48 campuses in 12 countries.  Koetke is a well-known expert on culinary matters, especially given his global travels experimenting with ingredients and flavors worldwide and his knowledge of amino acids as flavor elements. In 2010, he was given the inaugural Chefs Collaborative Pathfinder Award for his work in making sustainability mainstream both within foodservice operations and education and serves as the Chair of the Feed the Planet Committee of Worldchefs.  

Koetke has a MBA from Dominican University and a BA in French literature from Valparaiso University. He has been honored with the Outstanding Alum from the Brennan School of Business at Dominican University, alumni achievement award from Valparaiso University, and Worldchefs Educator award.  He hosted his own national TV cooking show on the LiveWell Network for almost 5 years, written for prominent newspapers and trade publications, and authored a well-known culinary textbook, The Culinary Professional.