That's the gap Brighter Table fills,
for them and for other families: a judgment-free community of parents navigating the same daily chaos, practical tools built for real family budgets and schedules, and a clear path from "I want to do better" to "I actually did it, and it was easy."
Brighter Table mobilizes parents as a collective force for plant-forward eating at home, in their schools, and in their communities. We serve the "Curious Middle": the vast majority of families who want to feed their children more healthfully and sustainably, but face real barriers of time, budget, picky eaters, and a food culture that centers animal products at every meal.
We meet you where you are.
Progress over perfection, always.
Who We Are
Who We Are
Brighter Table exists because two moms with opinionated young eaters at home and a combined two decades of food systems advocacy, looked around the food advocacy space and couldn’t find what they needed to make eating a wholesome, plant-forward diet easier for their busy season of life.
Brighter Table exists because two moms with opinionated young eaters at home and a combined two decades of food systems advocacy, looked around the food advocacy space and couldn’t find what they needed to make eating a wholesome, plant-forward diet easier for their busy season of life.
They had read all the child-nutrition advice on the market and scrolled past the wellness influencers, but nobody was mobilizing parents as a collective force to change the food system. There was no science-backed, nonpartisan movement bringing families together. So they built one.
That's the gap Brighter Table fills,
for them and for other families: a judgment-free community of parents navigating the same daily chaos, practical tools built for real family budgets and schedules, and a clear path from "I want to do better" to "I actually did it, and it was easy."
Brighter Table mobilizes parents as a collective force for plant-forward eating at home, in their schools, and in their communities. We serve the "Curious Middle": the vast majority of families who want to feed their children more healthfully and sustainably, but face real barriers of time, budget, picky eaters, and a food culture that centers animal products at every meal.
We meet you where you are.
Progress over perfection, always.
They had read all the child-nutrition advice on the market and scrolled past the wellness influencers, but nobody was mobilizing parents as a collective force to change the food system. There was no science-backed, nonpartisan movement bringing families together. So they built one.
Our Mission
To mobilize parents as a collective force for a plant-forward food system.
Our Vision
A future where parents are empowered to shape the health of our children and the planet for good.
24M
U.S. families ready for this shift
$300+B
annual food spending power of U.S. parents
90%
of parents want their kids to eat more fruits & vegetables
Why do we focus on parents and families?
We know firsthand the power parents hold, and what they'll do so their children inherit a better world. Parents are raising the leaders of tomorrow.
And while they’re doing that, parents are also nurses, teachers, farmers, CEOs, small business owners, artists, stay-at-home moms and dads, and the ones holding their families together. Parents come to the Brighter Table community from every background, but what we share matters more than what divides us: our love for our children and our determination to build a better world for them.
Our Story
The Day Brighter Table Was Born
Having children changed us.
It sharpened our urgency around climate action. Suddenly the long-term future felt very personal. And it immersed us, for the first time, in the daily logistical reality of feeding a family: the five o’clock scramble, the rejected dinners, the birthday party where your kid is the only one not eating because of their unique preferences.
We’ve spent years in the nonprofit advocacy and food policy space, running campaigns, engaging major food corporations, and pushing for systemic change from the outside. But parenthood showed us something we hadn’t fully seen: parents are one of the most underleveraged forces for lasting food system change. The family table is where food preferences take root and eating habits form early, shaping choices for years to come.
Parents and caregivers have the power to change the world. Brighter Table channels that power into lasting change, building a healthier future for us all.
⏤ Hillary and Jen, Co-Founders
STAGE 1 — CURIOUS
You want to feed your family better and you’re not sure where to start. We meet you with free, practical resources and no pressure.
STAGE 2 — SHIFTING
You’re trying things. Some work, some get rejected at the table. This is where a mentor who has been through it for feedback and workshopping makes the difference.
STAGE 3 — ROOTED
Plant-forward eating has simply become how your family eats now. You have your own strategies and your own wins.
STAGE 4 — ADVOCATING
You bring what worked at home to your school, your district, your community — and you help the next family get started.
The Parent’s Journey
Most parents don’t go from curious to advocate overnight. They move in stages, and each one needs something different. Brighter Table intends to meet every individual where they are on their unique path.
STAGE 1 — CURIOUS
You want to feed your family better and you’re not sure where to start. We meet you with free, practical resources and no pressure.
STAGE 2 — SHIFTING
You’re trying things. Some work, some get rejected at the table. This is where a mentor who has been through it for feedback and workshopping makes the difference.
STAGE 3 — ROOTED
Plant-forward eating has simply become how your family eats now. You have your own strategies and your own wins.
STAGE 4 — ADVOCATING
You bring what worked at home to your school, your district, your community — and you help the next family get started.
Value 4
Everyone is invited to the party.
Wholesome food shouldn’t be a luxury. Every resource we create is free, Every guide built for a real grocery budget, every event is open to anyone who shows up. We remove barriers because real change only happens when it reaches families who need it most, not just the families easiest to reach.
Value 1
Progress over perfection. Always.
We don’t ask families to overhaul their lives overnight. We meet you where you are with practical, implementable steps that fit your actual schedule budget, and kids. Perfection is the enemy of progress.
Value 1
Progress over perfection. Always.
We don’t ask families to overhaul their lives overnight. We meet you where you are with practical, implementable steps that fit your actual schedule budget, and kids. Perfection is the enemy of progress.
What we believe and how it guides us.
Value 3
Community is key.
Behavior change is more durable when you’re in community with others like you. Brighter Table is built around relationships: mentor-mentee pairs, community events, shared wins and honest struggles. We are stronger together!
Value 2
Caregivers are changemakers.
Parents are the architects of the food system their children will inherit. Brighter Table builds the confidence and leadership skills that turn a curious parent into a credible advocate. You already have access to your PTA, your school board, and your city hall. We help you use it.
Value 2
Caregivers are changemakers.
Parents are the architects of the food system their children will inherit. Brighter Table builds the confidence and leadership skills that turn a curious parent into a credible advocate. You already have access to your PTA, your school board, and your city hall. We help you use it.
Value 5
Joyfulness is the point.
This process should feel good! Eating well with your family doesn’t have to come with guilt, judgment, or a side of overwhelm. Brighter Table creates welcoming, positive experiences that make plant-forward eating feel achievable and genuinely pleasurable.
Value 3
Community is key.
Behavior change is more durable when you’re in community with others like you. Brighter Table is built around relationships: mentor-mentee pairs, community events, shared wins and honest struggles. We are stronger together!
Value 4
Everyone is invited to the party.
Wholesome food shouldn’t be a luxury. Every resource we create is free, Every guide built for a real grocery budget, every event is open to anyone who shows up. We remove barriers because real change only happens when it reaches families who need it most, not just the families easiest to reach.
Value 5
Joyfulness is the point.
This process should feel good! Eating well with your family doesn’t have to come with guilt, judgment, or a side of overwhelm. Brighter Table creates welcoming, positive experiences that make plant-forward eating feel achievable and genuinely pleasurable.
Meet the founders
Jen Behr
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Jen is a New Rochelle, New York-based mom and plant-based food systems advocate. She has three young children, and has been working with companies and institutions for the past decade, encouraging them to shift to more sustainable practices. She co-founded Brighter Table to help parents channel their desire for a healthier food system into tangible change within their families and communities. She believes that parents and caregivers have the power to change the world.
Hillary Hendrickson
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Hillary is a Colorado-based mom of a curious young daughter. She has spent the past decade in food systems advocacy, working for a more sustainable and humane food system. Before that, she earned her master’s in mental health counseling and worked with kids in schools and hospitals. Becoming a parent showed her firsthand how much power parents hold to build a better world for their children, and she co-founded Brighter Table to help them see and use it. She believes plant-forward eating is one of the simplest ways to support kids’ health, the planet, and animals all at once.
Board of Directors
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Chelsie Schadt
Board President
Chelsie Schadt has spent nearly 15 years in animal welfare and food systems advocacy. While a desire to fight animal suffering first drew her to this work, she soon came to see that food system reform isn't just connected to animal welfare, but to everything else at stake, from the health of our kids, to the climate, to the world we're leaving behind. That's what inspires her about Brighter Table, a community turning the everyday choices families make at their own tables into the power to create a better world for our kids, at home and at school. Chelsie believes the choices we make about food are some of the most powerful tools we have to build a kinder world. She lives with her partner Bill and their companion animals Lupin, Maeve, and Stevie.
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PJ Nyman
Board Secretary
PJ Nyman brings over a decade of experience as a professional advocate for farmed animals, dedicated to improving our food system. Prior to entering the nonprofit sector, PJ earned a Master’s Degree in Social and Political Thought and both taught and published in the social sciences. Throughout their advocacy career, PJ has managed a national plant-based menu policy campaign, developed Canada’s annual corporate animal welfare ranking, and led strategy and communications for corporate animal welfare reform across the country. PJ lives in Toronto with their partner and their companion cat, Simon Nyman.
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Rachel Caughlin
Board Treasurer
Rachel Caughlin has dedicated much of her career to helping farmed animals and has been working in the non-profit space for over a decade. She is currently a consultant for non-profit organizations supporting their fundraising and special event planning efforts. Prior to this, she was a philanthropy officer at Mercy For Animals and a planned giving officer at Farm Sanctuary. She loves connecting with donors, learning their passions, and helping them fulfill their philanthropic goals. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she resides in Los Angeles, CA with her husband, Rich, and their sweet pup, Ro.
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Jen Behr
Director
Jen is a New Rochelle, New York-based mom and plant-based food systems advocate. She has three young children, and has been working with companies and institutions for the past decade, encouraging them to shift to more sustainable practices. She co-founded Brighter Table to help parents channel their desire for a healthier food system into tangible change within their families and communities. She believes that parents and caregivers have the power to change the world.
Advisory Committee
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Chloë Cudaback
The foundation of Chloë’s career is in animal advocacy. She began as an intern at a chimpanzee sanctuary, a path that led to her current role at Violet Studios, where she helps pro bono clients with brand, audience research, messaging, and strategy. She has also worked in extreme poverty and global health, and outside the nonprofit space in brand consulting for AEC clients in the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, she found that nearly every organization, regardless of sector, has marketing blind spots that a little data and strategic repositioning can resolve, putting them right in front of their target audiences. This potential for impact has given her a clear sense of purpose.
Chloë holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management & Philanthropy from the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington. She loves quilting and hiking and looks forward to hosting for the holidays each year. She is very excited to become a first-time mom to a baby boy very soon!
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Sophia Deluz-Bhan
Sophia Deluz-Bhan is an entrepreneur, mother, and co-founder of Search Atlas, an agentic marketing platform featured 3 times on INC 5000s list of Fastest Growing Companies. When not busy running a company, she is busy running her microsanctuary with rescued animals including a baby donkey named Marie Curie. She splits her time between Medellín and San Francisco and is always cooking up plant-based meals with her daughter, Ruby.
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Lauri Torgerson-White
Lauri Torgerson-White is an agency-focused animal welfare scientist, birth doula and childbirth educator, and mother of three human children. She has devoted her career to improving the lives of other animals as the Director of Research at Mercy For Animals, Senior Director of Research and Sanctuary Animal Welfare at Farm Sanctuary, Philanthropy Officer at Vegan Grants, contract grant writer, and now as Research Scientist and Associate Director of New York University’s All Animals Initiative for Multispecies Community Building.
While the bulk of Lauri's career has been devoted to other animals, she has been fascinated by birth and parenting since she became pregnant with her oldest child back in 2011. While parenting her three children, she became a birth doula, HypnoBirthing educator, and even wrote a book about childbirth. Despite a fulfilling career helping animals and empowering birthing families, Lauri's favorite job is as a mother of three vegan kids.
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Leah Garcés
Leah Garcés is Global Ambassador at Compassion in World Farming and one of the most recognized voices working to end factory farming. Former CEO of Mercy For Animals and founder of the Transfarmation Project, she is the author of Grilled and Transfarmation, a TEDx speaker with nearly two million views, and a Vox Future Perfect 50 honoree featured in Rutger Bregman's Moral Ambition. She is also the creator and producer of the award winning animation Henrietta Finds a Nest, a short animation about a hen she rescued from a factory farm.
We’re building an advisory committee of parents, educators, and food systems experts. If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear from you.
Want to have a bigger role at Brighter Table?
Brighter Table is a community built by parents, for parents — and we’re just getting started. Whether you want to join as a community member, volunteer as a mentor, partner with us, or support our work financially, we’d love to connect.
Brighter Table is a fiscally sponsored project of A Well-Fed World, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations made through A Well-Fed World are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.