Rupa Bhattacharya is executive director for the strategic initiatives group at The Culinary Institute of America, and an award-winning editorial and thought leader with over 20 years' experience driving conversation and demonstrable change at the intersection of food and culture, with work spanning the mediums of television, digital, video, social, books, events, and print, as well as DTC marketing and brand expansion. Her career-long focus has been on spearheading professional innovation and leading organizations into the future, both through extensive diversity and equity work as well as fundamentally shifting and expanding the lens through which food's role in the world can be seen. At VICE, Bhattacharya was the global editor-in-chief of MUNCHIES, the company's award-winning food vertical operating in multiple languages across eight countries, as well as the acting editorial director of culture, where she oversaw coverage of film, television, music, and more. Previous to that, she was a senior editor at Lucky Peach and spent 11 years at the Food Network, starting out as the company's only staff writer and then working to launch new businesses and video formats across multiple channels and markets. Bhattacharya studied at Yale and the French Culinary Institute / International Culinary Center, and lives in Brooklyn with her family, where she is an active mentor to young writers, a competitive powerlifter, and an avid cook.