MESM 2021
Bio
Max Diamond has a decade of professional experience as a chef and food professional. Whether cooking at Wolfgang Puck’s Michelin two-star flagship restaurant Spago or feeding 1,000 employees daily in the cafeteria of Airbnb’s corporate headquarters, he observed a disconcerting pattern: approximately 40% of food goes wasted in America. Launching the prepared foods program at Airbnb enabled him to address the food waste problem. Max discovered the potential that businesses and corporations have to effect change, leading him to work as a research chef at a food start-up. Undertaking projects aimed at minimizing food waste and consulting corporate clients like Starbucks on product innovation exposed Max to the larger challenges facing the future of food. Max’s work experience addressing food system issues through applied science and business partnerships motivated him to specialize in corporate environmental management at Bren. After he completes his master’s degree at UCSB Bren, Max aspires to become chief corporate sustainability officer for a Fortune 500 company, specializing in ethical resource consumption and mitigating food waste. Max graduated from Northwestern University in 2009. He double-majored in sociology and international studies. Upon graduating from Northwestern, he attended culinary school at the Art Institute of L.A.