Doug and Shari Schmidt

Shari embarked on this plant based journey after her husband Doug had a widowmaker heart attack at age 49 in 2008. She sought out as much information as possible on the effects of a plant-based diet. Shari earned her certificate with eCornell in Plant Based Nutrition in 2014 and became a certified CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) facilitator in 2017. Shari continues to learn as much as she can about the effect whole plant foods can have on health. Doug, a teacher and instructional developer was once a professional baker and has completed the Rouxbe Plant Based Professional Culinary Program. 

Doug and Shari have led an annual 10 Day plant based challenge. They have run it for staff members from 75 school districts across New York state and were featured on Good Morning America. Shari and Doug conduct plant based cooking classes to share their knowledge. as well as training classes for plant based coaches in participating school districts. As of this writing, there are over 66 plant based coaches in more than 35 school districts. Shari and her husband have written 3 cookbooks for their challenge. Shari created the Facebook group - Eat Plants Love - to help as many people as she could. What began as an attempt to save her husband’s life, has grown to  over 5400 members.