Speaker Bio: Michael Lantow

Cooking Matters Program Manager, Local Matters

Michael Lantow is the Cooking Matters Program Manager at Columbus-based non-profit, Local Matters. Joining Local Matters in 2013 as a Cooking Matters AmeriCorps member, he has worked exclusively on the Cooking Matters team, reaching over 4700 participants throughout the state of Ohio. He has trained over 200 program facilitators to cultivate meaningful relationships and engaging classroom experiences by promoting open-ended conversation and sharing participant experiences. He collaborated with a team of six to develop a diversity and inclusion training, on which he presented at Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters partner convening in 2014. He has collaborated with over 47 community-based partner organizations to implement Cooking Matters programming in schools, healthcare settings, recreation centers, senior centers, and more. 

Prior to joining the Local Matters team, Michael interned at White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, a small-scale, organic farm in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he completed a 2-week intensive permaculture design course and engaged the greater Terre Haute community in a public forum focusing on food, sustainability and issues therein. 

Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from Indiana University and, in his free time, can be found cooking, walking or drinking espresso.