Johanna Gilligan has worked in the field of food education for the last nine years, since graduating from Tulane University in 2003. She began her career at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York in the Education Outreach department, where she taught inquiry-based plant science to students in Title 1 schools throughout Brooklyn. Since moving back to New Orleans in 2006 she has developed multiple food education projects with the New Orleans Food and Farm Network and Kids Rethink New Orleans schools, including developing nationally-recognized model for engaging middle school students in school food reform. This work is currently the subject of HBO documentary set to air in May 2012. She is the Founder and Co-Director of the Grow Dat Youth Farm and in 2011 was awarded the Tulane Urban Innovation Challenge Fellowship.