CEO of 412 Food Rescue Leah Lizarondo included in book on global women leaders
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Leah Lizarondo, co-founder of 412 Food Rescue in Pittsburgh, is in heady company with her inclusion in the book “Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower.”
To be published in September by Assouline, the book is presented by Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that partners with women leaders around the world to bring their visions for change to fruition. Founded in 1997, the organization is based in Washington, D.C.
Among others profiled in the book are Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Madeleine Albright, Megan Rapinoe, Melinda Gates, Greta Thunberg, Karlie Kloss, Meghan Markle and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
The women share personal stories and insight into how individual women lead differently. A portrait by artist Gayle Kabaker accompanies each profile.
“It’s an honor to be included among these other women,” Lizarondo says. “I’m a first-generation immigrant to the United States. As a mother, as an immigrant, the odds were against me in becoming successful.”
Prior to her inclusion in the book, Lizarondo was selected by Vital Voices as a 2019 WE Empower Awardee and a 2020 Global Leadership Awards Honoree.
A native of the Philippines, Lizarondo holds a master’s degree in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to founding 412 Food Rescue, she worked at nonprofits in New York City, trained at the Natural Gourmet Institute there and received certification in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University.
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412 Food Rescue works with retailers to collect surplus food that would otherwise be discarded, delivering it to other nonprofits serving those who are food insecure. In addition to Pittsburgh, the organization operates in Philadelphia, Cleveland, northern Virginia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada, Lizarondo says.
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The organization has helped redirect more than 15 million meals from more than 2,300 food retailers to more than 900 nonprofit organizations, according to a release. In addition to delivering food to those in need, it has prevented 6 million pounds of carbon emissions in the process.
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Lizarondo says the organization’s plan is to create a global movement that reaches 100 cities by 2030.
She says she will have a continuing relationship with Vital Voices, which provides honorees with mentoring, networking opportunities and development of fundraising strategies.
“One other thing that is very important is my determination to give back, in the same ways that Vital Voices has helped women in helping other women to move their visions forward,” she says.