Jackie Day

Jackie has been an advocate for wellness across the country for as long as she can remember. She successfully fought to rid California public schools of soda. She’s pleaded before a school board to rescue a pig being sold for slaughter at the county fair in Miami. And she’s spoken on the evening news on behalf of fish in Malibu. Aptly hailed as a “mover and shaker” by the American Public Health Association, Jackie believes there isn’t a creature too big, or too small, when it comes time to stand up – and speak out – for their wellbeing.

Jackie Day began her career as a Health Educator in Los Angeles in the late 90′s. While teaching, she served as a Coordinator of the Linking Education, Activity and Food (LEAF) Grant, and as a Health Policy Consultant for Public Health Advocates.

Throughout her career, Jackie has encouraged students to become active in promoting social justice, animal welfare, and environmental protection. After initiating the formation of Students for Public Health Advocacy, Jackie quickly made national headlines for innovative work in children’s health policy.

Jackie has been featured on the CBS Evening News, CNN, NPR, and TIME Magazine - and was the subject of the PBS documentary Tipping the Scale: an in-depth investigation of the childhood obesity epidemic. She is also the author of many compelling OpEds in media outlets nationwide.

Jackie and her former students have been credited with providing the grassroots activism that led to the unanimous 7-0 LAUSD School Board Vote to end the sale of soda during school hours on all LAUSD school sites. This strategic success provided an impetus and foundation for elected officials to author and pass state laws eliminating the sale of soda from all public schools in the state of California.

Jackie Day received the Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year Award and is also the recipient of the Healthy School Hero Award, presented to her by the National Education Association at the United States Healthy School Summit in Washington D.C.

At the state level, Day was appointed to serve as Co-Chair of the California State Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness. California Project LEAN, and the California State PTA have also honored Jackie for her teaching excellence and activism. As a result of her successful advocacy work, Jackie was also selected to serve as a Health Policy Consultant for the Kaiser funded Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) campaign.

Jackie has been a vegetarian since 1977 and vegan since 1987 ~ over 34 years. She is happily married and enjoys spending her free time hiking, cooking, riding her bicycle, exploring botanical gardens, playing with animals and watching birds and bugs.