Tessa Lasswell

Tessa is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-Chapel Hill and is minoring in epidemiology. Her research interests include the effect food and nutrition policies have on weight stigma, as well as how policies and programs can be implemented more equitably to improve food environments. Her previous professional experiences include working as a study coordinator at the University of Minnesota on a SNAP evaluation study and as a nutritionist at the United States Department of Agriculture supporting both the WIC program and the development and implementation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Tessa is a registered dietitian and holds a master of public health nutrition from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a bachelor of arts from the College of Saint Benedict.

My “go-to” comfort food is… sweet potato/chickpea/peanut stew.

When I’m in a time crunch, I love to make… overnight oats for breakfast! A life hack that makes getting going in the morning easy and tasty.

Food I must have in my home is… Everything but the Bagel seasoning.

My favorite condiment is… a tie between pesto and honey mustard. Eaten together, though? Not so much.