The New York State Senate has honored Tashara M. Leak, associate professor and associate dean of Cornell Human Ecology in New York City, College of Human Ecology (CHE), as a 2025 Woman of Distinction. The award honors women who have made outstanding contributions to their local communities; each senator selects an honoree from their respective district.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, J.D. ’16, of the 20th state Senate district, which includes parts of Brooklyn, selected Leak for her efforts to improve the diet, health and overall well-being of adolescents. As a nutrition scientist and registered dietitian, she works to ensure that families in low-income homes and at risk for chronic diseases have the education and resources they need to live healthy lives.

“A lot of my work is about increasing access to healthy food, in New York City and in upstate New York,” Leak said. “I mostly work with adolescents, who are change agents in low-resource households. Often these adolescents are ‘adultified’ and drive household food choices.”

Recognizing that health behaviors are often established during childhood, Leak creates opportunities for young people to improve their health and well-being. She and her team developed the Advanced Cooking Education 4-H After School Club, which provides students at Title I-funded New York City middle schools mindfulness exercises, nutrition lessons, exposure to careers in food and nutrition, and groceries to prepare culturally diverse plant-based meals at home.

“I never say to adolescents, ‘Don't eat unhealthy foods.’ They don’t like to be restricted. Instead I focus on encouraging them to eat more of the healthy foods they already enjoy,” Leak said. “Frequently, with young people, there’s a lack of awareness. It’s also important that they know that they don’t have to abandon their cultural food norms to be healthy.”

She and her team also created the Black Girls for Wellness program, which provides dance classes, nutrition lessons and groceries to prepare healthy meals to Black female teens at risk for Type 2 diabetes who are patients from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.  Additionally, Leak co-founded Cornell’s Action Research Collaborative, which provides opportunities for researchers, policymakers and community partners to collaborate on pressing issues across New York state.

In recognition of her work to address food insecurity and health inequities across New York state, Leak received the White House Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from then-President Joe Biden in January.

Of the Woman of Distinction award, now in its 27th year, Leak said, “We are in an era of firsts for women. We forget that in a lot of spaces – Cornell just had one of its first woman presidents. This is an amazing opportunity to pause and recognize that this award is specific to women. We need to rally in these challenging times.”

The last time a Cornell faculty member was honored with this distinction was in 2018, when Kathryn Boor ’80, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received the award.