Our Team

Board-certified in Holistic Nutrition, Carrie Bonfitto, NC, BCHN is a Los Angeles-based cooking instructor & health coach. Along with a Nutrition Counseling degree from Bauman College, and a Digestive Mastery Certificate from the Institute of Nutritional Endocrinology, she did her culinary training at the New School of Cooking in Culver City, CA. Chef Carrie published her first cookbook, What to Cook, Why to Eat It, in late 2021. Her recipes and healthy eating advice have been published in Parade, Better Nutrition, First Time Parent, Pasadena Magazine, Thrive Global, Authority Magazine and SheFinds.

What are you most excited about/looking forward to in working at Bauman College?
I’m extremely excited to be interacting and learning from a diverse group of students. Food is so much more than nutrition. It’s enjoyment, love, celebration, and history. When we are able to share our stories and our food with each other we grow and connect. This connection with the students is what I’m looking forward to the most.

What do you plan to contribute?
I plan to share my real-world experience of how I used my culinary skills and nutrition training to build my business and heal my clients.

How has culinary arts and/or holistic nutrition impacted your life?
After years of working in the television industry and developing an undiagnosable chronic condition, I felt lost. I decided to take my health into my own hands. Wanting to know more about how what I ate impacted me I was drawn first to culinary school, then to get my board certification in holistic nutrition, and finally to a career change into wellness education and cooking instruction. These disciplines have completely changed my life for the better. I now love what I do and know what it means to feel good.

What do you love to do in your “free time”?
In my free time, I enjoy hiking with my dogs and coaching my son’s little league team.

Diane is a Bauman College nutrition consultant and has a B.A. in anthropology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has been a Bauman College faculty member since 2005 and an online program instructor since 2007. In that time, she has successfully ushered many enthusiastic students through the Nutrition Consultant Program. She has also taught nutrition at Northern California Functional Restoration Program, a pain management clinic. Diane has a lifelong interest in health and wellness with an emphasis on stress reduction and cardiovascular health.

Lizette is a certified nutrition consultant, chef, baker, certified culinary nutrition instructor, cookbook author and professional recipe developer. She has taught and coached aspiring holistic chefs at Bauman College since 2005, co-authored The Flavors of Health Cookbook with founder and president, Ed Bauman Ph.D. and developed many supplemental health and wellness programs produced by the school including Nutrition Essentials for Everyone as well as a series of culinary workshops for nutrition consultants. In addition to her work with Bauman College, Lizette coaches and guides students training to be Culinary Nutrition Experts at the Academy of Culinary Nutrition.

As a passionate chef and baker for more than 30 years, Lizette endeavors to share her knowledge of cooking healthfully with others. She developed a series of plant-rich cooking demos and classes for doctors in the Physicians Wellness program at Kaiser Permanente, which is now available for the nursing and administrative staff as well with much success. Lizette regularly offers healthy cooking demonstrations and classes to corporations, health and wellness organizations and private groups and has recently shifted to teaching all of her classes and workshops online through her business Marx Culinary.

Melissa is a Bauman College certified Holistic Chef and holds a B.A. in psychology from Whitman College. Since graduating from Bauman in 2019, she has since founded her business, My Singing Vegetables, providing plant-based personal chef services in the San Francisco Bay Area, along with virtual cooking classes for corporate teams and communities, and recipe development for her local farmers’ market. She has a passion for all things vegetables and finds joy in her experiments with fermentation. She loves to nurture enthusiasm for cooking and holistic wellness in the students she works with.

Laura holds a B.S. in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University and was a Senior Research Associate in the Lipoprotein Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Laura worked as an electron microscopist from 1982 until 2000. She is a Bauman College Certified Nutrition Consultant, a member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals, and is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition®. Laura has been an instructor at Bauman College since 2000. She is the author of Veggiewoman’s Guide to Health; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free Eating and The Whole Food Guide to Overcoming Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Laura has a private practice at the Labrys Healthcare Circle in Oakland, CA.

Tiffany is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and holds an M.B.A. in Business Management and a B.S. in Finance both from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. After 10 years as the owner and CEO of Opulence Group, an accounting business that helped companies to grow through better management of their finances, Tiffany decided to pursue her passion for health and nutrition by enrolling at Bauman College. After graduating from Bauman College with honors, she transitioned full time into the health and nutrition field. Prior to returning to Bauman College as an instructor, Tiffany served as the Regional Director of Community Health for the YMCA of the East Bay, where she managed healthy lifestyle programs, including the National Diabetes Prevention Program and programs focused on childhood/family obesity intervention. Tiffany also hired Bauman alumni to work as Lifestyle Coaches in the YMCA’s National Diabetes Prevention Program. Tiffany enjoys helping others to reach their health goals and often facilitates workshops and small groups in nutrition, with an emphasis on blood sugar regulation and healthy lifestyle management. Tiffany resides in Concord, CA with her husband and daughter and is a native of Milwaukee, WI.

Susan has a B.A. in psychology from Sacramento State University and has been teaching and counseling in the field of holistic health and nutrition since 1989. She is a certified nutrition consultant from Bauman College and has been an instructor at Bauman since 2006. Her studies in psychology included an emphasis on nutrition and behavior modification. In her nutrition practice, she emphasizes the whole person, working on all aspects of their life experience to encourage lasting change and well-being. Susan has provided hundreds of clients from diverse backgrounds with individualized nutritional support.

Beverley is a Bauman College certified nutrition consultant and has a PhD in Microbiology & Immunology from UWO, Canada. After completing her PhD, she worked as a biotech scientist for over 10 years until her daughter started having strange reactions that doctors (and all of her immunology training) couldn’t figure out, prompting her to leave biotech and pursue nutrition. Since then, she helps others to understand their reactions. Bev has a lifelong interest in everything health and wellness but specializes in histamine intolerance. She started her own holistic nutrition business, Rider Health, 10 years ago and published a histamine intolerance book called, Hives, headache and heartburn: Heal your histamine hangover. She currently lives in San Jose, California. When she’s not nutrition-ing, she can be found wrangling foster kittens or hiking her favorite trails with her daughter and pup.

Danielle is a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist and a Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist. She holds a M.S. in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport and a B.A. in Anthropology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her fascination with nutrition began in Hanoi, Vietnam during a study abroad program titled “Food Anthropology” during her undergraduate career. In Vietnam, she was exposed to the interplay of food, culture, politics, and economics. Since then, Danielle has worked privately with nutrition clients of various ages and demographics to better their health and find balance in their diets. Danielle also works as an independent writer for naturopathic doctors and supplement companies to educate audiences on general nutrition.

Sara is a Bauman College certified Holistic Chef and certified Nutrition Consultant. She credits her love of food and drinks to her first job waiting tables right after high school, which grew to nearly 20 years of serving and bartending experience. Sara has also worked as a practitioner at Pharmaca and currently volunteers for a non-profit cooking school in SF. In 2019, she opened her private practice in holistic nutrition, and is now expanding her business to include culinary and beverage training workshops.

What are you most excited about/looking forward to in working at Bauman College?
I’m looking forward to supporting and connecting with students and continuing to cook and learn alongside everyone – our chef instructors are amazing!

How has culinary arts and/or holistic nutrition impacted your life?
It has been immensely empowering to gain the knowledge and skills taught in both the Holistic Chef and Nutrition Consultant programs at Bauman. I’ve been able to forge my own path to healing and educate family and anyone else who wants to learn.

What do you love to do in your “free time”?
I usually listen to hip hop while I’m cooking or making herbal remedies and libations. Beach time and puppy cuddles are also staples in my life!

Cooking has always been a great passion for Martina, and with parents who taught and encouraged her to explore her love of cuisine, she began her culinary education at a young age. Making pies and ravioli with her father and rolling dolmades and Swedish meatballs with her mother encouraged her to explore her love of cooking for and with others.

After attending Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, Oregon. Martina began working in kitchens in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and for over a decade she’s been cultivating her skills in North Carolina as first a Pastry Chef and then Executive Chef.

She’s developed relationships with local charities by participating in events such as Sweet Night Out with the Duke Cancer Center, A Tasteful Affair with the Ronald McDonald House, Farm to Fork with The Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and Pepperfest with Abundance NC. She has also been featured in Chapel Hill Magazine and Taste for the desserts and menus she created.

Anita holds a bachelors degree in electronic engineering and a masters in business administration. Her personal journey brought her to Bauman College to study nutrition in 2017. Anita graduated from Bauman College in 2019 as a certified nutrition consultant, and is a member of, and board certified by, the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. She is currently pursuing her masters in nutrition and education from Hawthorn University. She is passionate about creating an awareness in people around her about nutrition and well being. Anita has a private practice in Duvall, WA.

Suzanne is a graduate of the Bauman College Nutrition Consultant program, has teaching certifications in NIA and Music Together, has a Bachelors of Music in performance as a horn player from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Masters of Music from the Cincinnati Conservatory. She started exploring holistic health in the 1980s, discovering the healing power of food, movement, stress reduction, and community, to heal her digestive issues and other health conditions, and also to help her feel her best on stage as a performer. Suzanne waited many years to do the Bauman NC program, and finally, during the 2020 shutdown, had open time and enthusiastically jumped in. Her message is that it’s never too late to follow a passion! She has a private practice both online and in person, seeing clients individually and leading workshops in nutrition and self-care, at nourishingvibrance.com.