Melissa Breyer

Melissa Breyer

Writer

Education

Hunter College

F.I.T., State University of New York

Cornell University

Expertise

Food

Health

Nature

Design

Introduction

With a background in food, health, nature, and design, Melissa Breyer is an expert and author who has been writing about sustainability since 2001. 

Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times and National Geographic; she is the co-author of the best-selling, “Build Your Running Body” (The Experiment, 2014), and the award-winning “True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You” (National Geographic, 2009). 

In addition, she has developed hundreds of recipes for publication, is a widely published photographer, has run 10 marathons, and moonlights as a pastry chef.

Experience

Breyer began her digital career as the senior editor for Green Living at Care2 in 2007. Prior to that she worked in print, writing for magazines and editing books, including Chelsea Green’s “Little Green Guides.” She has been Treehugger’s editorial director since 2015.

She is the co-author of “Build Your Running Body” – which has been published in international editions around the world – and of which Runner’s World founder Bob Anderson said, “This is so good. Honestly, I think this is the best running book ever.” In 2014, she helped National Geographic as a contributing writer for their “Extreme Weather Survival Guide.” She is also the co-author of “True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You,” which won the Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook prize from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2010 at the Paris Cookbook Fair.

Selected Publications

  • “The Quiet Moments of Waitresses at Work” (The New York Times, 2017)
  • “Build Your Running Body” (The Experiment, 2014)
  • “Extreme Weather Survival Guide” (National Geographic, 2014)
  • “True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You” (National Geographic, 2009)
  • “Out of the Kitchen, Into the Field” (The New York Times Magazine, 2008)
  • “Little Green Guides” (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2007)


Education

Breyer holds a Bachelor of Arts in studio art from Hunter College. She also has a Masters of Arts in Museum Studies from F.I.T., State University of New York. For her graduate work she specialized in the history of applied arts, and specifically in the cultural relationship between nature and design. She was the winner of the National Education Foundation Award for Distinguished Scholar, the Dean’s Recognition Award, and was the program valedictorian. More recently she has earned a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University.

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