Debby Lee C.
Biography
Debby Lee Cohen is a the Founding Director of Cafeteria Culture (CafCu), Co-Director/Producer of CafCu's award winning movie, MICROPLASTIC MADNESS, a multi-disciplinary artist, and zero waste educator and activist. She led the Styrofoam Out of Schools campaign, which resulted in the elimination of a half billion plastic styrofoam trays per year from landfills, incinerators and students meals in New York City (NYC) and nine other large US urban school districts. She has been piloting innovative, zero waste/climate curriculum in NYC underserved schools since 2012 in partnership with the CafCu Team. The curriculum bridges citizen science and civic action with media production and the arts. She is dedicated to providing opportunities for youth to participate in civics and to create new narratives around climate justice.
Prior to Cafeteria Culture, Cohen worked 25 years as an art director, segment producer and consultant at HBO Family on many award winning shows, including SAVING MY TOMORROW and CLASSICAL BABY, and designed scenery, giant puppets, and animation for theater, opera, parades, film and television. In partnership with NYC school communities, Debby Lee received a Proclamation from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (2018) for her zero waste efforts and is a member of Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board.
Cohen is the recipient of film and puppetry awards from the US National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and the Jim Henson Foundation. In 2016, Cohen spoke at the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-17) about urban youth-led solutions to mitigate marine plastic pollution.