Camille Tuason Mata is a Philippine-born American who has been studying food systems and sustainability since 2000, when she began her graduate studies in urban and regional planning at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She subsequently went on to complete a MA in social change and development at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia, in 2002 and a MA in liberal arts with a concentration in environmental studies at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, in 2009.