I grew up in Wisconsin, where German food culture runs deep — bratwursts, butter burgers, cheese, and beer at every cookout. My mom is an incredible cook who made a home-cooked meal every single night, and I grew up right beside her making bread, soups, desserts, and traditional German dishes. She planted the seed for everything I do today.

In college, I watched Forks Over Knives — and it genuinely stopped me in my tracks. The research connecting diet to chronic disease was something I couldn’t unsee, especially studying Neurobiology and heading toward a career in medicine. I then found Dr. Michael Greger’s How Not to Die, which deepened my understanding of just how powerfully food shapes our long-term health. I made the shift, and never looked back.

Transitioning wasn’t seamless — culturally or culinarily. Learning to confidently tell family and friends I’d be skipping the brat at the cookout took time. And in the kitchen, I was completely self-taught: plenty of failed experiments before the recipes started to sing. My husband Zach deserves a medal for trying every single one — the good and the truly terrible.

In early 2022, I decided to stop keeping it all to myself. I launched Naturallie Plant-Based — a name that’s a play on my own, pronounced Natur-Allie — first on Instagram, then as a full website. What started as a passion project has grown into a community I couldn’t imagine my life without. Today I blend my clinical background as a PA-C with my love of cooking to create recipes and resources that are delicious, evidence-based, and built for real life.