We are so proud of the continued success of the Rock the New Food Pyramid Podcast! If you've been following our ongoing journey to decode the complexities of the modern food industry through the lens of NOVA classifications, this show is exactly what you need.
To celebrate our incredible community, we wanted to formally re-introduce you to the dynamic duo who guide you through every single episode: Maya Rivera and Derek Cole.
Maya Rivera: The Insider Mom
Maya brings a perspective to the table that is incredibly sharp, highly credentialed, and unrelentingly real. As a 38-year-old Marketing Director for a Regional Healthcare System, Maya has spent her entire career actively crafting campaigns designed to encourage healthier behavior.
She knows exactly how health information gets packaged, sold, and sometimes manipulated by the industry. This insider knowledge gives her a critical eye for recognizing when "healthy eating" marketing is genuinely helpful — and when it's just a tactic to push ultra-processed foods.
But Maya isn't just an insider; she represents the exact struggle so many of us face every day. She is married to a high school soccer coach and is the mother of three incredibly active kids: Lucia (16, a varsity swimmer), Marco (12), and Sofia (8). Running a five-person household on two salaries with a non-stop extracurricular schedule means Maya has to be intensely strategic about every dollar she spends and every hour she allocates.
Why You'll Love Hearing From Maya
Maya lives at the exact intersection of healthcare messaging and real family life. While her marketing brain is constantly asking, "Why does this tactic work?", her mom brain is asking the more important question: "But can I actually do this on a Tuesday night?"
She is a storyteller by trade, translating complex nutritional ideas into language that lands with regular people. She is warm, relatable, and the type of friend who researches absolutely everything just to give you the honest rundown. Best of all? She laughs at herself. Maya isn't here to be an aspirational wellness guru; she is genuinely real.
When Dr. Seuzz gets deep into the science of food processing, Maya is the one who grounds the conversation back in reality by asking the golden question: "Okay, but what does this actually mean at dinnertime?"
Derek Cole: The Performance Skeptic
If Maya is the marketing insider, Derek is the boots-on-the-ground realist. At 41 years old, Derek is a High School Athletic Director and former athlete who views nutrition entirely through the lens of performance.
Married to a middle school math teacher, Derek's life revolves around sports. Between raising two active kids — Jordan (15, track and football) and Avery (10, soccer) — and coaching youth flag football on the weekends, his schedule is packed. Derek knows firsthand what it takes to fuel young athletes without a lot of excess time or a massive grocery budget.
As an Athletic Director, Derek manages coaches, budgets, and the overall health culture of his school's athletic programs. He sees precisely what kids are ripping open in the locker room before a game and exactly how that ultra-processed junk impacts their performance, focus, and recovery on the field.
Why You'll Love Hearing From Derek
Derek didn't always get it right. He is a self-described "reluctant convert" who grew up fueling himself on fast food and later had to unlearn those habits the hard way. This makes him incredibly relatable — and the perfect foil to Maya's insider expertise.
He is a data-driven skeptic. Before he changes a habit, you need to show him the science. He brings major "prove it to me" energy to every episode, ensuring that no topic sounds too clean or too easy without being thoroughly vetted. Derek's straight-talking style means he frequently asks the bold questions everyone else is thinking but is too afraid to say out loud.
"I tell my athletes that what you put in the tank determines what you get on the field," Derek says. "I just wish someone had told me that when I was 16 pounding Mountain Dew before practice."
Are you ready to change the way you see food?
Catch up on all the latest episodes of the Rock the New Food Pyramid Podcast today!