Brian Clement








I run a small home bakery. My focus is on ingredient-driven food that nourishes my neighbors, supports local growers and artists, and fosters climate resilience. Previously, I ran farmers market outposts for Midnite Bagel, worked parties for WIRED and Vanity Fair, and collaborated with Leif Hedendal on private events for high net-worth clients, public figures, and brand activations. I have served in restaurants in northern New Mexico, New York City, San Francisco, and western Massachusetts, including Lilia, Tartine Manufactory, and Range, the first restaurant in the Mission District to hold a Michelin Star. As an intern with the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive, I organized a regional conference for student-workers in Brooklyn and Amherst. What launched this journey was co-managing a natural foods co-op in college.

My lifelong fascination is with language. I studied literature and psychoanalysis at UMass Amherst and The New School, then philosophy at The European Graduate School. Film, really, has brought these interests together. I wrote for the Seattle International Film Festival and worked in artist relations and events at Frameline and Telluride. My current writing project considers visual perception and knowing in contemporary cinema. Cognitive science and the insights of psychoanalysis rarely meet, but together can expand our appreciation for this medium with an exceptionally rich capacity to communicate – both with and beyond words.

For four years, I worked in a social psychology lab, where I coordinated a clinical trial on generative AI in expressive arts therapy. As a counselor with a small team at a social services agency in California, I established a free counseling program for low-income people. I’ve slept on trains and run half marathons; life has always felt eventful.

I am of Irish heritage and support boycott, divestment, and sanctions. I live with my Australian Shepherd in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.