Student Profile: Kadin Kessler, MPP Class of 2026

Before discovering his passion for international relations—which eventually led him towards public policy—Kadin Kessler, MPP Class of 2026, was a professional chef. "I’ve gotten to experience the world through food, and seeing how people feed each other was one of the most compassionate, kind, and insightful ways for me to see how people live their lives.”

Kessler, who grew up in Arkansas, began cooking professionally during high school and decided to pursue cooking at Johnson and Wales in Rhode Island after graduation. There, he immersed himself in curricular and extracurricular opportunities, eventually working in the school’s culinary library, as a private chef, and in a 4-star hotel.

“I built some fantastic relationships with the chefs I worked with and was financially secure, but when COVID hit—halfway through my second year—I realized I was burning out.”

Although Kessler said it was hard to leave the cooking industry, he took time to take stock of where he was and what he wanted to do. He eventually decided to go back to school—this time, to DePaul University in Chicago—where he discovered his passion for international relations. “Although I stepped away from a professional cooking career, it was the connection that food brought with other people—and allowing for a world where this connection can be shared—that I see underpinning my interest in international relations and, by extension, public policy.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kessler’s interest in food as an ideal space for cultural exchange also informs how he views effective diplomacy and public policy in general. "I've always been a big advocate for internationalism. Soft power—building connections and developing understandings of how governments will interact, even on a cultural level—is vital. Using soft power instead of hard power in service of international diplomacy and politics is crucial for successful interactions on the global stage.”