Elaine M. Power is an assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queens University in Kingston (Ontario, Canada), where she teaches students, and does research about the interactions between poverty, food and health. She was born in 1961, and grew up in a working class family in Cape Breton (Nova Scotia, Canada). She was the first in her extended family on her fathers side to attend university, and only the second on her mothers side. She earned a B.A. (sociology) from Mount Saint Vincent University; a B.Sc. (biochemistry) from the University of Ottawa; a M.Sc. (applied human nutrition) from the University of Guelph; and a Ph.D. (public health sciences) from the University of Toronto.

Elaine has worked as a dietitian in Port aux Basques (Newfoundland, Canada), Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), and in the HIV/AIDS clinic at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto. Her doctoral research examined how single mothers living on social assistance in a small Nova Scotia town maintained their dignity in a dehumanizing social services system. Elaine is very excited about making her first documentary film, and the possibilities of this medium to promote social justice for those living in poverty in Canada. Elaine is the happy and proud mother of Claire Stewart (b. 2006).