Debra Bianco was born and raised as the youngest of four in Westchester, New York. At the age of seventeen, Debra opened the first of her five businesses in New York. For seven years, she owned an art studio and taught ceramics and pottery. During this time, she also opened a clothing boutique called The Front End Boutique in Pelham, New York.
Debra branched out to start another business enterprise, and started and operated a nail salon inside a New York health club. The success of the nail salon led Debra to expand the salon into a full-service unisex hair salon - the first to be inside a New York health club.
After eleven years of managing three shifts from six in the morning to midnight at the salon, she needed a change of pace, so she moved to Eastchester, New York. She rented the top floor of a building and remodeled the large penthouse to accommodate a luxurious full-service day spa.
Debra's mother used to tell her, "Don't walk through life saying 'What if!' - if you want to do something, and you really believe in it, go for it. I don't want you sitting in a rocking chair when you’re old saying, 'What if?'" So after her mother passed away, Debra took time off to visit California. She fell in love with California's sunsets, climates, and wildlife, and decided to move to Malibu.
Inspired by California's culture and wanting to make a contribution to the environment, she co-founded the nonprofit organization The Cornucopia Foundation in 1998. With The Cornucopia Foundation, Debra and her colleagues aimed to contribute to the City of Malibu by teaching and promoting environmental sustainability.
Soon after founding her nonprofit, Debra knew that she would need to create revenue to sustain The Cornucopia Foundation's efforts, and do it in an environmentally conscious way. She immediately recognized a pressing need in Malibu: the need for a weekly farmers' market.
For twenty years before she arrived, Malibu residents had expressed a desire for a market, but the local merchants resisted due to worries about competition. She remembered her grandmother's love of fresh vegetables and distrust of supermarkets and her mother's made-from-scratch meals, and decided to pursue opening the farmers' market.
Debra worked with local Malibu merchants to understand their concerns and find a way to make the market work well for the entire community. She initiated a compromise to let local merchants be the first to come to the market and promote their businesses. The local merchants supported the compromise, and 75 of them signed endorsements to support Cornucopia running a farmers' market in Malibu.
In 2000, Debra and Cornucopia opened the first Malibu Farmers' Market to great acclaim. With charitable contributions and proceeds from the market, she leased and developed a piece of property on Morningview Drive behind Malibu High School. She wanted to share her admiration and respect of nature she acquired through taking hikes in Malibu's canyons and walking on Malibu's beautiful beaches. Sharing this knowledge with students would give them an opportunity to discover nature early in life and teach them to give back.
The property became Cornucopia's Environmental Learning Center, and Debra helped start one of the first environmental classes to run during school hours. The Environmental Center continues to accommodate classes and other local Malibu events.
The farmers' market was closed down in 2005 due to an error in the zone text amendment, but Debra and Cornucopia used this time to improve the Environmental Learning Center. They discovered and restored a creek on the property, planted native gardens, and added an outdoor classroom.
As president of Cornucopia, Debra led a difficult five-year campaign to re-open the farmers' market. Finally, on April 25, 2010, the market re-opened and runs every Sunday year-round.
Debra is currently still the President of The Cornucopia Foundation, and now leases an orchard, Malibu Canyon Orchards, in the mountains of Malibu.
