Meet the Team

 

• National Team

• Field Team

• Grassroots Leaders

• Steering Committee

• Advisory Board

• Partners

National Team

Anim Steel is the Director of National Programs at The Food Project (TFP). In Boston, TFP employs over 100 Boston-area teenagers from diverse backgrounds and grows over 250,000 pounds of produce.  In its national work, TFP works to build a strong youth movement for just and sustainable food systems. Anim holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. in Astrophysics and History from Williams College. Although his dreams of becoming an astronaut never came to fruition, he is more than happy spending countless hours working on bettering our food system.  He is also a fool for soccer and enjoys traveling back to Ghana, where he was born. <anim@realfoodchallenge.org>
 

Tim is a past Roots of Change Fellow who works as an education and research program specialist on social issues for the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) focusing on farm to institution, higher education, and regional food movements.  In addition to enjoying the delightful year-round bounty from the 25 acre CASFS farm, he finds solace in the company of committed colleagues and staff working to transform the food system!  Through CASFS Tim also coordinates the Sustainable Agrifood System Fellowship which works toward enhancing agrifood literacy and farm to institution efforts in California.  He also serves as UC Santa Cruz's campus Food Systems Working Group coordinator and advisor to campus farm to college efforts for the California Student Sustainability Coalition. From community food policy involvement to elevating the potential for farm to institution within higher education, Tim is a passionate advocate and resource for food based transformation.  <solseeker3@gmail.com>

David graduated from Brown University in December 2009, where he spent more time organizing with the Real Food Challenge than he did in class.  Coming from a Jewish household where issues of economic and racial justice were common dinner table discussions, David came to the world of food justice and sustainable agriculture in high school and hasn’t looked back.  On campus he helped start a student garden, a local distribution scheme for local produce, and a campaign to redirect over $1 million of school food dollars to “real food.”  Other things David feels passionately about: playing dress up, cheap Chinese food, participatory education, immigrants’ rights, and the color blue (sometimes orange). <david@realfoodchallenge.org>
 

 

Nina Mukherji

Director of Programs

 

Nina grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where she spent a lot of time exploring neighborhood parks and gardens all over the city. She has been organizing for social justice and environmental protection since then, and she found a home in the food justice movement, where she can work on both issues at once! Nina holds a B.A. in philosophy from Carleton College and an M.S. degree in conservation biology and sustainable development from the University of Wisconsin, where she wrote her master's thesis on urban agriculture. Before coming to Real Food Challenge, she worked for Boston Mobilization, training teenagers in community organizing and supporting them to run campaigns. In addition to organizing for food justice, Nina loves listening to live music and discussing philosophy-- preferably over a good Indian meal. <nina@realfoodchallenge.org>

 

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Regional Team

Emma is an exuberant newcomer to the Pacific Northwest. Originally from the tiny town of Lyme, NH, Emma has worked her way westward via Cornell University where she studied Development Sociology and Inequality (with assorted international detours) and is now happily settled in Seattle. Emma came to the Real Food Challenge through an interest in the intersection of cuisine and food culture; community development; and public health.  Because of its necessity and centrality, Emma believes that food and the food system – though challenging – offer unparalleled opportunity to positively impact communities by strengthening relationships, and improving human and environmental health. When she’s not musing about the food system, she enjoys dabbling in kitchen table tourism, stompin’ to bluegrass music, willing tomatoes to grow in Seattle’s climate, and planning impractical international food tours. <emma@realfoodchallenge.org>

As a 90’s child on the north shore of Chicago, Alex developed tastes for specific brands of processed foods and vehemently rejected other versions of the same dishes—beginning her life as a notoriously picky eater. Mac N Cheese was not Mac N Cheese unless the cheese came as powder in a packet. She preferred tomatoes from the grocery store to those from the garden and loved frozen green beans straight from the package. She ate fast food at least one a week. Although she spent a lot of time rejecting and accepting certain foods, she never thought about what she was REALLY eating, what factors affected her access to the food, who produced the food, or what it meant not to consider all the dynamic ways food functions in one’s life and connects one’s life with others. She needed to GET REAL! Her life was changed by a bit of reading, a switch to a vegan lifestyle, and a new perspective on the place of food in society. As a sociology major at Villanova University concentrating in peace and justice, she discovered that many of the issues she had studied—disenfranchised communities, health deterioration, environmental degradation, abuse of animals, immigration policies, dynamics of power and privilege—could connect under the umbrella of food justice and food policy. Drawing on her experiences organizing students at Villanova and tackling policy work as a grassroots organizing intern at Food & Water Watch, she is beyond thrilled to actively engage her passion and ignite change through her work as a Northwest Regional Field Organizer! <alex@realfoodchallenge.org>

A transplant from Bangalore, India, Janani self-identifies as "intense." She also identifies as a queer South Asian, a vegan, a runner, and a radical.  Janani is double majoring in Atmosphere/Energy Engineering and Feminist Studies (with a concentration in food), and pursuing a master's in engineering as well.  Working with Stanford's Sustainable Food Program and as the student government Chair of Food, she strives for a coalitional food movement rooted in anti-racism and anti-classism.  In her free-est time she likes to vogue (ask her about it), slam (ask about that too), climb fruit trees, and liberate. <janani@realfoodchallenge.org>

Originally from Austin, Texas, Caitlin is currently studying Ecological Design and Food Justice in the Environmental Analysis program at the Claremont Colleges. She is passionate about restoring communities through permaculture and horticultural therapy. In her down time, you can find her working in the campus garden, cycling, hiking, reading, cooking up a storm, and sharing meals with others. Her power herb is rosemary, her spirit vegetable is the radish, and her favorite fruit is the glorious fig. <caitlin@realfoodchallenge.org>

Katie Blanchard, Midwest Coordinator & Alumni Network Coordinator

 

Katie Blanchard graduated 2010 from Carleton College, out on the prairie-of-yore of Northfield, Minnesota. At Carleton, she studied Human Ecology and spent the bulk of her time re-establishing the Carleton Student Organic Farm as a vital part of the non-chemical-industrial agricultural landscape of the area. She currently spends half her time supporting Midwestern students' amazing efforts for real food purchasing on their campuses, and the other half supporting new immigrant farmers who are producing more & more of that food. Katie loves most things about the Midwest and especially long bike rides through all its cornfields. <katie@realfoodchallenge.com>

 

Growing up in rural Iowa, food and farming were basic parts of life, and Carmen learned a lot about corn, pigs, and what to cook for potlucks in churches. As her curiosity about the world outside of Solon, Iowa grew, so did her interest in social justice and peace. This lead her to Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana where she majored in Peace and Global Studies and Spanish. While living at the Earlham student-operated Miller Farm, she was able to see the connection between her interest in peace studies and her passion for food and farming. She now feels passionately about spreading the Real Food Challenge all over the Midwest, where so much food is grown. She also loves, goats, dancing, Indonesian Gamelan music, and making pie. Sometime this fall or winter she will be moving to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, and is looking forward to bringing RFC to Appalachia as well! <carmen@realfoodchallenge.org>

Kimberly Roland is a native Phoenician but decided to leave the beautiful state of Arizona to explore a new region of the United States during her college years.  This quest has taken her to the Midwest, more specifically South Bend, Indiana where she is a senior at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame.  Kimberly's passion for cooking and all things food has existed since she was a child. She aspired to be a chef her entire life, and then in high school her eyes were opened up to the world of politics and international relations as she traveled abroad and served on the Governor's Youth Commission.  She decided to affectionately put culinary school on the back burner and pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Humanistic studies, with a minor in Italian.  Having spent her sophomore year living and studying in Rome, Kimberly's passion for food and interest in food justice and sustainability piqued. She is a passionate proponent of Terra Madre and everything the Slow Food movement stands for. Her dream job is to work for the United Nations World Food Program in Rome, Italy, and to pursue graduate studies in government or law. In the meantime she encourages all of you to get pumped about bringing more real food to your campus, and implores you to play Free Rice whenever you are bored. Finally, she would like to remind you: Midwest=The BEST! <kimberly@realfoodchallenge.org>

Raised in the cypress swamps of south Louisiana, Matt Wyatt is a dork for activism and all-things nature.  While much of his time is split between studying ecology at Louisiana State University and organizing with other college youth, he also is known to dabble in photography, bicycle maintenance, falconry, kayaking, Zen Buddhism, and swing dancing.  His progression as an organizer for his campus environmental group, Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), to his state network and nationally with the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) led him to the Real Food Challenge, focusing on how to better empower and support rising activists to build a stronger food movement throughout the southeast.  To achieve this goal, he puts lots of faith in the deep south's strong food culture and endless ice-breaker games and energizers, for example, sweet potato pancakes and 'ninja,' respectively. <matt@realfoodchallenge.org>

A tarheel born and bred, Sarah looks back to her grandmother's vegetable garden as her first foray into food activism. Now, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in global studies and political science, Sarah goes back to those roots by working in a community garden for low-wage university workers, making friends with people who cook, and talking about food as fundamental to life. During her summers, she spends as much time outdoors teaching kids to rockclimb. Her dream job would be to reform USAID and promote diplomacy through sustainable agriculture. She's particularly interested by international food policy, community food identities, and urban agriculture. If she has any free time, she'd be found drawing mental maps, doing yoga/biking, cooking with bay leaves, trying to speak French, or drinking copious amounts of (locally roasted, fair-trade) coffee. <sarah@realfoodchallenge.org>
 

Growing up in Maryland, just outside of the nation's capital, Jon got involved in student anti-war activism early in high school, and then branched out into campus politics around issues of budget cuts and access to higher education. After years of planning protests of all sorts, some more successful than others, he got tired of channeling all that anger and started looking for ways to incorporate growth and healing into his organizing work. Luckily, he found the Real Food Challenge just at the right time. He graduated from the University of Maryland – College Park this past May with a worthless liberal arts degree, but really enjoyed the rooftop gardening opportunities the school provided. Jon loves kale, roasted root vegetables, polenta, campaign strategy, mountains, and dignified outrage. If you're in the Mid-Atlantic and need some support in encouraging your campus to Get Real, don't hesitate to get in touch. <jon@realfoodchallenge.org>

NORTHEAST

 Jesse Yurow, Northeast Field Organizer

Jesse is a proud native of the Chesapeake bioregion.  As a student activist/organizer at the University of Maryland, College Park, he fought to save the trees, democratize the University, abolish landlords, and leverage the University to change the food system. Somehow between founding a student housing co-operative and coordinating an on campus urban farm, Jesse earned a bachelor’s degree in ecological design.  Now, from his new home base in the Charles River Watershed, Jesse is excited to empower students in the Northeast to embrace their inner rock star-super hero and build power to create a just and sustainable food system.  Apart from subverting the dominant paradigms of our food system, Jesse enjoys irreverent skewering of pop culture, bicycle-powered everything, and fermenting the revolution. <jesse@realfoodchallenge.org>

Erin O’Donnell, Northeast Field Organizer

Wesleyan University

Originally from New York City, Erin grew up tending cherry tomatoes and snap peas in the window-boxes of her family’s tiny apartment, and she’s has been hooked on food ever since.  Now a fourth-year student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, Erin studies Environmental Science and Latin American Studies.  When not working with RFC, she can be found caring for the veggies at Wesleyan’s Long Lane Farm, transforming fossil-fuel-intensive grass into food-producing meadows and orchards with Wesleyan’s WILDWes, and biking around town.  In addition to her passion for making real food an affordable reality for all, Erin’s other interests include: off-the-grid architecture, regenerative permaculture design, bicyclist rights and the complete streets movement, and the future of cooperative urban homesteading! <erin@realfoodchallenge.org>

Grassroots Leaders

We are Keston Geistwalker, Megan Slavish, Natalie Ross, and Matt Walthius and we are the RFC leaders of Beloit College! Coming from the Midwest and Northeast, we have worked on farms, opened bakery businesses, and are all in a food Co-op at our school. But we are not nearly the whole movement. We are supported by every member of all of our co-ops and our Slow Food club, most of whom volunteer to assist and lead every chance they can. We started with the RFC in spring of 2011 and are still early in our movment, but have big plans. We all love food, so we want the tastiest, healthiest, realest food we can find.

Drew University, Madison, NJ

Drew University’s Students for Sustainable Food (SFSF) is a relatively new group working towards improving the dining hall by increasing its use of fairly traded, humane, organic, and local ingredients on campus. We all share a concern for the environment and what our food system is doing to it, and hope to enact changes on campus to reflect a more sustainable and responsible relationship with our food. Fair trade coffee, more local produce, and humane meat products are just a few of our goals; a student garden is already under way and we would love to see that produce incorporated into the dining hall as well! We’re really excited to be a part of RFC’s Grassroots Leaders Project and can’t wait to work with everyone!

Duke University, Durham, NC

The Duke University Real Food Campaign works through the Environmental Alliance, the largest student-run environmental organization on campus, and in addition to emphasizing the importance of real food for environmental sustainability, we are also interested in issues of health and social justice. Ben Soltoff, class of 2012, coordinates the campaign along with a core group of dedicated students. Last year, we set up the Real Food Calculator for the Great Hall, a Bon Appetit-operated eatery that is one of the most popular dining locations on campus. This year, we are working to build a coalition of food-related groups at Duke. Our goal for the year is to have the administration officially commit to increasing the amount of real food available in Duke’s eateries. We are very excited to be part of the Grassroots Leaders Project because it will allow us to connect to a network of other students working on similar goals around the country.

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Although she grew up with cornfields across the street from her school in Dayton, Ohio, Raychel Santo was not exposed to much of the sustainable food movement until the very end of high school. As she voraciously read and watched every food- and nutrition-related piece she could get her hands on, she stumbled into a passion that would fill her hunger for knowledge, justice, and a purpose in life. Upon entering her freshman year at Johns Hopkins last fall, she joined forces with some student gardeners there to create Real Food Hopkins, a chapter of the national RFC. Studying Public Health and Global Environmental Change and Sustainability at Hopkins, and currently a student researcher at the Center for a Livable Future, Raychel plans to earn a PhD and focus her career on the connection between diet, disease, and the environment. In her free time, she enjoys reading food blogs, playing cards, practicing yoga, walking (really) fast, and shocking others with her ginormous plates of roasted brussels sprouts, butternut squash, and kale chips!

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

We are students in Tuscaloosa, AL who want to see change on our great campus. Brett Hannan and Melissa Clem lead the way with a nutrition background. Olivia helps with the environmental issues. Emily, Yuliya, and Melissa bring initiative as freshmen. Many more students bring passion to our cause. Together, we are getting our campaign underway to get local, organic food in our dining halls. By introducing "real food", we hope to spread our love of healthy, environmentally-friendly food to fellow students and faculty, as well as spark an interest in our community garden and Farmer's Market. So far Aramark seems willing to work with us towards these goals. Ultimately, we aspire to connect with our community through delicious food!

University of Georgia, Athens, GA

At the University of Georgia, the student organization Real Food UGA was formed in March 2011 from the fervor generated at the 2011 Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit. We are composed of a spectrum of different studies and interests, from Ecology to Public Health to English and from passion for food justice to simply cooking and enjoying locally sourced meals. In order to counter past administrative resistance, this year we will be focusing on demonstrating the wide spectrum of student support via photo campaigns as well as a student body survey. Additionally, we have plans to partner with the student community garden, UGArden, the UGA Campus Kitchen, and the Athens area nonprofit PLACE for “A Night at the Garden,” a fundraiser that will include garden tours, a bluegrass band, a real food dinner, and twinkly lights at dusk. Simultaneously, we will have two UGA Food Services liaisons that will maintain a positive and cooperative relationship with dining services in order to achieve our 2011-2012 goal of the incorporation of one real food into our on-campus dining facilities. Our favorite regional foods are candied pecans and of course, fresh Georgia peaches, y’all.

University of Minnesota-Morris, Morris, MN

The University of Minnesota, Morris, team consists of Deon Haider, Sienna Nesser, and Heidi Eger, and we are proud to include ourselves in the thriving foodlum community of Morris. We see much potential for real food expansion in this largely agricultural area. Sienna currently works for the Morris Healthy Eating Initiative and rhapsodizes to anyone who will listen about the joys and wonders of the nitrogen cycle. Heidi spent her summer as a CURE intern canoeing down Minnesota rivers and encouraging dialog, which includes farmers, about the water pollution associated with conventional agriculture. Deon immersed herself in the joys of real food this summer by gardening, exploring different farmers markets, cooking, and learning to can. All three of us are excited to be working with the Real Food Challenge and to bring more sustainable food options to the Morris community.

University of Vermont, Burlington, VT

The Grassroots Leadership team at the University of Vermont consists of three Junior students (Maria, Katie, and Sebastian) who are all amped up and ready to carry out the work of the Real Food Challenge on their campus in Burlington. As leaders of UVM’s chapter of Slow Food USA these students are working to build up their campaign by mobilizing fellow students and community members to confront the current barriers to attaining good, clean, and fair food while also advocating against the loss of consumer rights and product quality that result from today’s decentralized mainstream food system. We are excited about Real Food because it promises to reconnect consumers with the food they eat, enliven a devoid food culture, and enhance the health of our nation in every imaginable facet. Other things this trio really digs: cooking with others, guerrilla gardening, road tripping, forming meaningful connections, Shelburne Farms cheese, terroir and public radio.

University of Washington-Seattle, Seattle, WA

Real Food Challenge at UW has been around for about a year and we work to increase students’ awareness of the campus food system, empowering them to get vocal about food. It’s time to get more locally sourced, environmentally friendly, humane and socially just foods into our eateries right here on campus. We are interested in continuing work between Housing and Food Services (we are self-operated) to pursue product victories and dining hall campaigns such as Meatless Mondays that will secure us a higher Real Food percentage by the end of the academic year. To build momentum, establish a real reputation on campus, and ensure a long-term supportive base, we are striving to form solid relationships with other student groups on our campus focused on issues such as food production, animal rights, food worker justice, environmental sustainability, and nutrition and health.

Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

The Whitman Real Food Grassroots team, Genevieve, Julia, and Lauren, is excited to pursue their collective passion for food justice. Whitman students are lucky to be in an agricultural setting, where a quick bike ride to the golden wheat fields can inspire a whole new energy for making change. There is already a vibrant culture of food activism on campus: students have worked to establish a student-run organic garden, a Co-op that works hard to make local, sustainable food available to the community, and a group called Student Agriculture at Whitman, which promotes experiential learning about local, sustainably grown foods. Last year a group of students started the calculator audit process on our Bon Appetit dining halls. We are looking forward to furthering student interest in food justice by promoting awareness of food system injustice and working with Bon Appetit to serve more fair food.

Yale University, New Haven, CT

The Grassroots Leader Project from Yale University aims to promote real food on campus in symphony with advocating for better, more sustainable, and more accessible real food in the greater New Haven community. We believe that a successful real food change on campus will be achieved through partnership with our city. Our project centers around the first annual Food Day New Haven where we are planning events that bring together both our campus and our community through the celebration and advocacy for real food. We believe real food is essential to healthy people, healthy colleges, and healthy cities!

Stay tuned to learn more about the 17 Grassroots Leaders teams taking action across the country!

Steering Committee

Advisory Committee

Partners