Howdy, neighbors! I’m honored to introduce myself as the new Assistant Manager of the Midtown Farmers Market. My interests in food systems work are fueled by personal connections to food and farming and I am thrilled to share those passions with others through work with the Market. I was born and raised in a farming community in Southwestern Minnesota, where both of my sets of grandparents ran small dairy farms. I grew up chasing kittens through the milking parlors, playing hide-and-go-seek with cousins in the cornfields, and cooking and sharing homegrown meals with family and neighbors after long days of hard work.

Although a Minnesotan at heart, I’ve been away from home for a while. After finishing a BA in Spanish and International Relations at SCSU, I spent 5 years working in higher education – first as a bilingual academic advisor for an Iowa community college, and then as an EFL teacher and administrator for a university in Quito, Ecuador. I come to Minneapolis most recently from Denver, CO where I completed an MA in International Development at the University of Denver with concentrations in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security and Program Analysis and Evaluation. During my time there, I also applied my studies to work with a local food justice organization and as a grant writer and program evaluator of USDA-funded agricultural development projects in Latin America and Africa.

Food and a relationship with the land drive my work because they have shaped who I am and are central to my sense of community. While chatting with vendors and advisory council members at our spring vendor meeting, I felt that same sense of belonging. It felt warm. It felt welcoming. It felt like home. I’m happy to be here and look forward to connecting with you at the Market.