Partner w A-dae Romero-Briones and Mariela Cedeño to work towards redistribution of land, capital and power to tribal communities, farmers of color, and folks working on food and land justice. Focus areas: * POC led collaboratives focused on food/land justice and governing/stewarding pools of grant and/or investment capital, such as The People’s Land Fund, EFOD collaborative, and LIFE | Open Letter group* Funder and investor organizing/support with groups like Ceres Trust and Justice Funders to move towards just transition investments* Bridge or facilitate integrated capital investments that can provide different examples or models of what can point towards more just and community centered investments

Connect w food system leaders taking steps to build local and regional food sovereignty, addressing urgent and systemic flaws in the food supply system, which, although most visible in times of crisis, were embedded in centuries old structural racism and colonization, initiated with the nation’s founding.https://www.castaneafellowship.org/castanea-fellows/fellows-2020/

Through Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service, engage with Stanford students, faculty, and staff; reflect and generate new ideas; dive deep into research; build new partnerships, andco-teach a Cardinal Course—URBANST 135: Challenging the Status Quo: Social Entrepreneurs Advancing Democracy, Development, and Justice alongside Kathleen Kelly Janus, senior advisor on social innovation to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Director in flattened structure at non-profit w the following: * Purpose: fuel economic viability of a multi-racial next generation of sustainable small farms and ranches* Core values: equity, resiliency, empathy, ecological responsibility, transformative leadership* North star: regenerative farmers and ranchers with thriving livelihoods and economic self-determination in community based economies with an equitable distribution of power and resourcesPrimary responsibilities included: 1. Regional ecosystem building: share leadership with fellow Directors on projects/experiments to shift institutions so that sustainable farmers, especially women and farmers of color have more equitable access and ownership/governance over land, markets, and capitalPast projects included: * Formed collaborative w CA Tribal Fund / First Nations Development Institute, ALBA, Minnow, Mandela Partners, Butterfly Movement to build CA BIPOC Farmer / Land Steward Relief Fund, moving $800K+ in COVID relief in 2020* Raised $150K in grants and 0% loans to support Capay Valley Farm Shop, a farmer owned food hub, move into a new facility that enhances regional infrastructure for sustainable small farms* Advised Ceres Trust, a family foundation, on aligning their investing with their values at the intersection of sustainable ag and racial equity/justice and moving $3M in investments into community led investment vehicles* Participated in crafting an Open Letter to Food Systems Funders in July 2020 calling for funders to center racial equity/justice in their practices: https://healfoodalliance.org/an-open-letter-from-bipoc-leaders-in-food-agriculture-to-food-systems-funders/* Partnered w CA FarmLink to develop a land financing product to support Latino immigrant farmers buy land2. Relationship building: Partnered with individuals, foundations, family offices, philanthropy and investment advisors to rally people, financial and social capital needed to move our collective work forward

Select accomplishments: * First part-time paid staff that collaborated with farmers, team, advisory board, and external stakeholders to design, pilot, and grow core bilingual 1-on-1 business advising program focused on planning, financial management, access to capital, and more and that has worked with 60+ majority POC and majority women owned/co-owned sustainable farms and ranches. * Partnered with team to design and grow emergent Regional Ecosystem Building program shaping and influencing markets around land, capital and distribution to be more equitable for sustainable small farms and ranches* Helped build majority POC, majority women, rural and urban staff of 10+ seasoned sustainable agriculture and business professionals with diverse private sector and nonprofit experience* Lead stewardship of majority POC, majority women, rural and urban advisory board of 10 seasoned sustainable ag and business professionals from institutions such as Cienega Capital / No Regrets Initiative, Veritable Vegetable, La Cocina and more* Helped lead move to a flatter leadership structure where programmatic leadership is centered in rural communities where farmers and ranchers are, and where there is a sharing of power across several people who co-lead the org* Shared leadership for long-term relationship building with hundreds of values-aligned people and institutions contributing people, financial and social capital to advance our mission, including over $4mm in funding mostly from individuals, family offices, and family foundations* Helped manage annual org budget growth from $120K to $1.6mm

Launched new phase of California FarmLink’s farm microloan program, resulting in access to capital for 80+ loans to low-income, underserved, primarily immigrant-owned family farms. Helped Executive Director raise $1mm in new funding and $1.25mm in additional loan capital.

Organizational development, human resources, recruiting/hiring, staff retention/motivation/development, talent pipeline development

Organizational leadership, program management & strategy, new product/partnership development, project management, team management, fundraising liaison and supportProvided leadership to 3 asset-building programs for low-income communities in SF Bay Area: * Microfinance to small businesses: over 1,000 loans totaling more than $12 million* Microsavings to working families: over 3,000 working families saving for their future* Early stage financing to affordable housing developers: more than 8,000 affordable homes financedCollaborated with senior management team to drive organizational strategy, including resource allocation of $5mm annual budget and staff of ~ 30Initiated and implemented wide variety of organizational projects that lead to innovative small business financing partnerships, stable transitions of program leadership, establishment of organizational development & human capital functionManaged 3 Program Directors that supervised a combined staff of 16 staff

Program strategy & management, partnership development, risk management, project management, supervision/team leadership* Increased loan production + community impact 500% over ~ 4 year period * Expanded program to cover all San Francisco Bay Area* Introduced new products and initiatives that expanded service* Managed risk and acted in chief credit officer role for $2.5mm loan fund* Managed team of 7 staff, built team from 3.5 FTE to 8.0 FTE

Business development, sales, underwriting, business advising* Performed financial analysis, business assessment and advising to hundreds of small businesses* Lead new initiatives that increased new leads by 40% and loan production of 67% over 2 year period

Financial analysis and reporting support to General Manager of fast-growing business division

Financial management, bookkeeping and budgeting for small non-profit social enterprise that trained and employed low-income youth in technology via operating a web design and data management business.