About

Sarah has worked side by side with the sustainable food movement’s founders and visionaries across the globe, from Italy to England to Washington D.C. She maintains a special focus on bringing passionate young people into the movement. As the Director of Communication for the Slow Food International Office in Bra, Italy, Sarah wrote The Slow Food Companion, the official overview of the Slow Food movement now in its fourth edition and translated into eight languages. Travelling and translating for Slow Food Founder Carlo Petrini around the world created a unique immersion in the sustainable food movement. Subsequently, Sarah worked in the office of Alice Waters, where she developed an internship program and co-wrote the proposal for creating Slow Food Nation. After raising $400,000 in seed capital, she became the first employee of the largest sustainable food event in America. As its Content Director, Sarah oversaw the Slow Food Nation Marketplace and Slow on the Go in the Civic Center, and organized renowned food artisans in the Bay Area to create the Taste Pavilions at Fort Mason showcasing thousands of the country’s best foods. Following Slow Food Nation, Sarah worked in Washington, D.C. to create Art.Food.Hope on behalf of Alice Waters. In 2009, Sarah moved to Bristol, England, and produced the Soil Association’s Organic Food Festival 2009 for 20,000 people and 150 organic farmers.

Dominic has been responsible for large-scale productions such as Slow Food Nation, the largest sustainable food festival in the U.S.A. with 85,000 people attending 80 distinct outdoor and indoor events. His passion is in utilizing events to build community that last well beyond when the last marquee is taken down. Dominic Phillips is the founder and president of Dominic Phillips Event Marketing (DPEM), a full-service event marketing, design, and production company founded in 2004. DPEM has become a pioneer in sustainable events, implementing “zero-waste” policies, carbon offsets, and other sustainable best practices into its creative process.

Christine spent most of her childhood barefoot, climbing trees, and eating stone fruit in the family orchard in Pennsylvania. While her career took her from the investment banking world in New York to an independent high school in Marin County, CA, the farm never quite left the girl. Christine is the the former Northern California Regional Governor for Slow Food USA and a seasoned veteran of the Good Food Awards, having volunteered and tasted her way through the Charcuterie, Preserves, Confections, Beer, and Honey categories. She revels in the writing of Harold McGee, MFK Fisher, and David Mas Masumoto; and she joins Seedling Projects with an eye toward combining her technology, finance, education, fundraising and food experience into one delicious whole.

Samantha is a recent transplant to California and a graduate of the University of North Carolina. In college she studied both Archaeology and Anthropology, with a focus on ancient Mediterranean cultures. Her passion for food and cooking stems from her time spent in Copenhagen, where she studied traditional Nordic cuisine and ate her way through Europe. After graduating, Samantha began work at Southern Season, a gourmet foods retailer with a bent towards local and southern producers. While there, she was introduced to many products endorsed by the Good Food Awards and quickly became interested in their mission. Upon moving to San Francisco, she began looking for opportunities with organizations that share her love of food and desire to promote sustainability. Samantha is very excited to have found that in Seedling Projects and is ready to start learning about the food community in the bay area.

Nick’s interest in food began at Bowdoin College, home to a top-ranked dining program that used produce and products from the college’s own organic garden and surrounding farms. That interest in small-scale food systems blossomed after moving back to the Bay Area and frequenting farmer’s markets and restaurants offering local, sustainable food & cuisine. Nick graduated with a degree in Visual Art and is looking forward to using those skills to raise awareness about sustainable, responsible food producers. He currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys getting outside of the city to take advantage of the various amazing outdoor activities the region has to offer.

Jessica is a Bay Area native and graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH where she studied Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies along with Environmental Studies. While she has always enjoyed food as a source of community and culture, sustainability and food has become her passion. Jessica grew more interested in the food system and sustainable alternatives in her first years of college, where her studies exposed her to topics including environmental health, ecological agriculture, and social justice. She pursued this interest as an Outreach & Communications Intern with Seedling Projects in 2015, and is very excited to be back with the Good Food Foundation team and to continue learning more about the good food movement in the Bay Area and across the nation.

Annalena recently graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Environmental Studies focusing on food systems. During her time in Vermont, she was a leader with the Real Food Challenge, a campaign that works to shift university food purchasing toward a just and sustainable food economy. She also worked with Migrant Justice, a nonprofit that focuses on human rights issues in the agricultural sector. Annalena is excited to bring her passion for sustainability and food justice to Seedling Projects and explore the Bay Area by way of hiking, biking, and of course, eating.

Though she calls the suburbs of Baltimore home, Lizzie comes to us from Carlisle, PA where she recently received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Dickinson College. While at school, Lizzie became extremely interested in sustainable agriculture and community building around food. She was fortunate enough to spend two seasons as a student farmer on her campus’ organic operation as well as contribute to DC metro area farmers markets through a summer internship. In her free time, Lizzie loves to bake, read, drink coffee, and pet a cat or two. She is excited and eager to see what opportunities this new coast holds for a budding food activist and is ecstatic to be apart of the Good Food Foundation team.