Aaron Baumgardner is a citizen of the Catawba Indian Nation, a potter, basketmaker, and agricultural steward with a background in plant ecology. Though he has lived in the South since 2021, his people have called the Carolina Piedmont home along the Catawba River for over 6,000 years. Aaron works alongside other Catawba growers to steward ancestral seeds, including flour corn he helped rematriate, fostering deep connections with his ancestors, the land, and plant relatives.

Alma Young is a devoted educator and passionate activist and is currently serving as the Georgia State Director for the United Farm Workers (UFW) Foundation. With 14 years of experience in higher education, her most notable work include previously directing the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), as well as founded and directed CAMP at Valdosta State University (VSU). As a life-long advocate for migrant and farm working families in South Georgia, Alma draws from personal experience as a former undocumented farm worker to empower and advocate for her communities. She is a proud HEP and CAMP alumna and holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education from Georgia Southern University. In her current capacity, Alma continues to drive positive change, advocating for farm workers in the rural south Georgia community and striving to create a brighter future for all.

Carol Blackmon serves as Senior Consultant and Human Rights Coordinator for SRBWI, where she trains community leaders on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ms. Blackmon also serves as the Senior Organizing Manager for Mississippi for Black Voters Matter Fund and is the former director of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Foundation. She is founder and President of C B Enterprises & Associates, Inc, a consulting firm that supports nonprofit organizational development, program development, and special project management. She has extensive experience in the philanthropic sector, including serving as a former program officer with Foundation for the Mid-South; Executive Director of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus Foundation; Program and Executive Coach with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Mid-South Delta Initiative; Program Manager for the Mid-South African American Philanthropy Program; and Managing Consultant for the Deep South Delta Consortium; founding board member of the National Center for Black Philanthropy, Greater Jackson Community Foundation and Mississippi Housing Partnership; grants committee chair for Rural Education and Leadership Foundation; and a former board member of the Association of Black Foundation Executives.

Felicia Burke is agriculture educator, land planner, horticulturist, and herbalist, she is known for her hands-on approach to sustainable farming and responsible land stewardship across Georgia. With professional experience spanning garden design,
nursery management, and agricultural education, she currently serves as the Agriculture Program Manager for the Sherrod Institute’s Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education — a nonprofit that has championed Georgia’s farmers since the 1960s.

In this role, she provides technical assistance and consulting to farmers and landowners throughout the region, helping them implement practical, conservation-focused strategies that improve productivity while protecting the land for future generations. Her work bridges science and soil, pairing research with real-world application — a balance that has made her a trusted resource in Georgia’s agricultural community. Outside of her professional work, she can be found gardening, biking, kayaking Florida’s springs, reading fantasy novels, and splitting time between the barn and the
Beach.

A native Atlantan and current Savannahian, Joe Thomas is a lifelong Georgian with over a decade of experience supporting environmental and social justice organizations and campaigns in a variety of roles. He has worked with a litany of community groups, including Georgia Conservation Voters, Trees Atlanta, and the Georgia Conservancy, and has served as a board director for the Southeastern Trust for Parks and Land and the Georgia Conservancy Generation Green board.

He was previously a member of the Memorial Drive Greenway Visioning Committee in Atlanta and was instrumental in efforts to change the name of Confederate Avenue (now United Avenue) in Atlanta’s Grant Park and Ormewood Park neighborhoods.  

Joe lives with his wife, Meghan, a Savannah public school teacher, and their sons Brooks and Parker on Savannah’s southside. He enjoys cooking and travelling and is an avid supporter of Atlanta and UGA sports. 

j. olu baiyewu is a food systems expert that excels at executing visions and resolving challenges, with a combination of innovative & time-tested solutions. while achieving measurable, sustainable results through strategic planning and capacity building, his approach is of a personable servant leader, tenacious community advocate, and well-informed professional, rooted in values such as equity, transparency, inclusivity, and accountability to name a few. 

located in the traditional lands of the Mvskoke (Muskogee) nation (Atlanta, GA) as the City of Atlanta Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Director j. olu leads the strategic planning process for Atlanta’s urban agriculture activities and fresh food access policies, directs the implementation of Atlanta’s urban agriculture plan, provides project support and management to seasonal staff working for the various AgLanta programs, recommends new policy initiatives and work with internal stakeholders to assess feasibility and impact, partners & collaborates with government agencies that influence urban agriculture on the federal, state, county, city, and community level to advance urban agriculture plan recommendations and grow City services, facilitates inter-agency connectivity to support urban agriculture in Atlanta, works with the various City of Atlanta Departments and external partners on soil suitability for potential gardens, green stormwater infrastructure projects, and facilitates steering and advisory committees engaging in the urban agriculture and food systems planning process with the City of Atlanta. 

j. olu focuses on the levers of Policies, Plans, and Targets applied across the Phases of the Local Food System: Production, Processing, Aggregation & Distribution, Retail & Consumption, Recovery & Redistribution, and Composting & Recycling. he is a member of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience.

prior to joining the City of Atlanta j. olu was Director of Programs and Outreach at Atlanta nonprofit Food Well Alliance. there he led the partnership, outreach, and implementation strategy of the organization’s Resource Center program. this was accomplished with a team dedicated to supporting thriving community gardens and farms by responding to the needs of local growers at more than 100 gardens and 35 urban farms in a five-county service area of Cobb, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. j. olu has also founded and served as Director of Organix Matters, which designs, builds, manages, and grows initiatives across metro Atlanta in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmers markets, and gardens. he has also worked at two Atlanta-area non-profit urban farming organisations, Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture and Global Growers Network. 

j. olu is a 2013 graduate of the Urban Grower Training Program at Truly Living Well, a Center for Civic Innovation Food Innovation Fellow, alumnus of The Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network (FSLN), Board Member of Historic Westside Gardens, Board Member Georgia Composting Council, Board Member of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders (SAFSF), and a 2021 Atlanta Regional Commission Regional Leadership Institute (RLI) class member. Before his “official” urban agriculture journey began, j. olu worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry, and was Co-Founder of ThePopShop Natural Handcrafted Ice Pops in Chattanooga and Atlanta. He earned his BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Management, from Morehouse College.

As Director of the Farms Fund at The Conservation Fund, Krisztian Varsa works to build a diverse and sustainable food system by helping transition threatened farmland to the next generation of farmers. He brings over a decade of experience in conservation real estate, farmer support, and USDA programs. Previously, he served as Conservation Director at Athens Land Trust, where he protected working lands in Georgia and launched conservation programs for youth and historically underserved farmers.

Ky Lindberg serves as Vice President of Community Engagement at the Georgia Health Initiative. Ky brings a strong foundation in policy, education, and research to her role. She excels at turning bold ideas into sustainable impact, building trust across partners, and strengthening organizational capacity—ensuring that communities have power in shaping the initiatives that affect them. Ky is deeply committed to equity and believes that lasting change comes from centering community wisdom, fostering collaboration, and designing systems that reflect the needs and strengths of those they serve. 

Ky brings over 20 years of experience leading local, statewide, and national efforts to address health disparities through policy, education, outreach, and coalition-building. Having earned a Master of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wayne State University, Ky began her career in Michigan in policy and education before moving to the South to serve as Regional Lead for Early Childhood Partnerships at LENA Research Foundation. Immediately before joining the Initiative, Ky served as CEO of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, where she increased organizational capacity and improved maternal and infant health outcomes across the state. Her career has been defined by building programs, partnerships, and organizations that are sustainable, equitable, and responsive to community needs.

Monica Valdes Lupi, JD, MPH brings more than 20 years of experience in public health to her role as managing director of The Kresge Foundation’s Health Program.

Valdes Lupi most recently served as senior fellow at the de Beaumont Foundation, where she advised and led its efforts to amplify and accelerate policy initiatives aimed at developing and advancing a health agenda on critical public health issues such as tobacco control, racial justice and health equity.

Valdes Lupi was also a senior advisor to the CDC Foundation in its COVID-19 efforts. In this role, she guided activities aimed at quickly identifying and supporting critical gaps and needs among state and local health departments in their response and recovery activities. She also helped build and manage a team of regional advisors to expand the capacity of the foundation in its efforts to support health departments.

Previously, she served as the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, the local health department for the City of Boston. Her portfolio included Boston Emergency Medical Services, the largest homeless services program in New England, school-based health centers and other critical public health services.

Prior to her tenure at the Boston Public Health Commission, Valdes Lupi also served as the deputy commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she led the day-to-day operations for an agency that included public health hospitals, several regulatory bodies, and numerous public health programs. She also has experience working at the national level as the first chief program officer for Health Systems Transformation at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Valdes Lupi led ASTHO’s work on health equity, Medicaid and public health partnerships, government relations, state health policy, and public health informatics.

She received her Juris Doctorate from the Dickinson School of Law, Master of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health and bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College.

Veronica L. Womack serves as the inaugural Executive Director of the Rural Studies Institute at Georgia College and Professor of Political Science and Public Administration. She hails from the Alabama Black Belt region and currently works in the Georgia Black Belt.  She received her BA of Communications, MPA and Ph.D., in Political Science from the University of Alabama.

An advocate and researcher of the Southern Black Belt region, she has a deep passion for the American South and brings to life the region’s rich history, diverse foodways and the long standing socioeconomic and political culture of its rural communities. She is a noted practitioner and researcher of the region, revealing the rich traditions that shape the region, while championing its future. Her work is dedicated to tapping the region’s full potential and ensuring its people, traditions, stories, and cultural heritage are preserved and celebrated. In addition, her work also highlights the important role that Black farmers and the rich agrarian traditions of the region play in influencing the culture of the Black Belt.  She has been featured on various media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, GPB, The Nation, and Georgia Trend for her work in the region.