The People of People's Grocery
Brahm Ahmadi- Co-Founder and Executive Director
Brahm Ahmadi is an Iranian-American who grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in Oakland, CA. He has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California and is an MBA candidate at the Presidio School of Management. Brahm combines social enterprise, cooperative economics, urban agriculture, public education and youth development to build healthy and stable inner city communities. He is also Executive Director of the North Oakland Land Trust, which preserves properties in North Oakland for the exclusive purpose of community gardening. Brahm is active in worker-owned cooperative business development and organizing for economic democracy and was a founding board member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Email Brahm.
Jason Uribe-Garden and Grub Box Manager
A product of the Oakland Public School district, Jason Uribe comes to us from Longfellow Middle School in the Berkeley Public School District, where he taught garden based curriculum to 6th and 7th grade science classes. Before that Jason worked for many Oakland organizations including the East Bay Conservation Corps/Americorps program, Youth Employment Partnership/We Mean Clean program, and the Student Conservation Association's Oakland office. Jason brings a background of urban gardening, youth empowerment, community activism and a passion for social change. Email Jason.
Victoria Fabella - Administrative Manager and Donor Fundraiser
Victoria came to the Bay Area in 1991 after earning her J.D. from UC Davis. She's worked for several Bay Area non-profits including Disability Rights and Education Defense Fund, New College School of Law, Swords to Plowshares, and the UC Regents. She's worked as a worm farmer, circus manager, event producer and legal advocate for prisoner civil rights. Email Victoria.
Max Kurtz-Cadji - Greenhouse Coordinator
Max hails from suburban sprawled streets of Las Vegas, Nevada. He is an avid guerilla composter and urban gardener. Many of the horticultural skills he employs were acquired from the 3 years he spent living in Madagascar. Max's greatest inspiration is his mother, Marlene. When it comes to bringing fresh, local produce to the masses he employs the philosophy "by any means necessary." Email Max.
Diana Abellera - Education Director and Development Manager
Diana Abellera is the Community Education Director and Development Manager at People's Grocery, where she is developing a job training program for youth in the food sector. Diana has developed comprehensive curriculum and facilitated trainings that connect low-income people and people of color to tangible means for improving the community's quality of life. She has worked with various Bay Area non-profits, including Urban Habitat, Redefining Progress, the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, and Slide Ranch. Email Diana.
Hubert McCabe - Farm Manager
A recent east coast emigrant, Hubert joins People's Grocery after spending ten years working in the South Bronx. After obtaining his Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work from N.Y.U., Hubert spent four years working with teenagers and families as a Bronx social worker before transitioning to a role running a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project in New York's Hudson Valley. In partnership with the community center he had been working with for the previous 7 years, he hired all the teens he had been working with as a social worker. Email Hubert.
Erica Torrence - Community Outreach Coordinator
Erica has been a long time advocate for women and children. Being the mother of 4 children she is aware of the many issues that face inner-city youth. Erica has built political and social justice alliances throughout California and has advocated at the State Capital on behalf of women & families and has been a featured speaker at many community and University events. She attended CSU Sacramento majoring in Political Science with a focus on urban development and a minor in Women’s Studies. While in school, Erica was called upon to organize the first AIDS awareness campaign for area college campuses and she was the co-founder of an on-campus organization called “My Sista’s Keeper” (MSK). Erica and other members of MSK were able to provide scholarships to students of color, organized various community events, and were recognized by local and national celebrities including Maya Angelou. My Sista’s Keeper was such a success that they eventually decided to allow men to join! Erica’s professional background is in Human Resources and staff development and she has had extensive executive training. She has since transferred her skills and talents toward her desired career path of social justice and community development. Her passion is in the people she serves. Email Erica.
Brent Walker - Farm Manager Apprentice
Brent and his family are from Memphis, Tennessee. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Middle Tennessee State where he played college football. Having been around agriculture and farming since he was a child, Brent had an opportunity to learn and work on an organic, sustainable farm in the area were lived. He recently completed the farm and garden apprenticeship at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He became interested in the community activism People's Grocery was involved in. Brent has a strong commitment towards activism and would like to impact the West Oakland community through farming and connecting people to the food that they eat. Email Brent.
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People's Grocery Youth Staff
Dannae Washington - Peer Educator 
Dannae is a senior at Rudsdale High. She is 18 years old and has been working for People's Grocery since the summer of 2006 educating youth about eating healthy and helping them make better food choices. When she graduates in the Spring of 2008 she plans to go to Merrit College for a few years, than transfer to Gremlin down south. Her goal in life is to become a nurse. One of her passions is to travel the world. Dannae's favorite food is catfish, and she loves the colors purple and green. Her two inspirations in life are her two nieces: Aylia and TyTy.
Kie'layameosha Carswell - Peer Educator
Kie'laya started working at People's Grocery in the summer of 2007 as a Youth Intern. She is 16 years old, born and raised in Oakland, and now lives in West Oakland. She expresses herself by writing poetry and enjoys sharing things that she learns with other people.
Talib Shahid - Youth Intern
Talib is a 16 year old Oakland native, who has his “eyes on the prize and his brain on the main”. At age 13, Talib began rapping to inspire social change in all types of communities. Soon he realized that healthy food was also very important and people’s eating habits needed a tune-up, though that is not so easy with all the liquor stores around. A few of Talib’s hobbies consist of basketball, producing hip hop beats, and engineering in music studios. If you would like to meet Talib and the other youth interns, then come to People’s Grocery on Tuesday during the Grub Box distribution.
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Cooking Instructors - (Independent Contractors)
Vigi Molfino, Adult Cooking Instructor
People’s Grocery hired Vigi Molfino as the adult cooking class instructor in September 2008. Vigi has cooked for family and friends for over forty years with her home grown organic vegetables, cherries, apples, chicken eggs, and goats milk. Vigi’s professional experience includes owning a small catering business for eight years, buying cookbooks from publishers for a major east bay book store, and hosting cookbook author appearances with preparation of recipes from author's book.
Anita Miralle, Youth Cooking Instructor
Anita Miralle joined People’s Grocery in September 2008 as the youth cooking class instructor. Anita was raised in a kitchen with a family of cooks two generations deep. She cooked for her mother’s catering business when young and has since worked in several restaurants and bakeries. Anita runs her own catering business, "Something for Your Soul Catering", which offers health ethnic dishes ranging from Philippine to Polish to Creole and more. A passionate organizer for social justice, Anita combines popular education, food, and performing arts in her classes.
2008-09 Board of Directors
Malaika Edwards
Malaika Edwards is a co-founder of the People's Grocery. Malaika holds a BA in Environmental Studies and dance from Oberlin College. She has been an organizer and facilitator for over 15 years working for environmental health, justice and community self-reliance. Malaika worked with Youth for Environmental Sanity and Rural Quality Coalition. She has served on the boards of The Institute for Deep Ecology and The Sierra Friends Center. Malaika is a recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service, Food & Wine Magazine Tastemakers Award, the East Bay YMCA Public Service award, and the Flywaway Productions 10 Women award. She was chosen by Utne Reader, San Francisco Magazine and Organic Style Magazine as a young visionary and environmental leader. Malaika's life goal is to create positive change through love, service, and creative expression.
Jose Corona
Executive Director
Inner City Advisors
Carina Wong
Carina Wong is presently working at the Gates Foundation. She has worked in education policy at the national, state and local levels for over 15 years. She has worked on standards, assessment and curriculum reforms in several districts, including in Philadelphia as part of a $150 million Annenberg Challenge Grant. Previously, she served as Director of Youth Policy and Education at the Washington DC-based National Center on Education and the Economy. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and holds a master’s degree in education policy from Stanford University and a master’s in teaching from George Washington University. Carina joined the Chez Panisse Foundation as Executive Director in November 2005 until 2008.
Tynisa Zawde
Tynisa Zawde grew up the majority of her life in West Oakland. She attended the University of California, Davis and received her B.A. in Political Science with a double minor in Communication and African American Studies. Ms. Zawde is now working towards her Master in Public Administration (MPA) at San Francisco State University. Out of college, Tynisa worked as a Health Academy Fellow for the Greenlining Institute. In addition, at The San Francisco Foundation, she helped fund numerous non-profits associated with the West Oakland Initiative and Arts and Culture Program. Ms. Zawde is currently a Senior Policy Associate for the Early Childhood Initiative at Safe Passages, an agency committed to advocating for young children, youth, and their families with a special emphasis on vulnerable populations within Alameda County.
Two additional individuals will be recruited to the Board of Directors in 2009.
