What type of work do you typically do for CRS?
It’s hard to describe a typical workload, because one of the things I enjoy about working at CRS is it allows me to engage in a wide variety of research activities and topics. At CRS I do both quantitative and qualitative research, as well as project management. Just two months into my position at CRS, I’ve worked on projects covering community and food system resilience, agritourism, agricultural production and markets for hemp and goat dairy, and institutional local food procurement.
What are some of your favorite past projects that you’ve worked on? Why?
While I was a graduate student at UVM, one of my main projects was working on a bilingual food system resilience toolkit developed in collaboration between UVM and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. I loved the subject matter and getting to work in both English and Spanish, but the most valuable part of the project for me personally was developing relationships with our colleagues in Puerto Rico and their community partners. I am grateful to be able to stay on that project team by working at CRS and continue our cross-institution, cross-region collaboration.
Who benefits from the work that you do?
The research projects I work on address issues relevant to farmers, processors, distributors, foodservice providers, rural community members, and ultimately, everyone who eats. Researchers make up a small part of a vast web of people trying to improve our food systems and our communities. I am grateful to farmers, workers, extension professionals, educators, community leaders, and everyone else who translates research into action and does the hard work of keeping the world’s wheels turning.
What else would you like people to know about you professionally?
My position at CRS represents a career shift: before I moved to Vermont to start the Food Systems graduate program at UVM, I worked in the performing arts. I spent four years in Boston producing new and contemporary plays, and then I moved back to New York City, my hometown, where I worked in finance and operations at Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. The six years I spent working in the arts taught me an immense amount about how to work with a team to bring a project to fruition. I learned everything I know about project management from theatrical stage and production managers—no one on earth does it better. And at Orpheus, a classical orchestra that performs without a conductor (and that has a non-hierarchical ethos in the administrative office as well), I developed a powerful sense of teamwork that has helped me across multiple collaborative research projects.
What is your favorite thing about Vermont?
Vermont may be a small state, but Vermonters dream big. This state has so many innovative programs and projects, especially in the food and agriculture space. In my last semester of graduate school, I was able to spend a few months working for Vermont Everyone Eats, a FEMA-funded pandemic relief program that pays restaurants to prepare food for people who need it. VEE is emblematic to me of the kind of big-picture, ambitious action we need to address pressing food systems issues, and I see such projects happening across the state: from multiple companies and organizations developing processing and distribution infrastructure for small and midsized farms, to widespread farm-to-institution programming, and more. I enjoy the simple things in Vermont, too: you’ll find me exploring the outdoors and enjoying delicious Vermont foods in every season.
