Staff
Nelson Gaudé, Farm & Facilities Manager
Nelson Gaudé grew up on Bayou Teche in New Iberia. He spent much of his youth exploring the woods and bayous of Acadiana, getting biology lessons from his dad at the catfish farm, and learning to grow and cook their food with his mom and siblings. Nelson attributes much of his connection with food to his upbringing in South Louisiana.
Nelson’s work with food began in kitchens in Lafayette, LA, working with chefs to learn about all local food. Cooking led Nelson to kitchens in New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and rural Italy.
Nelson holds a B.S. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and an M.S. in Food Studies from Syracuse University. At Syracuse, he learned the mechanisms that perpetuate the injustices and manufactured lack of access in our food system and worked with the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA).
Nelson’s broad exposure to food systems work helps him to see the interconnections between the decisions we make, the food we eat, and why we gather at a table. We all have a human right to grow and eat food that feeds not just our bodies, but our souls, hearts, and communities. With a curious mind and open heart, Nelson hopes to deepen his understanding of what the growers and eaters of New Orleans want and need to fill their bellies and hearts.
TERENCE JACKSON, Urban Farmer Program Manager
Terence Jackson is a fifth-generation small farmer from Tuskegee, Alabama. Terence is a 2017 graduate of Tuskegee University with a bachelor's degree in Agribusiness and a concentration in farm entrepreneurship. He has a background in farming, gardening, timber production, drones, and over 14 years of experience working with underserved farmers and on-farm research. Terence is the co-founder of The Movement 46, a community-based organization whose goals are to help mobilize the community for revitalization projects and help create a better quality of life through agriculture. He's a devoted community advocate and is passionate about farming and art. In 2020, Terence and his friends started a rural teaching farm called The Garden Of Tuskegee. Terence believes that sustainability is key for maintaining healthy relationships and systems. He takes pride in creating programs that educate and empower his community.
"Farming/Gardening is one of the oldest art forms in the world. Embrace the journey, the land is your canvas. So express yourself! Grow!"
Terence is also the owner and creator of the Jesup wagon grow-kit, a grow kit for beginners and long-time growers to educate about the importance of growing your own food.
Erica Sage Johnson, Market & Aggregation Manager
Erica Sage Johnson, Southern University Agricultural & Mechanical College graduate and New Orleans-resident, is a Farmer, Small Business Owner, appointed Crescent Soil and Water Conservation District Board Member; Agricultural Educator; and Markets & Farmer Support Manager at SPROUT. Erica demonstrates expertise as an urban farmer using natural intensive techniques on four urban plots in Orleans Parish to cultivate vegetables and fruit and create products sold under @its.petit.jardin throughout New Orleans. As the Markets and Farmer Support Manager at SPROUT, Erica has served as its most tenured employee where she provides technical assistance to LA farmers, executes farmer's market coordination & production, networks small farmer co-ops, and manages product sales for farmers.
Maggie Kaiser, Farmer support Manager
Maggie is a grower, technical service provider, farmer advocate, and birth worker. She is the co-owner/operator of Too Tall Farm & Nursery, which she started in 2016 alongside her husband Jacob with the goal of supplying local growers and gardens with a variety of vegetable, herb, edible flower, dye, and native plant starts. Through her work with Too Tall, Maggie focuses on the growing and seed-saving of regionally adapted plant varieties and organizing collective efforts amongst small-scale producers. In addition. as a trained and experienced doula and perinatal health advocate, Maggie is very interested in growing medicinal herbs, especially those that support folks during pregnancy and postpartum. Plants play a pivotal role in the way that Maggie enjoys showing up for her people.
Maggie has worked in agriculture for nearly a decade, facilitating farmer trainings in on-farm food safety; advocating for federal, state, and city-wide policy to support underserved and underrepresented farmers; and participating in networks of mutual aid and community care. She has worked for the National Young Farmers Coalition; organized with the Greater New Orleans Growers Alliance and NOLA Food Policy Action Council; and participated in the Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition (LSSAC) to put on the 2024 LA Farmer’s Climate Convening. Maggie also has a deep appreciation for agricultural cooperatives, sees them as necessary for envisioning a future beyond capitalism, and is working to form a marketing cooperative with 10 other local producers.
Hannah Lopez, LSSAC Admin & Project Manager
Hannah is a South Louisianan born and raised. She graduated from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Linguistics and Spanish Literature. Hannah grew up learning agricultural practices from her grandparents, who were peanut farmers in the 60s and 70s.
Hannah has spent her career working towards building a stronger and healthier Louisiana. Through immigration advocacy and legal aid with the Southern Poverty Law Center, and project management in federal class action lawsuits, she has learned that the closer you are to your food and your community the better off we all are. Hannah’s work is driven by the belief that we are always stronger together and small wins can build toward a brighter collective future.
Hannah’s expertise includes creating systems of collaboration in intersectional advocacy spaces. In her role with Sprout, Hannah serves as the Project Manager for the Louisiana Small Scale Agriculture Coalition (LSSAC) - a coalition of organizations statewide that seek to cultivate a more robust and sustainable food system. She is excited to continue the mission of LSSAC and Sprout for a stronger local food system.
When she’s not organizing and logisticizing, Hannah can be found in her home garden, reading a book, cooking with her chosen family, caring for her tuxedo cats, or color-coding a spreadsheet.
Mina Seck, community food director
Mina was born and raised in Pennsylvania and attended Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. Growing up, her family spent most of their time cooking, gathering, and spending quality time surrounded by fresh food. This helped shape what eventually became her first career of being a chef. Traveling to Europe she worked on farms to learn more about growing food, markets, and biodynamic farming. When she returned to Philly she worked as the head dinner cook at a small cafe with a kitchen garden before moving to New Orleans in 2014. When she moved here she dug into the culinary world working at Commander’s Palace, Angeline, and Carmo among other restaurants before starting her own pop-up/catering company, BeetsNThyme.
Through BeetsNThyme she developed great relationships with local farmers, makers, and fishermen. This continued to deepen her love and knowledge of local foods and their importance to a thriving food system.
Through her work with SPROUT she is able to connect with people and growers at all levels and continues to put her energy into feeding people in a different way. She is also an avid home gardener in her free time.
Devin Wright, Deputy director of Producers & sustainability
Devin began studying, working in, and organizing around food systems over 10 years ago. She got her Bachelors in Society & Environment from the Johnston Center for Integrated Studies at the University of Redlands. She is currently a PhD candidate in the City, Culture, and Community program at Tulane University where she studies how growers interact with and understand their surrounding environments with a focus on the conditions here in the metropolitan New Orleans area. What does food justice look like for growers here? How does our environment play a role?
She has worked within agricultural systems as a nursery stock and row crop field hand, farmers markets salesperson, educator, community gardener, and as a grassroots member/organizer with the Greater New Orleans Growers Alliance. She believes that food is an integral vehicle through which we will achieve a sustainable and just future for New Orleans, the Gulf South, and the planet. She is excited to work continue her work on systems-level change using every tool we’ve got—including research and policy!
Contractors
AMelia Bird, operations & administration director
A descendent of Iowan farmers, Amelia Bird grew up in rural North Florida, and has been living in New Orleans for over a decade. Amelia has a BA in environmental studies from New College of Florida, and graduate degrees in nonfiction writing and book arts and technologies from the University of Iowa.
Amelia’s work for state parks, publications, and arts and education nonprofits have centered around place-studies, conservation and sustainability, and fostering a creative relationship with the land, with an increasing focus on building equity for those systemically kept from benefiting from the food system. Her areas of expertise are managing projects, shepherding inclusive spaces, monitoring and evaluating programs, building systems capacity, development, and communications.
Amelia is the board president for WAKE, an organization that works to provide ethical, sustainable deathcare services. When she is not supporting the operations of an organization she loves, Amelia can be found working in her home garden, cooking, swimming underwater with her daughter Indigo, or writing, but she is most likely making some kind of list.
Meli Manuselis (Agora Consulting), Development
Meli has dedicated her career to improving the lives of children, expanding access to housing, and assisting in the growth and development of small business in New Orleans. Meli has 18 years of experience working with New Orleans-based non-profits in a variety of roles, including Managing Director, Development Director and Vice President and Executive Director and has expertise in managing strategic partnerships, board recruitment and development, executive-level hiring and fund development design and implementation.
Meli is from Akron, Ohio and has called New Orleans home since 2004. Meli holds Bachelor of Arts degrees from Loyola University, Chicago and Masters Degree from Loyola University, New Orleans.
Leslie Matuko Molson (NOLA Bookkeeper), Bookkeeping
Leslie Matuko Molson is NOLA Bookkeeper LLC, an administrative consultancy firm in New Orleans founded in 2016. Leslie works with small businesses and non-profit organizations as a bookkeeper and, for some, as an virtual office manager, advising on and managing administrative concerns, such as human resources, productivity tools, basic cybersecurity, training, payroll, and moral support.
Prior to founding NOLA Bookkeeper, Leslie was the office manager of the non-profit community radio station WWOZ. Prior to moving to New Orleans in 2012, Leslie worked at CBS News in New York City, in both editorial and administrative positions for the programs 60 Minutes, 48 Hours, and the CBS Evening News. Leslie is an ICBUSA-certified bookkeeper and a QuickBooks Advanced ProAdvisor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics from Sarah Lawrence College. Leslie is also a musician and vocalist who has performed in New York City and in New Orleans.
Board of Directors
sebrina bush hillard, Vice Chair
Sebrina Bush Hillard is a risk management advisor dedicated to partnering with small businesses to grow and manage their businesses. When Sebrina moved to New Orleans in 2014 she was just starting her journey with growing and has been engaged in some form or fashion since then by volunteering in community gardens in the East, growing her own garden and integrating the use of markets into her own consumption. A graduate of Howard University and American University, Sebrina practiced employment law for five years before joining her father at Insurance Design & Placement, Inc (IDP) a Denver based commercial insurance brokerage. She has worked in every aspect of the brokerage and currently serves as President operating out of the New Orleans office. Sebrina engaged with the entrepreneurial New Orleans ecosystem having graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program; presented at the 2017 New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, and mentoring Propeller entrepreneurs. Sebrina is also a member of the RIDE New Orleans board, Mid City Rotary, Life City, and active volunteer with Crescent City Café.
Jessica Fisch
Jessica Fisch is a city planner and researcher with a focus on housing affordability, community development, and homelessness. During her time as a planning student at the University of New Orleans, she worked as a program manager for Broad Community Connections, assisting in building a coalition of health-focused partners to support the development of the ReFresh Project. She previously served as a construction site leader with New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. Jessica holds a Ph.D. in city and regional planning from Georgia Tech and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of New Orleans.
Michele johnson
Michelle grew up in rural Southeast Oklahoma and spent her summers in her grandparent's garden in Central Mississippi. She has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and moved to Southeast Louisiana immediately after graduating from college. She has been living in New Orleans for over a decade.
Michele describes herself as a dog mom, a gardener, part-time runner, and bicyclist. She loves to travel and in October 2023 climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
She is excited to be a part of SPROUT's work and advocating for equitable community food systems as a component of environmental justice. A dream of hers is creating a farm school outside of Brookhaven, Mississippi on land her family once sharecropped.
Cheryl Manley
Cheryl Manley (they/them) is a user experience strategist and service designer for local, national, and international nonprofit organizations. Shaped by two decades of performing and directing improv comedy, Cheryl believes in a “yes, and” approach - collaboratively building solutions with the communities at the heart of the work.
Cheryl is drawn to a blank canvas, and has built two communications departments from the ground up. They can usually be found asking the "how might we" questions to explore roads not yet traveled.
As a SPROUT community gardener, Cheryl developed a strong leek obsession and enjoys supplying their fellow gardeners with allium-fueled dishes. Seeking an outlet for their competitive spirit, they were one of the brains behind SPROUT's veggie bingo events (but has yet to win a single round). Cheryl is overjoyed and honored to work alongside the SPROUT board and team to help build a stronger community of New Orleans growers!
Kerrie Partridge
Kerrie is a Gulf Coast native who comes from a family of farmers, fishermen, and nature nurturers. New Orleans became her home in 1998, where she began learning the joy of being a part of a vibrant extended community. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and Human Development from the University of New Orleans and a Master of Public Health from Tulane University, specializing in Social, Behavioral, and Adolescent Sciences.
She is known for her adaptive leadership, program design, facilitation skills, and strategic thinking. She served as the director of Edible Schoolyard New Orleans for nine years, demonstrating her commitment and skillfulness within complex community-centered initiatives.
As a consultant and leadership coach, Kerrie specializes in values-driven decision-making, actionable professional development, fostering a team culture of compassion and strength, and developing strategic tools for impactful outcomes.
shani christopher
Combining her passion for food justice and knowledge of environmental sustainability, Shani recently launched RePurpose Food Company in order to simultaneously increase the affordability of nutritious baby food and reduce food waste. A socially conscious entrepreneur, Shani prioritizes connecting people with necessary resources to make communities more inclusive and equitable.
Shani is the past Curator of the New Orleans Hub of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. She is also a StartingBloc Social Innovation Fellow and has served as a UN Delegate through SustainUS, a youth environmental advocacy org. Previously, she was a founding member of the Volunteer Center of Trinidad and Tobago. Shani met and fell in love with the work of SPROUT through her participation in Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans, of which she also currently serves on the board.
Annie Moore, Board Chair
Annie Moore is a farmer and social entrepreneur dedicated to expanding opportunities for agricultural training and access within the local food system. She and her wife moved to New Orleans in 2017 to co-found the urban farm River Queen Greens, which began as a market garden in the Bywater and has expanded to include a much larger growing area on the West Bank. River Queen Greens is now growing veggies for a 100 member farm share subscription program and vending at the Crescent City Farmers Markets. Annie first fell in love with New Orleans when she spent a year doing post-Katrina rebuild work in 2010-2011, but moved away to attend graduate school in Massachusetts. She spent several years in the Boston area as interim Executive Director of an experiential education program, and directing job training social enterprises at a couple of prominent non-profits. She holds an MBA in non-profit management and a Masters in Public Policy from Brandeis University and a BA from Williams College.
Board Committee Members
LaVonna Varnado Brown
LaVonna Varnado Brown is a multidisciplinary artist and community worker. She earned a BA from Southeastern University Louisiana with a focus on Theatre and Liberal Arts. After studying abroad in London and Paris in the summer of 2009, LaVonna has worked as an installation artist, artist advocate, teaching artist, and tutor in and around New Orleans. LaVonna creates mixed media visual art that is AfroFutiristic in aesthetic with odes to history, the Divine Feminine, and floral daydreams abounding. AfroFuturism is a cultural aesthetic that explores the intersection of art and history with intention to inspire action in the now by healing beyond trauma. In addition to creating multimedia works, LaVonna curates intentional workshops and expos with a focus on healing and raising spatial awareness. Through her work she hopes to uplift the narrative of rest, joy, resistance, and abundance.
Emily Mickley-Doyle, co-founder
Originally from a small farming town in Ohio, Emily Mickley-Doyle moved to New Orleans in 2005 to pursue her B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University. After working in the HIV, disabilities, and youth advocacy fields, she decided that the best way she could make a direct impact on our food system is to grow food and to support others in having the resources and opportunities to do the same. After growing market gardens throughout the city, she co-founded SPROUT in 2012.
In addition to her ongoing support of SPROUT, Emily is a founder of the Greater New Orleans Growers’ Alliance (GNOGA), has Master’s Degree in Food and Agriculture Law and Policy (MFALP) from Vermont Law School, and is a budding community herbalist, currently working on completing her second year at Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine.
Emily is passionate about organizing, developing equitable food systems, and tending to the human and more than human word. In her spare time she loves hanging out with her family and pets (2 dogs, 1 cat, and 5 chickens), caring for her garden, and making herbal medicine to share with her community.
Cristina Miller
Cristina began volunteering with Sprout in 2021 and is mostly known to other gardeners for her domineering beans. Growing up in the City of Milwaukee, she has seen all sides of urban food systems and the socio-political constructs that inform them. She holds a BA in Urban Geography from UW-Milwaukee, a BS in Nutrition & Dietetics from the University of New Mexico, and a MPH in Nutrition from Tulane University SPHTM. Because of this, she pretty much walks everywhere and never stops talking about food.
Swati J. Shah
Swati grew up primarily in Houston, Texas, gardening and going to farmers markets with her parents since she was a little girl. After finishing her schooling in various parts of the US, she settled in New Orleans and has made farmers markets and farm-to-table foods a permanent part of her life. She has been a shopper and occasional volunteer of the Crescent City Farmers Market since its inception in 1995. From 2008 – 2011, she served as a member of their Community Advisory Team. In 2016, she began serving on the board of the Farmers Market Coalition and served almost 2 terms, ending in December of 2022.
With a professional background as an ob/gyn physician and with a master’s in public health degree from Tulane University (concentration in Maternal and Child Health), she has advocated for healthy foods her entire life. She loves to travel, cook, garden and shop at farmers markets.
And, now with her new business, PlansConnect, she provides networking expertise and consultation for those working in the health and life sciences. And, on the side, she is a travel advisor with Fora Travel.
Pamela Broom
Pamela is an experienced nonprofit administration professional specializing in project planning, implementation, evaluation, research, and grant writing. She is proficient in community development consulting locally, regionally, and nationally with a focus on intergenerational connectedness. The work of her passion is in urban agriculture development, outreach, infrastructure planning and hands-on community-based growing to promote food as medicine.
As former Deputy Director of the New Orleans Food and Farm Network (NOFFN) 2009-2011, she facilitated citywide community outreach, training and technical assistance to individuals and organizations with emerging and established urban agriculture initiatives. She is a graduate of Tulane University and completed Master of Urban Studies (MSUS) coursework at the University of New Orleans’ Department of Urban Studies and Planning focused on applied urban anthropology. Pamela joined NewCorp in 2017 and is currently serving as the 7th Ward Revitalization Project (7WRP) Manager overseeing arts and culture, affordable housing, urban agriculture and green infrastructure, and economic development neighborhood-based revitalization strategies. Pamela is currently guiding the creation of The FARMacia Wellness Hub (the FARMacia), a signature initiative of the 7WRP. The FARMacia is designed to focus on the intersection between urban agriculture and medicine for community wellness.
aminata ndiaye
Aminata Ndiaye has been a part of SPROUT NOLA as a community member and gardener since its founding. SPROUT NOLA has been another home for her and is the reason she has a deep interest in environmental and food justice work.
She currently attends the University of Michigan and plans to major in Environmental Engineering. Through her knowledge in engineering and her wish to continue her community work, she aspires to work on climate change mitigation and environmental policy.
Marie-Isabelle Pautz
Marie-Isabelle Pautz is from Lafayette, Louisiana. She founded a food justice non-profit, EarthShare Gardens in 2002. Over the years she has been involved in a number of other food projects including Abode Farm, Gathering Tree Growers Collective, Maze Garden, and First Grace Community Garden. Marie-Isabelle also does social change work through Restorative Justice, Community Organizing, Music, and Ending Homelessness pathways. In the wake of natural disasters, she organized hurricane survivors to found the Lafayette chapter of People’s Hurricane Relief Fund. Since 2004 she has been involved in Restorative Justice programming at Turning Point Partners/ Community Mediation Services, Partners in Restorative Initiatives, Juvenile Accountability Conferencing, International Institute of Restorative Practices, Center for Restorative Approaches, and Lycee Francais. She has facilitated hundreds of Restorative Justice conferences. Her work on ending homelessness has included services, grants management, as well as program design and management at Bethany House, Hagars House, Travelers Aid Society of GNO, and UNITY. Marie-Isabelle passes on the tradition of Louisiana French music through the bands 'T Marie and The Swamp Blossoms, and also performs with the Crescent City Gentleman. She and her family have an urban homestead and accessible housing community nicknamed “Jukebox Farm” in New Orleans.
Lissie Stewart
Lissie Stewart is the Founder & Executive Director of NOLA Artist Incubator, a nonprofit focused on arts, education and sustainability. Lissie’s background is in art education, where she worked for ten years as a teaching artist in NOLA public schools. She is a TeachNOLA Master Teacher and oversaw the Talented Visual Arts Department and Advanced Placement Studio Art program, while working at Edna Karr. After leaving the classroom to raise her daughter, she obtained her Masters Degree in Educational Leadership and continues to work with students as a State Certified Evaluator of Talented Art and through facilitating the nonprofit’s educational programs.
She advocates for sustainable urban agriculture and the environment through running the Galvez Garden, an award winning USDA People’s Garden that she established located in St. Roch. Lissie serves as the Vice President of the NOLA Nature School Board, in addition to being a committee member for Sprout. She is a 4.0 Schools Tiny Fellow, certified Louisiana Master Gardener, and certified Permaculture Designer (Oregon State University).
After completing her most recent Artist-in-Residency at the Louisiana Children’s Museum, Lissie’s newest installation, as a featured artist in the Committee for a Better New Orleans Civic Art Challenge, demonstrates her continued exploration of themes in nature through her artwork. She’s currently excited about focusing on her upcoming artist invitationals, growing more gardens, and facilitating more accessible youth art programming throughout New Orleans.