who
STAFF
Amanda Linh Vong, Culinary Program Specialist & Chef Educator
Amanda Linh Vong (she/they) is a local chef & community gardener. They are a member of bitter cotyledons, a qtapi (queer trans asian pacific islander collective), that is focused on centering and sharing stories through the lens of ancestral foodways, food growing, and community as creative resilience. They also own and operate a Vietnamese food pop-up called, Auntie Manna’s, which celebrates and honors family recipes through locally sourced and seasonally grown produce. They have partnered with Second Generation Seeds to explore heritage seeds and their cultural, as well as culinary significance for the Vietnamese community. Amanda is excited to cultivate joy in the culinary experiences at Pie Ranch.
Callie Smith, Farmstand Manager
Callie (she/her) is a proud born and raised resident of a small rural community in the Santa Cruz mountains. She spends most of her life outdoors either hiking with her dogs or working in her garden. She is a results-driven and detail-oriented customer service worker, passionate about serving and creating customer satisfaction. With a focus on brightening customers’ days, she has a tally of how many frowns she has turned upside down! She also prides herself on being able to listen and hear what folks are looking for, so she can best direct them on what baked goods to order, and even what hike fits into their day.
Delma Soult, Director of Finance, HR & Administration
Delma (she/her) handles everything from budget creation and monitoring to financial reporting to the board, payroll, benefits and overall HR and organizational policies. A business graduate from the University of Seville, Spain, and an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology, Delma brings 25+ years of finance and non-profit management experience to her work with Pie Ranch. A passion for food and nature and a strong desire to make an impact in the food system influenced her switch from the corporate tech world to the nonprofit ag sector. A mother of two locally schooled teenagers and an artist in her free time, Delma feels very strongly about Pie Ranch’s mission and our pies!
Elizabeth Cruz-Antonio, Admin and Development Associate
Elias Rodriguez, Facilities and Operations Support Specialist
Elias (he/him), who has a Mexican background, is originally from Gilroy and specializes in auto and equipment mechanics. Elias is very interested in health and food and has been part of the local farming community for a few years. Through his varied work experience and personal journey he feels he has the skills and mindset necessary to help make food accessible for those that most need it and is happy to join us in the efforts to improve the quality of everybody's lives, the land we live and work on, as well as enrich the diverse communities here on the coast through the practices being put to use within Pie Ranch and Cascade.
Jed Roth, Lead Facilities and Operations Support Specialist
Jed (he/him) hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but has spent the last two decades in Santa Cruz, where the north coast has always felt like home. His reverence for organic farming stems from a lifelong wish to tread lightly and live healthfully. While he has never been cool enough to be a farmer he has worked for several organic farms, in sales and field production roles. He is educated in marine biology and spent years in Alaska and California studying commercial fishing, with an emphasis on conservation. Working with both wild and cultivated food systems has spurred unique and fascinating relationships with people and the planet alike.
Jesse Crouch, farmstand delivery driver
Jesse (they/them) has been working at Pie Ranch since 2019. They grew up in Tahoe and moved to Santa Cruz during their high school years. Being from Tahoe, Jesse appreciates the nature and landscape around them but never had access to fresh produce or products until they moved to Santa Cruz. They have always had interest in locally sourced produce and products that are sustainable. They have worked with food in the restaurant business for about 9 years but never had the opportunity to see and appreciate where it all begins. Having the opportunity to work for such a great team here at Pie Ranch has made Jesse appreciate their community and fresh products to which they now have access.
Jered Lawson, Director of Partnerships & Strategic Initiatives
Before co-founding Pie Ranch in 2003, Jered (he/him) worked with various organizations in California that share a common goal of influencing the way people relate to themselves, each other and the land around them through the development of healthy, local and just food systems. Jered leads the organization's regional advocacy efforts, joins in farm operations, and works with the Board of Directors to raise the necessary support to fulfill the mission and infrastructure improvements of Pie Ranch. Jered lives on the farm with his partner Nancy and their children, Lucas and Rosa, and loves to surf when time allows.
Kelly Muñoz, Development Support Consultant
L Gilbert, Farm Manager
L Gilbert (they/them) is an artist, farmer, and educator focused on cultivating meaningful connections to the land. In 2023, they received their MFA from the University of California Santa Cruz where they co-created The Greenhouse Project. The Greenhouse Project is an educational community space that centers of art, food, and climate justice. L is excited to join the Pie Ranch staff as the farm manager, to deepen their relationship to food justice work both in the field and with students.
Leonard Diggs, Director of Farmer & Rancher opportunities
Leonard Diggs (he/him) has managed sustainable and organic farms in northern California for over 30 years, including a 365 acre college farm with annual and perennial crops, a winery, livestock and a mixed species forest. Leonard has also instructed a wide range of agricultural classes and served on numerous agricultural boards and committees in an effort to share his experieces with current and future generations of gardeners and farmers.
Maceo Hart-Kapic, Farmstand Assistant Manager
Margarito Gomez, Grounds Manager and Farming Support Specialist
Margarito (he/him) has worked with Pie Ranch since 2018, helping the farm by restoring Green Oaks Creek after the 2020 CZU fire and removing invasive plants throughout the wildlands surrounding the farm fields. Margarito also works hard to maintain the Native Garden and paths and roads around the farm. Margarito values his health and wellbeing, and can often be found playing volleyball, basketball or soccer in Pescadero. He enjoys spending time with his family on the weekends, especially in the outdoors. He loves spending time in nature and deeply appreciates the land on which he spends his time at Pie Ranch.
Nancy Vail, Executive Director
Nancy (she/her) is a broadly experienced farmer, educator, and advocate for a just and regenerative food system. Previous to co-founding Pie Ranch in 2003, Nancy taught in schools K-12, worked on a number of farms abroad and throughout the United States, eventually landing at UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) where she farmed and taught for over a decade. Nancy is passionate about the intersections of justice, history, land, food, and farming; co-leads the organization in a vision of healing our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the Earth; oversees key partnerships with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and Land Trust and Be Present Inc; works on building a culture of care with our diverse Board and Staff; and assists with our educational programs and farm production. Nancy also works with various groups on undoing oppressive structures while building authentic, long-lasting relationships that honor our differences and interconnectedness. Nancy lives at Pie Ranch with Jered, their children Rosa and Lucas, dog Rocky, and enjoys playing fiddle at the monthly barn dance with the band, The HomePie String Band.
Nina Berry, Public Engagement Senior Manager
Nina (she/her) is a coastal dweller, cat owner, and heirloom bean enthusiast She grew up in Soquel, CA surrounded by eucalyptus trees, redwood forest, and her grandmother’s garden. After college in Portland, OR, she turned her interests toward the land and repairing the relationship between young people and the earth. She has taught primitive skills as an outdoor educator, served in a classroom as a preschool teacher, and traveled extensively throughout the Americas. In 2019, Nina apprenticed at Oz Farm, a small organic farm and orchard on the Mendocino coast. She is excited to bring her skills in wildcrafting, cooking, and square dancing to events and programming at Pie Ranch.
Rosa Lawson, Farmstand Assistant
Rosa (she/her) grew up both in the Pescadero and Santa Cruz community. She has been involved with Pie Ranch her whole life. She has worked on the farm with school groups, hosted pie bakes in her home, helped package produce boxes for Food Hub, and has made many yummy treats from harvests with past apprentices. Rosa grew up running around the Barn Dances, and is now helping organize the kiosks in the Farmstand to set up the festivities. During the Covid lockdown, Rosa started to use watercolors to paint flowers and birds observed at the farm and began selling her cards at the Farmstand.
Rosanna Petralia, Agriculture & Natural Resources Conservation Specialist
Rosanna (she/her) grew up on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and has lived on the San Mateo Coastside for over 20 years. She is a trained naturalist and geographer and worked as a program manager at California State Parks for most of her career. During her years at State Parks, Rosanna became progressively more interested in the intersection of climate change and environmental equity. She feels very fortunate to work for the Cascade Regenerator Program helping to develop viable and productive farming and land stewardship practices to face the environmental challenges ahead.
Sammie Riedman, Farm & Food Education Program Manager
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Sammie (she/her) learned to love the outdoors through the seasonality of the Pacific Northwest, savoring the chance to get outside to hike, camp, and fish in the summer after countless rainy days. Sammie fell in love with farming while volunteering at Marra Farm— a bio-intensive farm with a mission to combat food apartheid in the Duwamish River Valley. At Marra farm, she strengthened her understanding of using farming as a restorative justice practice. For almost ten years, Sammie has explored different aspects of food through her educational experience, production farming, and teaching Edible Schoolyard curriculum to kindergarteners in South Korea. Sammie was drawn to Pie Ranch’s mission to cultivate a healthy and just food system, and excited to be able to use her past farming and teaching. Sammie has an obsession with all things food. In her free time you can find her cooking Chinese comfort foods for friends and family.
Sharif Musaji, Director of food education Programs
Sharif (he/him) grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and he'd love to tell you about why it's such a great city! Please don't point out that he doesn't live there. Embrace the contradiction. After film school and several years of service in Americorps, his interests and passions were steadily coalescing around social justice, food sovereignty, and addressing the climate crisis. So naturally, he ended up as an apprentice at Pie Ranch in 2014, and then worked as assistant and co-farm manager in 2015. At his first Pie Ranch barn dance, he met his future wife. Yes, really. He left Pie in 2016 to get his Master’s in Social Justice Education from the University of San Francisco and to start a family. He taught Ethnic Studies, U.S. History, and Photography at Berkeley High School. Although he loves teaching, he's beyond excited to be a part of the educational opportunities and offerings at Pie. He likes chewing on raw rhubarb, even though he knows he’s not supposed to.
Sira Anderson, Grants Writer & Manager
Sira (she/her) connects nonprofits with the funds to feed their missions, and has worked with more than 15 organizations in ten years. She brings to Pie Ranch her extensive experience in grant writing, individual and major donor fundraising, databases, direct mail appeals and special events. Since 2008, Sira has been Pie Ranch’s grant writer, and has helped to manage the donor database and fundraising appeals. She loves helping Pie Ranch inspire youth and adults to connect to the source of their food, and helping funders fall in love with Pie Ranch! Sira lives in Oakland and her favorite things are good conversations, eating noodles and reading advice columns.
Sophie Heimerdinger, Grizzlycorps Fellow
Sophie (she/her) grew up in Fairfax, California, just north of San Francisco where she developed a love for nature and the outdoors. She received her bachelor's degree in environmental management and protection, focusing on natural resource management, plant sciences, and regenerative agriculture as particular interests. She now aims to engage in work that connects herself and others with the Earth, all the while protecting the planet as a means of land stewardship. She is now serving with GrizzlyCorps through UC Berkeley, with Pie Ranch as her host site for the year. Here she will assist in an integrated aquaculture-agriculture research project with UC Santa Cruz, support Pie Ranch programs, as well as further conservation efforts at Cascade Ranch.
Tamar Ingber, Design & Communications Sr Manager
Tamar (she/her) is our Farmstand manager. She combines her love of food, farming, and design to our Farmstand each day. Tamar grew up in the heart of it all, Ohio. She studied environmental graphic design in Philadelphia, followed her tastebuds to live and work in Israel, and eventually found farming in California to support her love of being outside, and supporting gardens and kitchens in growing strong, local foodsheds. Her work at Pie Ranch has cultivated her passion to inspire a healthy, nutritionally rich world through sharing recipes, engaging with visitors, and making mountains of produce at the roadside barn. When not at Pie, you can find her on a beach walk.
Taya Markham, Farmstand Assistant
Taya (she/they) was raised in rural, agriculturally-focused places in the Bay Area for nearly their entire life, further pursuing knowledge on related topics through their work in San Francisco State Parks' Linking Individuals with their Natural Communities (LINC) internship, a program that helps high school students learn more about the history of State Parks, habitat restoration, and food justice. Taya is currently attending Cabrillo Community College studying for an Associate's degree in English literature. In her free time, Taya is likely to be found watching video essays, writing, drawing, and cooking!
BOARD
Amina Burrell worked in the public and non-profit sector off and on for 10 years. She obtained her Masters in Public Health with an emphasis in Community Health Education from San Jose State University as well as her undergraduate degree in Health Science, also from San Jose State University. She also completed training in Regenerative farming and Permaculture Practice from Eco-Landscape Mastery School. In 2019, she decided to start a gardening school for children called Eco-Wonderschool after spending much free time volunteering for organizations like Peninsula Open Space Trust, UCCE Master Gardeners, and the East Palo Alto Senior Advisory Commission. Currently her work allows Amina to directly build and grow meaningful relationships all around health, food, education, and advocacy. Joining the Pie Ranch Board provides Amina with an opportunity to use her experience, loves, and interest to esteem the great work going forth at Pie.
Anuja Mendiratta (she/her), principal and founder of Philanthropic + Nonprofit Consulting, has been working on critical environmental, gender justice, human rights, racial and social justice, and cross-movement issues for more than 20 years. Anuja serves as the Senior Philanthropic Advisor to the Race, Gender and Human Rights Fund, which support movement efforts that challenge the criminal justice system and mass incarceration in California. She co-founded the California Criminal Justice Funders Group, is a member of the Green Leadership Trust, a steering committee member of the Health and Environmental Funders Network, and an advisor to Knoll Farm’s Better Selves Fellowship. Anuja has an undergraduate in environmental sciences from Antioch College and a master’s in environmental studies focused on the political economy of food and food justice from York University. She is the daughter of Punjabi Indian immigrants and a Midwesterner from beautiful Ohio, who currently resides on unceded Ohlone lands in the Bay Area. Anuja loves being outdoors, and is an occasional poet, a gardener, and a walker of this beautiful earth. She is deeply honored to be joining Pie Ranch as a new board member.
Emily Fan (she/her) is General Counsel and Secretary for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. For the past 20 years, she has practiced law primarily in the nonprofit and international development sectors. Emily holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and graduated cum laude in sociology with a focus on Asian American studies from Bryn Mawr College. She loves eating fruit, napping with her pups in a sunny spot, and being in and by the ocean. Emily is cultivating her practice of rest and being in nature.
Joy Moore played a key role in community efforts to reform school lunch in the Berkeley Unified School District, co-founded Farm Fresh Choice, and is a member of the Berkeley Food Policy Council. She has lived and worked in Berkeley since 1969 having migrated from New York City. Retired from the City of Berkeley Chronic Disease Prevention Program in 2007, she attended UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Joy currently teaches a garden based nutrition program to high school students and their families in the Berkeley Unified School District. She has served on many non-profit boards and councils, including the Ecology Center, Women of Color Resource Center, Berkeley Food Policy Council, Satellite Affordable Housing Associates and the local station board of KPFA/Pacifica Radio. Joy strives to provide access for low resource communities to be able to grow and eat organically.
Laurie Hughes has brought students from Oceana High School in Pacifica to Pie Ranch for a weeklong interim program at the end of March since 2008. Through the school's affiliation with Pie Ranch, Oceana High School now has a sizable school garden, a garden advisory and a cooking class, and is one of Pie Ranch's partner schools. Until her retirement in 2019, Laurie taught humanities and cooking at Oceana. Currently she still teaches the cooking class and looks forward to bringing 20 Oceana students and a colleague to Pie Ranch for interim the last week in March. She lives in San Francisco in a multi-generational home with her husband, daughter, grandsons and nephew. She spends much of her time either cooking, gardening or caring for her amazing grandsons, Alaji and Tijan. She is looking forward to her new role as a board member at Pie Ranch.
Tiffany Brown worked in the non-profit sector for over a decade before transitioning into her work in finance. Her career has ranged from being Co-Director at YES!, Board member at Common Fire Foundation, founding advisor to Kindle Project Foundation, to directing national leadership retreats at Resource Generation, and serving on the Finance Committee for Haymarket People’s Fund. Most of her work has been focused on working with young people with wealth. Her entry into social justice work was through learning about race and racism in the US, and interning with the SE Regional NAACP’s Prison Project in Atlanta, GA. Tiffany cultivated her zest for justice at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in Community Studies. Tiffany loves hosting dinner parties, dancing and homemaking. She enjoys karaoke with friends, where she can allow her inner performer to run wild.
CIRCLE OF ADVISORS
Pie Ranch’s Circle of Advisors is a group of individuals who provide vision and guidance to Pie Ranch through mentorship, advising, classes, and partnership.