Staff
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Maddie is passionate about sustainable agriculture, food equity, and environmental stewardship. She grew up in Colorado and fell in love with Tahoe when she moved to California in 2018. She has found her perfect home working at the Food Hub where she can live in the mountains, work with farmers, and increase community access to fresh local produce.
Maddie earned a Bachelor of Science in American Environmental Policy and Food Systems from the University of California Berkeley. While in school she worked as an entomology research assistant studying California Native Bees and pollination patterns on Avocado Orchards under the direction of Professor Gordon Frankie. She continued to work in Pollinator Conservation as an Intern for the Pollinator Partnership in San Francisco. Maddie previously worked as a farm intern at Sprout City Farms, an Urban Farm in Denver, Colorado.
When she is not working at the Food Hub, Maddie enjoys all the wonderful opportunities living in the Sierra offers including trail running, skiing, hiking, or spending time with her dog Barley and cat, Berkeley.
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As a California native and the daughter of Amigo Bob Cantisano, one of the pioneers of the organic farming movement, Cirra developed an appreciation for fresh, local, organic food at an early age. From growing up on an organic farm, family vacations that centered around agriculture, attending Eco Farm conferences, addressing catalogs for her family's farm and garden supply business, to a stint as the production manager and farmers market representative for their organic olive oil company, organic and sustainable agriculture has been her way of life from the beginning.
After several years in the floral industry as the owner/operator of a local design company specializing in weddings and events, followed by 15 years working as an accountant in both local government and private business, Cirra is thrilled to be returning to her roots as a member of the Tahoe Food Hub team.
In her free time, Cirra enjoys cooking and reading and can be found spending time with her husband and son skiing, biking, hiking and traveling as much as possible.
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Bryan comes from the internationally renowned ski destination of Tucson, Arizona. He picked up backcountry skiing while attending Westminster College in Salt Lake City. He quickly progressed into ski mountaineering and found himself wanting to spend as much time as possible in the mountains. As an AMGA apprentice ski & alpine guide and AIARE Course Instructor Team member he now gets to do just that. Truckee is home but he looks forward to his yearly journey to the PNW where he guides on Mt. Shasta and extends his ski season well into July by venturing to the North Cascades on his days off. He loves to mountain bike and enjoys contributing to our local food web by working part-time for the local non-profit, Tahoe Food Hub.
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Growing up just outside of St Helena, California, Katia has had a love for the outdoors and agriculture since a young age. As a member of 4H and Future Farmers of America in her youth, she realized her love for agriculture and its role in our climate crisis. Katia graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, but still wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.
After graduating from UC Davis, Katia moved back home to work harvest at a small winery and coach middle school mountain biking. But quickly moved to Truckee for the cold winters and countless outdoor activities, and began at the hub as a volunteer!
Katia loves how Tahoe Food Hub connects local producers with customers, and helps spread the importance of supporting local food not only for our neighbors, but our own health.
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Emma, a born and raised Truckee local, is relatively new to the world of agriculture and local food systems. Her background is in outdoor recreation, and she holds a Bachelor's degree in Recreation Management and Leadership. Emma has spent many years guiding hiking and backpacking trips in the Sierra, and spends most of her personal time outside either skiing, rock climbing, or enjoying the outdoors with friends!
After leaving her job in the service industry, Emma decided to switch things up and work at the Food Hub - she couldn't be more stoked with her decision! Expanding her knowledge of different fruits & veggies has been a blast, and has led her to be more creative in the kitchen! She is passionate about providing her life-long community with local, fresh produce and specialty items!
Board
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Daniel is passionate about spending time recreating outdoors, sustainable food systems and surrounding himself with an inspiring community that he has found on the west shore of Lake Tahoe. You can frequently find him backcountry skiing in the winter and mountain biking or hiking in the summers.
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Rachael has lived in North Lake Tahoe for nearly 13 years and is passionate about spending time outside in the many ways the area has to offer. She studied Sustainability and Outdoor Education at Sierra Nevada College. Rachael is passionate about sustainable food systems, food justice, and good food in general. She has worked in the outdoor and restaurant industry, as well as at Patagonia in Reno. Most often Rachael can be found volunteering for Reno Food Systems, Reno Family Soup Mutual Aid, and doing trash cleanups everywhere she goes. Her favorite farmer's market food are Gary's snappy carrots.
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Bill is the president of his family’s business, Kelly Brothers Painting, based in Truckee, CA. For over ten years he has continued to expand his vision of a quality business, community, and the building industry. Bill has built his business on reliability, quality, attention to detail, and customer satisfaction and bringing a family-like relationship to the business. These traits trickle down to the community and build long term loyalty and trust.
Bill is also co-founder of the Tahoe Food Hub and owner of the Growing Dome, which is the home of the Sierra Agroecology Center. The dome was built specifically for the community’s benefit, as 50% of the produce grown is donated to Project Mana and those families in need.
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Darilyn has 30+ years experience as a graphic designer and marketer in the high-tech industry and 18 years focused on sustainability businesses and organizations. She lives a minimalist lifestyle, is a bike advocate, rescues elderly dogs, and is building an off-grid tiny home community in the high desert of Nevada.
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Chef Billy McCullough has over 25 years in the culinary arts. A graduate of The Western Culinary Institute, Billy honed his chops training under two of the area’s top chefs, Douglas Dale of Wolfdale’s and Jean Pierre Doignon of Le Bistro. He became the chef/owner of Dragonfly Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Truckee and the chef/partner of Twenty Two Bistro. He also founded the ‘Best of Tahoe Chefs’ event with Gary Bulmer, which raised money for local cancer causes for the past 14 years. Currently a private chef, he consults with restaurants that are developing sustainable food-focused menus.
At Dragonfly, his unique blend of Asian Flavors coupled with local, sustainable products was called “the first true Cal-Asian Restaurant’ by Mike Dunne of the Sacramento Bee and won “Restaurant of the Year” from the Sierra Sun. And at Twenty Two Bistro, he contributed his culinary style into “comfort food with a global flare,” and has continued his quest to support the “Slow Food” movement by using sustainable, seasonal products.
A bleeding heart philanthropist, Billy was named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Truckee Chamber of Commerce, “Citizen of the Year” by the local Interact Club, and was awarded “Vocational Person of the Year” and the “Paul Harris Award” from the Truckee Noon Rotary Club, where he is an active member. In September 2013 Billy, was awarded the “Spirit of Giving Award” at a special ceremony in his honor for all his generous philanthropic efforts supporting Best of Tahoe Chefs, our Tahoe Forest Health System and so many worthy causes in our region.
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Greg Plotkin brings more than 20 years of experience working in farmland protection and local food system development to his role as a Tahoe Food Hub board member.
Currently, Greg serves as the digital communications manager at American Farmland Trust, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to saving the land that sustains us by protecting farmland, promoting environmentally-sound farming practices, and keeping farmers on the land. Founded in 1980 by lifelong conservationist Peggy Rockefeller, AFT has helped to permanently protect more than 6.5 million acres of farm and ranch land from development while leading the adoption of conservation practices on millions more. In addition to his time with AFT, Greg has also served in fundraising and communications capacities with several other leading nonprofit organizations, including The Edible Schoolyard Project, Trees for the Future, and Rainforest Action Network.
Greg’s passion for agriculture began while growing up and working on a small farm in Connecticut's Farmington River Valley. Today he strives to help build a sustainable food system for farmers and residents in the Reno-Tahoe area. In addition to his role with Tahoe Food Hub, Greg also serves as a volunteer adviser for the Desert Farming Initiative at the University of Nevada, Reno, and operates the LG Farm in Sparks, NV.
Greg holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
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For more than 20 years, Kassie has supported locally grown and sustainably-produced food for her family and for her community. A former corporate lawyer and current civil rights and liberties advocate, she is interested in the nexus between environmental justice and food systems.
