Experience

Farm Alliance of Baltimore

• United States
• Farming
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Co Executive Director

  • Dec 2021 - Present

  Grassroots nonprofit leader on the fundraising, development and policy/grassroots advocacy side at Baltimore's only membership organization for urban farms and community gardens. Proud to co-lead alongside my co-ED, Denzel Mitchell, Jr.

• Executive Director

  • Jul 2017 - Dec 2021

  I direct grassroots member organizing, operations, programming, marketing, strategic planning, fundraising, and administration for this citywide membership organization of 24 urban farms and community gardens. In the last 5+ years, I've:Tripled FAB's membership base to 100+ farmers and community gardeners.Brought experienced urban farmers and financial managers to FAB's staff for a total of 6 full time.Raised over $1.7 million in revenues for this nonprofit membership org to build programs and technical services that advance our mission of community power, & values of sustainable agriculture, education, collective power, solidarity, and equity. Built partnerships that have resulted in material gains and long-term land tenure for member farms, especially Black and Indigenous-led and LGBTQIA+- led farms. Maintained a cooperative farm stand that aggregates produce from 6 micro-scale urban farms in Baltimore and passes through 100% of sales to the farms.Co-led a coalition-based community conversation series to build a comprehensive, people's land reparations policy for Baltimore driven by city residents.During COVID, I raised $102,000 from over a half dozen philanthropic organizations and another $50,000 from individual donors for direct cash assistance, infrastructure, PPE, safe post-harvest washing stations, and equipment and tools for our member farms. Part of this effort, the Black Farmers' Resilience Fund, provided over $43,000 in direct cash payments to Black urban farmers in Baltimore City.Spearheaded best financial practices at the organization, with board-level governance trainings and orientations, and provided quarterly budget projections and financial reports.Organized anti-racism and trauma-informed practices trainings and set a precedent for incorporating anti-racist, healing principles in all programming and partnerships. Produced a monthly newsletter to keep our 2100+ donors, supporters, members, and friends of FAB engaged and informed. Show less



MT Strauss Consulting

• Owner

  • Jan 2022 - Present

  Designing people-powered sustainable food and labor systems with local communities. Applied research, local and regional strategies for food and urban agriculture development, leadership development with a solidarity approach. Provide expertise and project management in local and regional food systems and grassroots community engagement for small to medium sized government agencies, universities, institutions and nonprofits/NGOs. Projects include: Senior Consultant and Project Lead for ChangeMatters on Community Food Assessment for South Anne Arundel County, 2022. In partnership with: Anne Arundel County Department of Health, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Leadership Transition Consulting for Baltimore City nonprofit organizations Show less



Freelance Journalist

• Germany
• Media Production

• Writer, Editor, Researcher

  • Jun 2011 - May 2020

  I reported, researched, wrote, and edited news features, reported columns, magazine features, profiles, articles, and op-eds on the following beats: Labor; Labor rights in the food system; Child labor; Immigrants' rights; Workers' health and safety; Work and the Environment; Global food supply chains; Right wing activism; Right wing economics; Infrastructure of the conservative movement and other right-wing movements; Prison abolition; Urban farmers and gardeners' movements; Public lands. Bylines in: In These Times, The Nation, Al Jazeera America, The New Labor Forum, The Public Eye, Political Research Associates, Global Comment, The Baffler, Truthout. I was shortlisted in 2013 for the Molly Ivins Award of the Texas Observer for my article for The Nation on the Obama administration's abandonment of agricultural job protections for 12-15 year olds. That article, written in partnership with Type Investigations, was called "Regulations are Killed, and Kids Die". From 2015-2020, I wrote a reported column titled "Roots of Rebellion" for the academic journal The New Labor Forum out of CUNY's School of Labor & Urban Studies. Show less



Longview Publishing

• United States
• Writing and Editing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Managing Editor

  • Jan 2016 - Jul 2017

  I managed news content for The People's World, an advocacy news outlet of the Left. I supervised, trained and mentored staff reporters and photographers, assigned stories, and coordinated and supervised reporting trips for news and photography staff. Served on editorial board alongside veteran labor reporters and editorial/op-ed editors. I helped lead the re-design of the People's World website to create a sharper and more user-friendly presentation. I managed news content for The People's World, an advocacy news outlet of the Left. I supervised, trained and mentored staff reporters and photographers, assigned stories, and coordinated and supervised reporting trips for news and photography staff. Served on editorial board alongside veteran labor reporters and editorial/op-ed editors. I helped lead the re-design of the People's World website to create a sharper and more user-friendly presentation.



Political Research Associates

• United States
• Research Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Economic Justice Researcher

  • Sep 2014 - Dec 2016

  I worked as part of a research team examining the various conservative movements that shape the Right, tracking their activities and key leaders in the area of economics and employer-side labor relations. I attended right-wing conferences and posed as an HR professional in order to gain access to documents and individuals who serve as "thought leaders" in the corporate movement to crush labor unions and harm workers' rights in the US. I also looked closely at tax documents and public filings in order to analyze the dark money profiles of right-wing think tanks and nonprofit organizations that promote anti-worker agendas. I published several articles based on my research, and edited several more for The Public Eye, a magazine published by Political Research Associates. Show less


International Labor Communications Association
• Writing and Editing
• 1 - 100 Employee
• Director Of Communications

  • Jan 2008 - Jun 2011