Brien Darby
Executive Director

Brien supports the staff and programs and keeps the wheels turning by keeping the focus on our core mission and strategic plan. Brien is passionate about urban farming, community building and spreadsheets.

Favorite vegetable: Kale

Alicia Alferman
Communications and Events Associate

Alicia shares the work of Cultivate KC through the website and social media. She facilitates connections by helping events run smoothly. She’s the voice on the phone, and though she may not know the answer to your farming or policy question, she’s happy to point you to the people who do.

Favorite vegetable: Cabbage (so underrated.)

Paul Cesare
Farm Crew, Westport Commons Farm

After having worked for many years in non-profit administration, Paul Cesare has temporarily traded in his suits for his boots. Gardening and farming have been a part of Paul’s life for many years.  He is certified in permaculture design and continues to learn from colleagues in the field and over a conversation with food.

Favorite vegetable: It’s a toss up between Beet Chocolate Cake and Kale Chocolate Chip Cookies (no, seriously- they are too vegetables!)

Sam Davis
Site Coordinator, Juniper Gardens Training Farm

Sam takes care of all things related to operations and maintenance of the farm – he’s the one making sure the farm actually functions. Many of the current and graduate farmers tend to call Sam first whenever they need help or have any questions. Sam is also the farm guardian and watch-dog; he’s always checking in on the farm to make sure everything’s in tact.

Favorite fruit: Watermelon

Lana Dominguez
Program Manager, Food Access

Favorite fruit: Her mom’s garden-grown tomatoes!

Semra Fetahovic
Program Manager, Juniper Gardens Training Farm

Semra co-manages the New Roots for Refugees program by assisting the refugee farmers on-site – basically making sure everything at Juniper Gardens runs smoothly!

Favorite fruit: Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplants – all the summer crops!

Mark Gawron
Program Manager, Metro Farms & Food Systems

Mark engages with a wide variety of people who are starting, operating, and growing farms and community-based food projects and is charged with assisting them in realizing their goals while helping to develop a diverse and strong local food system.

Favorite fruit: Blueberry

Amanda Lindahl
Farmer Trainer, Juniper Gardens Training Farm & Graduate Services Specialist

Amanda supports the New Roots for Refugees farmers at Juniper Gardens Training Farm and New Roots for Refugee Graduates by providing hands-on assistance, advice, and mentoring.

Favorite vegetable: Sweet potato because they’re so easy to grow and store for eating all year long.

Mary Nguyen
Director, Community Engagement

Mary makes sure people who are interested or involved in the food system can do so through the work and connections of Cultivate KC.

Favorite Vegetable: Radish

Vincent Nguyen
Director, Development

Vince grows the green! He cultivates our philanthropy to raise the funds needed to support our vital programs in the community.

Favorite Vegetable: Broccoli, because you can pretend you’re a giant eating small trees.

Eli O’Sullivan Kurtz
Program Associate, Food Access

Eli supports our Food Access programming. First he collects data from farmers markets about Double Up Food Bucks and Market Match. Then he wrangles that data to clearly show the value of building relationships between local food production and folks in need.

Favorite Fruit: A really good pear

Daniel Robinson
Site Manager, Westport Commons Farm

Daniel manages Westport Commons Farm. He is a plant enthusiast, and avid guerrilla gardener. He’s passionate about locally grown food and learning the food systems tat surround us. As current president of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Young Farmers coalition Daniel intends to not strengthen the connection to people and their food, but the policies that affect them also.

Favorite Fruit: Mango

Linda Siemens
Director, Finance & Administration

Linda oversees annual budgeting process and monitoring, human resources, information technology, and the database.

Favorite vegetable: Cherry tomatoes

Ladan Soleimani
Development Coordinator

As the development coordinator, Ladan manages our Salesforce database and assists with grant writing and donation campaigns.

Favorite vegetable: Eggplant

Paul Zehr
Site Manager, Juniper Gardens Training Farm

Paul helps to keep things running at Juniper Gardens, from fixing water lines to amending soil. He also gets really excited about multicultural spaces, which are abundant at Juniper. Paul’s favorite thing to do is nerd out with folks, whether that be cover cropping, world languages, or D&D.

Favorite vegetable: BEETS (roasted with goat cheese, they could possibly be the meaning of life)

PJ Quell & Larry Davis
Volunteers Extraordinaire

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