Supporter Spotlight – Andrea Shores

Meet Andrea Shores, one of our best long-time supporters!

Andrea is a business operations professional who focuses on driving impact through strategic planning, people and culture initiatives, and budget oversight. She also has extensive experience in corporate communications and PR. Andrea is a serious home cook and an amateur gardener who maximizes every inch of her tiny midtown KCMO yard.

Growing up on a cattle farm and with grandparents who preserved food from their huge garden, Andrea has long appreciated food and agriculture. She was introduced to us in 2010 through Cultivate KC founder and former Executive Director, Katherine Kelly, while working as a local food marketing specialist with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. After Andrea left her job with MDA and returned to Kansas City full time, Katherine asked her to serve on the Marketing & Communications Committee. Eleven years later, she’s still supporting our work as a board member. Over the years, she has served on committees, the board, helped run the Dig In! dinner, volunteered and donated- AND connected others to Cultivate KC along the way! 

Her favorite parts of working with our organization have been the community and the people. She says, “I’m lucky that most of those I gather around a table with and celebrate all of life’s happenings with are people I’ve met through my more than a decade working with Cultivate Kansas City.”

“Cultivate KC’s work to make a resilient food system accessible and available for all is meaningful because I believe that a local food system is paramount to creating healthy communities, and that everyone should have access to nutritious food grown in a sustainable system.”

Andrea’s favorite market is the Brookside Farmers Market. Fun fact: she was the Brookside Market Manager for two seasons. And her favorite veggie? Hot peppers! Every year she grows and sources hot red peppers to make her annual batch of lacto-fermented hot sauce. She finally grew enough peppers in 2021 to share her bounty with others.

Thank you, Andrea, for all you have done for us over the years. We hope you’ll stick around for many years to come!

photo credit: Naomi Read Photography