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Who We Are

Farming Hope began by two graduate students who had a dream of nourishing dreams and nourishing community through food and job-training. Years later we are still driven by the same core principles that our co-founders wove into the fabric of our work:

Food is a human right. Everyone needs to be needed. Neither food nor human potential should go to waste. Thank you for supporting our Apprentices and our team!

2016

Founded at Stanford Graduate School Lecture

2017

Started at farmer’s market with Apprentices

2018

Opened cafe in Mission District

2020

Began food security meals program

2021

Opened Refettorio San Francisco

2023

Moved to 690 Van Ness

Our Team

Andie Sobrepeña
Co-Executive Director

Haley Nielsen
Development Director

Chef DJ Hollister
Culinary Director

Ramesses Olivares-Ochoa
Associate Director of Community Food Programs

Itzel Rojas
Program Manager

Anselmo Gonzalez
Chef de Cuisine

Mauro Juarez-Ramos Cook & Trainer

Melvin Perez
Kitchen Porter & Trainer

Jade Quizon
Development Manager

Louisa Montes
Custodian

Divya Saikumar
Food Programs Intern

Jamie Stark
Co-Founder

Kevin Madrigal
Co-Founder

See our careers page

Thank you to Lisa Frare Photography for many of the photos on our website.

Board of Directors

Stephanie Weiler
Board Chair

Tricia Chandiramani
Vice Chair

Maddy Shannon
Treasurer

Becca Plofker
Board Member

Joan Hanawi Carlock
Board Member

Kathy Gu
Board Member

Michelle Minori
Board Member

Noa Davidson
Board Member

Salim Shariff
Board Member

Sarah Salomon
Board Member

Emeritus Board Members

Lyndsey Boucherle, Hector Calderon, Terri Dayal, Shelley Dyer, Michael Fu, Sheena Jain, Xochitl Hernandez, Ilana Lipset, Lucia Gaia Pohlman, Dina Polanco-Mendoza, Savannah Schoelen, Victor Smith

Press

Reports

Farming Hope is a registered 501(c)(3) Tax ID: 83-2393341

IRS status Determination letter

2024 Annual Economic Statement

See our Annual Reports (Gratitude reports) and 990’s below.

Join us in the fight

Farming Hope is different — we pay Apprentices while they learn in our program.
Paying people makes sense, but costs dollars.

Andie Sobrepeña

Co-Executive Director

Prior to joining the Farming Hope team, Andie opened and ran her family's multi-unit restaurant and catering business, Foundation Cafe, starting in 2012. She brings with her a deep understanding of operational management and is passionate about making real change in our broken food systems. Having grown up in San Francisco, she is energized by the impact Farming Hope has on the lives of our vulnerable neighbors and the community that we will build to support them.

Haley Nielsen

Development Director

Haley Nielsen has raised nearly $10M over her decade of experience in nonprofit development, most recently in national environmental organizations. Haley grew up in kitchens and understands the power of food to create and sustain communities, learning from her father who is a chef. She is deeply inspired by Farming Hope’s vision of a more sustainable and equitable food system and looks forward to telling Farming Hope’s story to inspire more public and private funding.

Darrin "DJ" Hollister

Culinary Director

Chef DJ grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and appreciates the fact that working with Farming Hope means he will be directly supporting folks who are in need.

Chef DJ studied culinary arts at Laney College in Oakland & his biggest culinary inspiration was his dad who introduced him to different foods at a young age, like pickled pig feet and hog head cheese. Chef DJ was most recently the Kitchen Manager at Black Cat Jazz and Supper Club and prior to that was the Executive Chef at Farmer Brown, both located nearby in the Tenderloin.

Chef DJ is especially exited for his role here at Farming Hope & views it as a dream job mentioning how “working with people in need is something I have always wanted to do. I feel honored to have this opportunity”.

When he’s not throwing down in the kitchen he is off spending his time creating art employing canvas & paint as his expressive medium. He’s also an avid reader, and appreciates trying new restaurants & cuisines in addition to riding his bike.

When asked what is one piece of advice he plans to always give to Apprentices he spoke of how he’ll always remind them that the “sky is the limit”.

Ramesses Olivares-Ochoa

Refettorio SF General Manager

Ram has been a huge Farming Hope supporter since it’s partnership with Manny’s began. He has years of experience in management, running the operations at Manny’s for 3+ years and then assisting in opening and running a coffee shop within a health center in SF. He is so glad to have found his way into the position at Farming Hope because he is passionate about giving back to the people in our community that truly need it and employs his expert levels of calm and patience to help the team find success. Outside of work, Ram can be found cooking, soaking up the sunshine with his dog Goose or enjoying this vibrant city with friends and family.

Itzel Rojas

Program Manager

Itzel was born and raised in Oakland, CA, but she has many places to call home. Itzel enjoys drawing, cooking, fashion, and music. Growing up, Itzel dedicated most of her time to supporting her family, being a role model to her younger siblings, and volunteering at local clubs and nonprofits such as Build On, Latinos Unidos, Californians For Justice, Hermanas Unidas, and Project Connect, while balancing family, school, and other hobbies. From then onwards, Itzel sprouted a passion for helping others, whether it was giving food to the unhoused community, teaching art to kindergarteners, providing ABA therapy to kids in the Autism spectrum, or facilitating fun icebreakers.

After graduating from Oakland High School, Itzel relocated to San Francisco, where she attended San Francisco State University and she graduated in 2021 with a B.A. in Criminal Justice, where she learned about the criminal justice system and society's response to crime. Itzel now continues to help the community around her, advocate for the vulnerable, and apply her knowledge and experience anywhere she can.

Anselmo Gonzelez

Chef de Cuisine

Anselmo Gonzalez moved from Guerrero, Mexico to New York City to begin his career in the restaurant industry. He started as a prep cook at acclaimed seafood restaurant Esca and later moved into their pastry department. Anselmo uses his 15 years of experience from creative kitchens like Esca and San Francisco’s Coqueta and Boulevard to lead the ideation and execution of Farming Hope’s Community Meal production efforts. He finds joy in adapting recipes to use the wide variety of donated food received at the kitchen on any given day.

Mauro Juarez Ramos

Cook and Trainer

Hailing from Mexico, Mauro has lived in the Bay Area for 22 years. Through 25 years of kitchen experience and 18 years of experience managing kitchens, he has worked with Italian, Mexican and Chinese food and culture. I like working at Farming Hope because most of the staff are very welcoming and always looking for ways to help others and are always available. Mauro believes that when unity is needed in the kitchen, everyone joins together as one team and gets it done.

Melvin Perez

Lead Apprentice

Melvin has been with Farming Hope since May of 2022 as an Apprentice in our Plum Cohort. He is based here in San Francisco. During his time off he spends time with his son. Melvin is very exited to contribute to the learning and growth of our current cohort.

Jade Quizon

Development Manager

Jade was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She graduated from the University of California, Davis with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. After graduating, she started working for a biotechnology company where she would spend 12 years honing her professional skills. While always feeling a pull to protect Mother Nature, she found herself volunteering for organizations that planted sidewalk trees and for urban gardens. In 2017, she decided to finally leave her tech job and spend time volunteering on organic farms across Central and South America. Upon returning from her travels, she started working for a boutique grocery store that was known for having the most delicious but also expensive produce. From here she decided that she wanted to help create a more just food system – a system where delicious, nutritious food is accessible to all. This ambition would lead her to living and working on a farm in Pescadero, returning to school to obtain a Master’s in Development Practice with an emphasis on food systems work, developing API Councils’ food justice portfolio, co-leading a new food sovereignty coalition called FAACTS (Food and Agriculture Action Coalition Toward Sovereignty), and joining Farming Hope.

Louisa Montes

Custodian

Louisa joined Farming Hope in October 2022, initially starting as an Apprentice in our Persimmon Cohort. Recently, she took on the role of Custodian, ensuring that our facilities remain clean and tidy so that we can provide the best standard of service to the people accessing our programs.

Louisa values her time with Farming Hope because it is a great organization that does good work in the community that offers flexibility in her schedule so she can support her family. During her days off, she enjoys taking walks with her children.

When asked for advice to give to incoming Apprentices, she said, "Put dedication into everything you have the opportunity to learn here at Farming Hope. Focus on learning and personal growth during your time here, rather than just productivity."

Divya Saikumar

Food Programs Intern

Divya is a student at Rice University studying Environmental Science and Social Policy Analysis. She has always been passionate about food systems and food justice and has been involved in environmental nonprofits from a young age. After researching and exploring many paths, she hopes to form her career in issue spaces like Farming Hope, at the intersection of environmental and social justice. Divya found Farming Hope through her fellowship with the Farmlink Project, where she is researching and developing action plans to combat food waste and food insecurity issues. During her time at Farming Hope, she hopes to increase the amount of fresh produce recovered, improve the efficiency of operations, and provide more resources to the families Farming Hope serves. Divya is grateful to the entire Farming Hope team as well as the Farmlink Project for providing her with the opportunity to explore solutions to pressing issues in San Francisco. Outside of her advocacy work, she is an avid gardener, a lover of true crime shows, and a nature-walking enthusiast!

Jamie Stark

Co-founder

Jamie Stark co-founded Farming Hope in 2016 after working with a similar program in El Salvador for several years. A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Jamie began as the gardener for Farming Hope, alongside co-founder and Bay Area native Kevin Madrigal, the nonprofit's first chef. Early program Apprentices described growing and cooking food as therapeutic, as tools that helped them give back and belong. This universal "need to be needed" continues to be a core component of Farming Hope's theory of change.

Kevin Madrigal

Co-founder, Advisor

Kevin Madrigal (Co-founder, Advisor) is a food justice advocate that is reimagining health with ancestral Mexican cooking. He studied public health through the lens of food at Stanford with a B.A. in Human Biology. He has staged at Michelin-starred Californios and Chez Panisse and developed plant-based menus for Schwab Executive Catering Services. Kevin believes that cooking is one of the most political and meaningful traditions we practice today, and that we all deserve the right to decide how, what, and why we eat.

Kevin learned to cook the flavors of Guadalajara, Jalisco from his mother and abuela (both fans of Farming Hope dinners) in his two hometowns: South San Francisco and Zapopan. Kevin was Farming Hope’s very first chef, and continues to serve as a trusted advisor on Farming Hope’s programming and strategic vision.

Stephanie Weiler

Stephanie’s career has always focused on the care of others. As an undergrad at University of Pennsylvania she studied anthropology and biology, setting up a Masters in Physical Therapy at University of California, San Francisco. After graduate school Stephanie dove into this career, ultimately going on to run a group of six clinics in the Bay Area for Physiotherapy Associates.

Upon taking time off to have her daughter, Stephanie uncovered her commitment to making the table matter, providing healthy meals and bringing a focus to family mealtime. She pivoted careers and pursued her passion for cooking by completing the professional culinary program at Tante Marie’s in San Francisco. After completing the program, she founded Chef Steph SF in 2012, a personal chef business, which she owned and solely operated. Chef Steph focuses on making family friendly, seasonal, low waste meals for families, teachers, and retail. Stephanie lives with her wife and daughter in Noe Valley.

Tricia Chandiramani

Trish is passionate about helping others unlock their full potential. She’s spent more than a decade at Bain, Stripe and Ironclad, crafting corporate strategies, building high performing teams, and operationalizing programs for Fortune 500, late stage, and growth companies.

Throughout the years, she’s also helped individuals across ages and backgrounds uncover and pursue their dreams. She’s volunteered as a coach for multiple organizations, served as an Adjunct Lecturer for Designing Your Life at Stanford University, and co-developed Designing for a 100 Year Life at the National University of Singapore.

Trish is now on a sabbatical, and is spending this season catching up on the things she enjoys most - adventure trips, cozy dinners, and unnecessarily competitive board game nights.

Maddy Shannon

Maddy Shannon started her career in consulting before moving into the restaurant industry on the finance and strategy side, where she has spent several years. She advises restaurant owners and hospitality professionals to achieve operational and financial goals. Maddy believes that the core of hospitality is caring for one another and for our communities.

Becca Plofker

Becca’s career has been full zigs and zags. Right out of Tufts University, she worked at a small organic ecolodge in Vilcabamba, Ecuador before finding her work home in marketing & fundraising at Endeavor, an economic development organization dedicated to supporting high-impact entrepreneurs create high-impact jobs in emerging markets. After a stint in Argentina building a crowdfunding platform for social enterprises, she moved to San Francisco and has worked in restaurants or restaurant tech companies ever since. Becca has spent the last 8 years in product marketing, obsessed with creating and bringing to market products that make a positive impact on restaurants’ daily operations and their ability to deliver hospitality. Becca believes that nothing breaks down barriers and enables human connection more than a shared meal around a table. .

Joan Hanawi Carlock

Joan Hanawi Carlock cares about people. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff to the CEO at Lyft. Prior to this role, Joan was a founding member of the Social Impact team at Lyft where she helped create, launch, and scale LyftUp — a suite of initiatives focused on increasing transportation access and equity for low-income communities. In her time at the company, she has focused on making sure the tech world is infused with humanity. Before life at Lyft, Joan spent time advising some of the top tech and Fortune 500 companies as a social impact consultant through her tenure at GOOD. She’s passionate about global development and philanthropy, and when she’s not working, you can find her at the beach or searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Kathy Gu

Kathy builds connections between companies and communities to catalyze change and impact. She is a founding member of Pinterest's Impact team, leading nonprofit partnerships, with a strategic focus on emotional wellbeing. When she joined Pinterest in 2021, Kathy brought with her over a decade of experience in corporate social impact, from roles spanning corporate, consultant, and nonprofit worlds. She is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals, where she serves on the Program Committee to advocate for development and DEI within the corporate impact profession. Passionate about economic opportunity and food justice, Kathy previously led corporate partnerships for City Harvest, a food rescue and anti-hunger nonprofit in New York City, and is delighted to serve on Farming Hope’s Board of Directors. A lifelong learner, Kathy is usually tackling multiple books, listening to a podcast, or taking yet another course. She also loves mixing up her fitness routine and spending time outdoors with her dog.

Michelle Minori

Michelle Minori is a Michelin trained chef, recipe developer, and culinary consultant in San Francisco. She has been named one of The San Francisco Chronicle’s Rising Star Chefs, and has been included in 7x7’s list of “8 San Francisco Chefs Prove a Woman's Place Is at the Head of the Kitchen”. She is a finalist from Season 16 of Bravo’s Top Chef.

She specializes in California-Italian cuisine with a focus on seafood, pasta, and seasonal vegetables. She has a deep respect for whole animal utilization, sustainability, and supporting local farmers and the community.

She serves as a recipe developer, hosts private events and cooking classes, and consults to share her experience with creating restaurants and dealing with the changing aspects of the hospitality industry.

She is on the planning committee for Foodwise, part of the chef team for the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture, and serves on the Chef Council for Eat Real. She lives with her husband Eduardo, founder of EDMO, and her two cats Sula and Zaza, in San Francisco.

Noa Davidson

Noa Davidson has always been recognized as a connector, adept at bridging gaps and fostering meaningful connections. As a strategic leader in corporate innovation, business development, and go-to-market strategy, she possesses a unique talent for transforming ambiguity into structured programs. Throughout her career, Noa has played integral roles in establishing teams at Amazon Web Services, Amazon Music, The Coca-Cola Company, and most recently at FIS, where she is the Head of GTM Planning and Strategy. Noa also serves as a trusted advisor to Fortune 1000 companies, guiding them on innovation programs and strategically sourcing startups for collaboration. Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, playing tennis and golf, going to the beach with her dog Scooby, and meticulously tracking the latest restaurant openings.

Salim Shariff

Salim Shariff is a digital strategist with over a decade of experience who has helped manage multi-million dollar ad buys and raised millions of dollars online for progressive causes and candidates. Salim serves as the Vice President of Digital for Made to Save, an initiative of Civic Nation that is focused on vaccine equity and access in the communities hardest hit by the pandemic. Prior to that, Salim served as the VP of Digital for 50+1 Strategies, a bay-area based consulting firm focused on helping campaigns and causes win change in their communities. In 2016, as Digital Director for Hillary Clinton in Ohio, he managed a team of 9 staff and 5 full-time fellows that amassed millions of social media views, nearly 100,000 social media followers, 52,000 online volunteer shifts and 175,000 online event RSVPs within the 6 months of the coordinated campaign. Salim got his start in politics on the Obama 2012 campaign, where he served as a digital organizer in Southern California and Chicago in 2011. In 2012, he served as the deputy digital director in Ohio.

Sarah Solomon

Sarah Salomon represents clients in high stakes commercial litigation. Her experience includes trade secret cases involving employee mobility, commercial disputes implicating federal export law, habeas, and civil rights actions.
Sarah maintains a significant pro bono practice. She was part of a team representing 270 consolidated habeas petitioners against the warden of San Quentin and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after an unprecedented Covid-19 outbreak resulted in 2,197 prisoners infected and 28 deaths. In its order, the court found numerous constitutional violations and wrote CDCR and the Warden caused “the worst epidemiological disaster in California correctional history.” She represented the nation’s largest Title X grantee in a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief from the Trump Administration’s sweeping changes to the federal Title X family planning program and secured a statewide preliminary injunction. Sarah also helped secure the freedom of Zavion Johnson, who spent nearly 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder.
Prior to joining the firm, she served as a law clerk to Judge Beverly Martin on the Eleventh Circuit. She graduated from Stanford Law School, where she served as academic chair of the Black Law Students Association, and as president of Project ReMADE, an organization that helps formerly incarcerated people to start their own small businesses.