NOFA/Mass Staff
2024 NOFA/Mass Board & Staff Meeting (Worcester MA)
Amanda Iglesias currently serves as a Food Access Coordinator for NOFA/Mass. In this role, Amanda works alongside communities, organizers and non-profit partners to develop urban gardens and increase access to fresh, organic produce for vibrant communities across MA. These gardens are supported by programs that teach about urban farming and sustainable agriculture. Outside of NOFA/Mass, Amanda works with Mycoterra Farm in support of their mission to grow high quality organic mushrooms, build healthy soil, and advocate for a sustainable local food system. Prior to joining NOFA/Mass, Amanda spent over a decade at HubSpot developing global customer and employee development programs that spread new ideas, inspired action, and influenced individual growth and organizational change. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Management from Babson College.
Anna Gilbert-Muhammad currently serves as the Equity Director and Food Access/Webinar Coordinator for NOFA/Mass. Anna graduated from NOFA/Mass’s Beginner Farmer Program in 2015 and began working with the organization in 2016. The programs that Anna works with in Springfield is the Youth Leader Organic Gardening/Cooking Program at Home City Housing, The Open Pantry Community Garden Project and smaller projects in the Boston and Springfield Area. Anna and her husband Keith Muhammad live in Springfield, MA and they are market gardeners in the Mason Area of Springfield.
Phone : (413) 214-1237
Dora is a community organizer who works with many different people and organizations in Boston and the surrounding cities–from politicians to medical doctors, community activists, disaster awareness panels and more. She has 17 years experience working in the medical field as an LPN, medical assistant, and in instrumentation and sterilization. For the past 10 years Dora has been working with urban farmers and friends to learn and teach young children and their families the basics and the importance of growing their own vegetables and canning them for storage.
Hannah made her way into food systems by a series of life events, ultimately finding true that starting with nourishing and regenerating food and farming systems can have amazing impact on the well-being of our Earth and all its People, human and non-human. As the Events Manager, she’s excited to bring the intersectionality of food systems, from technical to spiritual, to the forefront of our practices. She enjoys foraging, dancing & singing, making kitchen creations, and hosting gatherings for family and friends.
Now the President of the Board for NOFA/Mass, as well as the Co-President for the NOFA Interstate Council, Laura has served on the NOFA/Mass Board of Directors since 2011. In 2014, Laura joined the staff assisting farmers with their organic certification questions, and then joined the Soil Technical Assistance team in 2017 doing soil test analysis. Laura has two teenage daughters, runs Long Life Farm in Hopkinton, MA, along with her husband Donald Sutherland, and grows certified organic vegetables. Learning from NOFA workshops has enabled her to grow nutrient dense food in a no-till regenerative system.
In her role as Graphic Designer, Lisa shares the many facets of the organization with the NOFA/Mass audience and the general public through social media and design projects. After earning a BFA in advertising from the School of Visual Arts, she handled marketing for several small farms in addition to working in the fields. Lisa enjoys blending her background in communications with her passion for organic agriculture and sustainability. Originally from Massachusetts, Lisa has now relocated to Port Jervis, NY to co-manage Big Yellow Sun Farm.
In her role as Web Designer, Liz helps design and manage the different components of NOFA/Mass’s online presence. She has spent the last three years training and working as a UX Designer, helping to make informed design decisions through research and analysis. Prior to this she spent the last 20 years working in the food services industry, with experience ranging from growing food, to delivering, preparing and serving it. She has a B.A. from McGill University in Philosophy and Ecological Field Reasearch in partnership with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Outside of work she is painting or spending time by the ocean. She now lives on Wabanaki land (Portland, ME), but has spent most of her life in Central and Western MA (Agawam, Nipmuc, Nonotuck, and Pocumtuc land).
Melissa Milliken is a Technical Assistance Provider on the Soil Health team. For 12+ years Melissa served communities as a pharmacist. After moving to California and being exposed to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Herbalism, Acupuncture, and Ayurveda she began exploring other ways of approaching health. This exploration and curiosity eventually brought her to Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web school and training as a Soil Lab Technician which includes the identification of soil microbiology. Melissa is excited to now be serving the well being of her community through a Soil Health lens while continue her studies with Soil Food Web as well as learning a Korean Natural Farming approach.
Minata Toure joined NOFA/MASS in December of 2023 as a Climate-Smart technical assistance provider. Minata brings experience in food justice work and sustainable farming to the team, as well as a passion for building food systems where everyone has access to fresh, healthy, affordable food.
Minata provides on-site technical support to farmer entrepreneurs. She has always been passionate about agriculture, in the past 8 years she worked with refugees and immigrant farmers to assist them in learning how to farm on their new home land. She has also assisted her parents at their farm in Africa at her early age . She speaks multiple languages, English, French and 3 African dialects ( Moore, Bambara and Mandingo).
Rubén Parrilla is the Soil Technical Coordinator for NOFA/Mass and trained in microscopic soil microbial identification through the Soil Food Web School. He is a Certified Lab Tech and studied Environmental Design at the University of Puerto Rico. Rubén has 15 years’ experience working at different capacities in the environmental laboratory industry. He has been performing soil carbon proxy testing, soil health assessments, soil chemical analysis, and soil microbiological evaluations for NOFA/Mass for over the past year and has extensive experience farming and working with farmers, including beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers. Rubén performs soil health related outreach and education events for NOFA/Mass by leading monthly farmer learning calls, providing hands-on workshops and instruction at soil health education events, and networking with farmers and individuals in the agricultural industry. He is a fluent and native Spanish speaker and fully English/Spanish bilingual.
Sara is a part-time project manager with NOFA/Mass, focused on Climate Smart and beginning farmer programs. She is dedicated to building possibilities for collective thriving through connection with the earth and each other. She spent seven years farming in eastern Massachusetts, has been a student of incarcerated and unsheltered gardeners, and holds an MS in agriculture and community development from UC Davis. Sara is currently based on Abenaki land and splits her working time between NOFA/Mass, The University of Vermont’s Extension Migrant Health and Education Program, and her own small herbal and printmaking business.
Ulum Pixan (Original Name), aka Dania Flores (colonized name), is an Indigenous mixed-race woman (Maya, Xinca, Garifuna, Russian Jew and ladino), mother and grandmother. She was born in Guatemala, Mesoamerica, and moved to the United States in 1999. She has always been involved with community organizing around aboriginal, women’s, language, and environmental issues. Ulum is a critical thinker, farmer and activist. As NOFA/Mass’s Equity and Inclusion Director, and former Education Director, she leads the equity efforts of the organization, promoting our anti- racist principles and commitment to dismantling oppressive systems that keep our communities hungry and poor.
Languages : English/Español