Where We Work
Crescent City
Farmers Market
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Richard McCarthy
Executive Director
richard@marketumbrella.org
Richard McCarthy embodies the phrase, “think globally; act locally.” After growing up in New Orleans and earning his master’s degree at the London School of Economics, he co-founded the Crescent City Farmers Market in 1995. As executive director, he led the organization to grow from a weekly farmers market into marketumbrella.org, an internationally recognized mentor for markets, community-building and sustainable economic development with an annual operating budget of $1 million and a staff of eight.
As it enters its 15th year, the Crescent City Farmers Market has a $8.9 million economic impact on the city and the region. By learning, sharing and growing, the larger marketumbrella.org cultivates the field of public markets for the public good. Richard, who is half-English and a fellow of the British American Project, carries his visionary social-entrepreneurial approach from New Orleans to the world. In 2002, he led a New Orleans delegation to the United Nations’ World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa, as well as to the preparatory meetings in Indonesia. He continues to travel frequently, giving communities everywhere the tools to manage their own lives and livelihoods.
He is founding president and current board member of the Farmers Market Coalition, a new national organization, and has also served on the Project for Public Spaces’ public markets initiative, which has resulted in $2 million in new grant money for public markets. Richard is a member of the New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee and the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans Task Force, the first Alice Waters project outside Berkeley to encourage sustainable gardening and cooking among underserved public school students. He was named a Public Health Champion in 2004 by the Tulane University School of Public Health. When he's not dreaming up new projects for marketumbrella.org or publishing articles in international media, Richard enjoys motoring around town on an Italian scooter, playing racquetball, cooking vegetarian meals and gardening. An admitted music junkie, his tastes run from South African jazz to Indian techno.
Latifia Carter
Director of Finance
latifia@marketumbrella.org
Latifia Carter came on board at marketumbrella.org in 2007 performing bookkeeping duties, but quickly parlayed her talents into a finance management position. As finance director, she organizes and manages the financial and administrative functions of the organization. Latifia’s credentials include a Bachelors of Applied Science in human and organizational development from Loyola University New Orleans and a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of New Orleans. Her past experience includes administering economic development programs for women- and minority-owned businesses, grant administration, contracting and purchasing. A lifelong New Orleanian, she prefers to spend her leisure time with her extensive extended family and friends.
Emery Van Hook
Director of Markets
emery@marketumbrella.org
The great-granddaughter of a New Orleans city girl who fell in love with a country Sicilian truck farmer, Emery Van Hook seemed destined for a career in her hometown's food markets. After graduating from Ursuline Academy, Emery moved to Memphis for barbecue and a degree in English Literature from Rhodes. After college, she headed back downriver to learn the ins and outs of the New Orleans restaurant scene, working her way up to Co-Director of Marketing for Dickie Brennan & Co. In preparation for her move to pursue a Masters in Food Studies at New York University, Emery threw a very timely going away party August 27, 2005. While in New York, she worked as an assistant editor at Food & Wine magazine. In June 2008, Emery packed up her Brooklyn apartment and moved home to join marketumbrella.org as Director of Markets. When not at market, she enjoys cooking everything she bought there in her Marigny home and visiting farmers markets and restaurants anywhere she finds them.
Darlene Wolnik
Director of Marketshare
darlene@marketumbrella.org
Darlene Wolnik was a Crescent City Farmers Market shopper and volunteer before joining the organization in 2002. Her background runs the gamut from direct entrepreneurial experience to non-profit work, with time spent in hotel management and corporate retail direction to managing consumer and environmental campaigns. Darlene provides technical assistance to markets in the New Orleans region and beyond, helps create new tools to build and maintain successful markets and works to bring resources back to her community. She serves on the Community Food Security Coalition board and volunteers time on a number of grassroots projects in the region. An Ohio native with a taste for Southern cooking, Darlene lives for Louisiana satsuma season.
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Natalie Ruschak
Procurement Coordinator
natalie@marketumbrella.org
Before moving to New Orleans in 2000 to study at Loyola University, Natalie Ruschak is originally from Oviedo, Florida, the former “celery capital of the world.” After receiving a degree in communications and philosophy, she decided to remain in New Orleans because of the delicious local seafood. Natalie managed a local restaurant for several years before joining Marketumbrella.org in 2008. In her free time, she enjoys traveling within the U.S. as well as abroad, reading, and watching old movies.
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Kelly Landrieu
Markets Community Coordinator
kelly@marketumbrella.org
A fifth generation New Orleanian and avid gastronome from birth, Kelly L. Landrieu has been shopping at the Crescent City Farmers Market since she was allowed to drive as a teenager. With a wide variety of experience and education, she is always excited to interact with vendors, shoppers, and members of the community. Kelly is currently pursuing a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning and is as equally passionate about the delicious market goodies as she is about the economic development impact markets have on communities worldwide. In her downtime, she is an avid cook, yoga practitioner and traveler.
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J. Robin Moon
Senior Fellow, trans•act
jrmoon@hsph.harvard.edu
J. Robin Moon joined marketumbrella.org in 2007 to lead the trans•act research team. Her mission is to develop tools that measure the economic, social and health impact of markets on communities and to make them more widely available to all markets. Robin grew up in the Chicago area and holds master's degrees in public health and international affairs from Columbia University in New York City. Currently, Robin lives in Boston, MA where she is a PhD Candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was founding executive director of the Korean American Community Foundation and served as director of strategic planning for World Vision New York, an international humanitarian organization. She plays cello, piano and guitar (very badly), and is a few months away from earning her black belt in taekwondo.