Market Umbrella is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3), based in New Orleans, whose mission is to cultivate the power of farmers markets to drive economic and community health in the region. Market Umbrella has operated the Crescent City Farmers Markets (CCFM) since 1995.
Thursday Market is operating within its regular hours of 3pm to 7 pm to accommodate the return of Daylight Saving.
Staff
Angelina Harrison
Interim Executive Director
Angelina Harrison is originally from a small family dairy farm in Wisconsin. She grew up helping her mom can and preserve from the bounty of a kitchen garden and none of her food came out of a box. After graduating with honors from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in environmental science and policy, she worked in local government in the Bay Area on various climate action plan implementation projects. She’s been in New Orleans since 2011, where a search for a local CSA brought her into food systems work, where she has found her calling, helping to make sustainable food choices easy for consumers to make. Angelina has worked to support small-scale, sustainable agriculture, and the producers that comprise it in various facets, and continues to do so as the new Interim Executive Director of Market Umbrella, leading an organization that supports thriving farmers markets, numerous local and statewide nutrition incentive programs, and vendor and food systems support work. She has endless respect for the folks who can coax tomatoes out of this SE LA climate, and works to pull back the veil on the hidden humanitarian, environmental, economic and health costs of conventional food production and delivery, and illuminate the incredible, impossible and essential work that small growers are doing for our state, region, economy, climate and food system. She lives with her husband and their brood of chicks, enjoys eating food that other people make, cooking with produce their family grows, and is driven by a tenacious (some say stubborn) optimism for what is possible.
Ashanti Anderson
Development & Communications Director
ashanti@marketumbrella.org
(she/they)
Ashanti Anderson's professional experience includes that of grants writer, program consultant, and writing instructor for both non-profit and educational institutions.Ashanti is an award-winning writer with family roots spread along the Gulf Coast. Her writing career began at Xavier University of Louisiana with a minor in Creative Writing; she went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at University of California-Riverside and then to study poetry at the Ezra Pound Center for Literature in South Tyrol, Italy. Winner of the 2018 New Orleans Literary Festival Poetry Contest and the 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition, In her free time, Ashanti is usually brainstorming a new project, spending time outdoors, or both.
Kasey Davis
Director of Healthy Food Access Programs
kasey@marketumbrella.org
(she/her)
Kasey Davis is a passionate public health professional originally from Houston, Texas.She holds a B.S. in Health Sciences: Community Health from Stephen F. Austin State University. In 2014, she moved to New Orleans to continue her studies in Community Health and Program Management at Tulane University School of Public Health. After Completing her Master's, she began her career with the American Diabetes Association where she implemented a number of health education programs to various populations across the state. Through that work, inequities around food continue to be a challenge. She is currently working toward a second Bachelors in Food and Nutrition from the University of Alabama. If nothing else, she is committed to being a resource for the community because you “do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”- Maya Angelou. In Kasey’s free time, she enjoys everything about New Orleans, spending time with her friends and family, traveling, and eating tacos.
Brittani Nelson
Director of Community Nutrition Programs
Brittani Nelson has over 10 years of public health experience from food safety and regulatory work, to harm reduction and overdose prevention, to community engagement and health promotion. Prior to her role at Market Umbrella, Brittani worked as a Program and Policy Coordinator in the Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the LSU Health Sciences Center- New Orleans. Brittani has a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Behavioral Science and Health Education from Saint Louis University. Brittani is an alumna of Tuskegee University, where she studied Animal, Poultry, and Veterinary Sciences. Brittani enjoys hiking, biking, and long walks with her dog, Gotti.
Chelsea Triche
Greaux the Good Program Director
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Chelsea Triche was born in New Orleans and lived there until Hurricane Katrina. She then relocated just north of Baton Rouge. Chelsea likes to think of herself as a city girl with a farmer’s heart. She has a passion for working with people and helping them build capacity. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Sciences with a concentration in Animal Science from Southern University and Agricultural & Mechanical College. Then in 2021 she became a two-time alumna after receiving her Master’s in Biology. Chelsea is an experienced produce safety and food safety trainer. She holds multiple certifications from organizations like the Association of Food and Drug Officials and the National Restaurant Association. Her professional experience includes program coordinator for two federally funded projects, food analysis laboratory manager, and programs manager. She has also been able to collaborate on statewide and national projects. Chelsea is excited to embark on this new opportunity with Market Umbrella while continuing to work with the same community of people that she has for the past 3 ½ years. It is the icing on the cake to work for a company back home. Chelsea loves being a daughter, sister, mom, and wife. When she gets free time she loves to relax during a good thunderstorm, watch sci-fi or post-apocalyptic movies/shows, or find a new animal to add to the family.
Amanda Diaz
Outreach Manager
amanda@marketumbrella.org
(she/her)
Born and raised in New Orleans, Amanda is a public health professional specializing in local food systems and the effects of racism and social inequities on health. Graduating from Tulane University, she is a Posse Scholar with a B.S. in Public Health. During Amanda's undergraduate career, she interned with organizations such as the Louisiana Health Department, New Orleans City Council, American Diabetes Association, and NOLA Food Policy Advisory Committee. With over 4+ years of extensive experience in the New Orleans food system, Amanda is dedicated to unpacking structures of inequity and increasing access to nutritionally valuable foods. Alongside joining Market Umbrella's team, she is studying to obtain a Master's degree in Nutrition at Tulane's School of Public Health. Amanda's passion for food access drives her overall career goals to create an equitable food system that is rooted, oriented, and driven by community members, for community members. She believes “it’s time to stop blaming the individual and start looking at how the system has failed them.
Kim Sawyers
Program Manager
Kim has lived the majority of her life in New Orleans, LA. She attended Xavier University of
Louisiana where she received her B.S. in Chemistry and took a slightly different approach for
her professional development. She decided to explore the world of public health and fell in love
with it. In 2014, she obtained her Master of Public Health degree from Tulane University School
of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. After a life-changing trip to Taiwan, she embarked on a
journey to lose over 100 pounds by learning how to eat better and move more. She now
teaches others what she once had to teach herself; the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Her
professional experience includes program planning, development, implementation, grant
management, training, facilitation, advocacy, and research. She has extensive experience in
cultivating relationships, working in the community, managing collaborations at local and state
levels, and engaging with partners to ensure that all people have access to opportunities to
improve their health. In her free time, she enjoys being a mom, unscrambling license plates for
hidden messages, and being outdoors in nature.
Katie Weaver
Greaux the Good Program Manager
Katie is originally from a small town in central Pennsylvania and her early years were filled with watching her family can vegetables and make ample amounts of sauerkraut and apple butter. She grew up in the heart of Falcons territory and after graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Georgia State University, she found a love for southern hospitality. She has spent over ten years expanding her knowledge and passion for educating and helping others as well as data collection and analysis within the hospitality field. Since COVID, Katie has further developed a love for sustainability and enhanced access to local foods, and even became a ‘crazy plant lady’ in the process. New to New Orleans in 2021, Katie jumped feet-first into learning how local farmers and businesses can better support their communities in her time working with the Abita Springs Art & Farmers Market. She is excited to join the Market Umbrella Team! In her free time, Katie enjoys visiting local coffee, ice cream, and plant shops; spending time with her friends and family; and playing (or lounging around) with her Great Dane Aria, English Mastiff Jackson, and long-haired cat Moe-Moe.
Francesca Jones
Market Manager
A passionate local food systems advocate, Francesca is excited to serve as Market Coordinator for the Crescent City Farmers Markets. Having recently graduated from Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania with a B.A. in both Sustainability Studies and Psychology, she believes her degrees well encompass her two greatest passions - people and the environment! From her very first job working on a small New Jersey family farm to most recently researching and organizing food waste and redistribution efforts in Allentown, Pennsylvania, her work and studies have continuously informed the importance of local food systems as a crucial vector of systemic sustainability. In her free time, Francesca enjoys trying out new recipes for potlucks with friends, watching documentaries, and exploring New Orleans. She is overjoyed to call this city home and is excited to support and get to know the Crescent City Farmers Market community.
Joseph Hector Louis-Jeune
Finance and Business Manager
Joseph moved to the United States of America 23 years ago from Carrefour, Haiti. He obtained his first degree in Accounting in 1994 and worked as the Account and Finance Manager for Duchatour Travel Agency in Haiti for which he traveled back and forth to the United States to attend various seminars and conferences. In January 1998, Joseph decided to join and marry his high school sweetheart Edilienne Louis-Jeune in New Orleans, Louisiana. From their union three beautiful children were born; Christelle, Herby and Juliette. Arriving in New Orleans, Joseph continued to be a community leader and a mentor for the Haitian youth. He co-founded the Haitian Catholic Community of New Orleans which he presided for over 18 years and remains the actual Music Director. Joseph is mostly known and recognized by the City of New Orleans for his zeal and dynamism as a board member of the Haitian Relief Task Force in which he was relentlessly raising funds and bringing relief from New Orleans to Haiti after the devastating Earthquake of January 12, 2010. He is still the radio host of La Voix d'Haiti, a radio program sponsored by the Haitian Relief Task Force and WRBH 88.3 FM that brought awareness about the humanitarian needs of the Haitian people after the Earthquake. After his work at the Task Force, Joseph went back to the University of New Orleans to complete and obtain his Bachelor in Science of Accountancy in May 2019 and currently working to become a CPA. Joseph owns and operates HETFAC LLC (Hector Tax & Financial Accounting Consultant). He is also a co-owner of Rendez-Vous Creole Restaurant, the best Haitian restaurant in New Orleans.
Emily Ward
Market Coordinator
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Emily Ward is originally from a small farm town in the Central Valley of California. She grew up working in almond, walnut, and persimmon orchards alongside her father and started a small business breeding lambs and selling them to local FFA members from 2014 to 2021. After obtaining her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition degree from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo in June 2021, Emily relocated to New Orleans to pursue her Master’s in Public Health Nutrition at Tulane University. She also plans to complete her Dietetic Internship and become a Registered Dietitian, specifically a Public Health Nutritionist. During her time in New Orleans, Emily has had the privilege of working with the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (GCCM) where she assists in nutrition education development and culinary nutrition instruction on how to prepare affordable meals with accessible, quality food products. This experience led her to Market Umbrella. As a member of Market Umbrella’s team, Emily looks forward to helping create better opportunities for consumers to access produce and nutritious foods. In her free time, Emily loves exploring New Orleans’ festivals, restaurants, and beautiful architecture.
Danielle Gray
Market Coordinator
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Market Coordinator and native New Orleanian. Bachelor of Science in Psychology and minor in Biology from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Currently a second-year graduate student at Southern University at New Orleans pursuing a Master’s in Social Work. A boy mom, foodie at heart with a passion for family and community with over 15 years of experience working as a case manager.
Tina Trosclair
Market Coordinator
Tina is a native South Louisianian and has been in New Orleans since 2011. During undergraduate study, she worked at the former Hollygrove Market and Farm, where she fell in love with supporting sustainability, farmers, and local food systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Performance and Health Promotion from the University of New Orleans, and she recently earned a Master of Science in Biostatistics from LSUHSC. She has public health experience in clinical trials of epidemiology as well as experience as a health navigator, connecting patients to resources in the community. After both working and attending school remotely for nearly 3 years, she is excited to be working within the community once again! The small, every-day, face-to-face interactions with vendors and customers at market bring her joy. In her free time, Tina enjoys cooking, finding creative ways to use fresh ingredients, staying active, and just puttering around with a cup of tea.
Reagan Laque
Market Coordinator
A Louisiana native, Reagan is passionate about serving her community and has a particular interest in urban sustainability, food access, and advancing health equity. Reagan graduated from Tulane University in 2022 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Anthropology. Having a genuine interest in and love for people, she hopes to utilize her degree for the betterment of her community. Reagan grew up in both Terrebonne and St. Charles Parish where she spent much of her time in the garden. She experimented with vermicomposting, cover-cropping, and utilizing natural pesticides, and after growing fruits and vegetables organically, she absolutely fell in love with the process. During her undergraduate study, she had the privilege of interning with Sprout Nola where her passion for affecting the local food system and working with local farmers and agriculturalists grew. In her free time, Reagan enjoys trying new recipes, roller-skating around Audubon, adopting plants, and DJing at her college radio station.
About Us
The Crescent City Farmers Market operates weekly year-round throughout New Orleans. The CCFM hosts 70+ local small farmers, fishers, and food producers, and more than 150,000 shoppers annually.