Denise has been with the NMFMA since 2005. A Chicago native, she spent every vacation of her youth at her grandfather's farm in Harvard, Illinois, falling in love with nature, fresh farm food, and quiet country roads. After many years in promotional and brand marketing for companies of all sizes and non-profits, Denise took a brief detour into education, teaching part-time at several Santa Fe middle and high schools. She then hightailed it back to marketing something close to her heart - fresh, locally grown food. Cooking for three hungry teenagers at home sharpens her culinary skills and provides real-world inspiration for her long-running Albuquerque Journal column. She enjoys every aspect of supporting New Mexico's sustainability-minded farmers, ranchers, and food producers and is grateful for the knowledge and spirit these individuals regularly share with her.

• Email Denise

Charise is a native New Mexican residing in Santa Fe, NM, and advocates for healthy eating and locally grown food. She worked for NMFMA for three years as an auditor before her current position, overseeing financial operations and managing human resources for NMFMA. In her free time, she enjoys hiking and camping and instructs a cardio kickboxing class. She has a passion for the outdoors and nature. She graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's in accounting and looks forward to joining the NMFMA community.

• Email Charise

Amy is an avid lover of the outdoors, fresh food, music, and adventure. She moved to New Mexico five years ago and has fallen in love with the high desert. While Amy is new to the NMFMA as of January 2024, she is happy to apply her past work experiences to serve the community in such a meaningful and direct way. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband, two teens, and two very lively pups. You can usually find her working at the NMFMA local office, enjoying time with her family, hiking/ biking, or cooking up some delicious food at home..

• Email Amy

Catherine is a Santa Fe native with deep roots in the community, serving on several boards in the area. Over the past twenty years she has explored many roles in the non-profit circuit focusing on land health, conservation and local food systems. She manages the NMFMA membership database and helps to coordinate the annual conference. She lives in the historic traditional Village of Agua Fría in Santa Fe County, where she experiences the cultures and traditions she grew up with.

• Email Catherine

Scott was raised in eastern New Mexico, where he spent his professional life learning and practicing graphic design, advertising, and technology. He holds two degrees in graphic design and advertising and has spent most of his career in the higher education sector via his prior experience at Clovis Community College. He currently volunteers on the Clovis Community College Foundation board, focusing on fundraising and scholarships for area students.

When Scott is not clicking away behind a keyboard for the NMFMA, you can find him practicing many hobbies, including trail and distance running, strengthening his green thumb in his backyard garden, or cooking up new recipes in the kitchen as an aspiring pro home chef.

• Email Scott
• Scott Knauer on LinkedIn

Sarah has a diverse educational and professional background and has been with the NMFMA since 2016. She is passionate about nutrition access, agriculture and food access advocacy, and behavioral health advocacy. Sarah’s professional goal is to ensure eligible participants receive dignity and respect while using the programs because poverty is a systematic problem, not a moral failure. Sarah is originally from Virginia, loves to travel, and has called New Mexico home since 2014. She lives in Rio Rancho with her daughter, dog, cat, and several pet goldfish.

• Email Sarah

Kirsten loves New Mexico, good food, and engaging with people from all walks of life. Originally from New England, she and her family have called New Mexico home for 25 years. Her past endeavors have included teaching adults, home-schooling her three kids, and supporting patients and staff at a local health clinic. When not coordinating everything FreshRx, you'll find her in her garden or with a book in her favorite blue chair.

• Email Kirsten

Corey has been living and eating in Santa Fe County since age 8. She has spent most of that time working with the NM food system in various capacities, from serving dishes highlighting seasonal, local ingredients to tourists to growing some of those ingredients herself working with a local farm. She resides in Madrid, NM, and heads the free food distribution program there. As someone who has relied on Nutrition Incentive benefits in the past, she is thrilled to work to support those programs today.

• Email Corey

Sonora Rodríguez (she/her/ella) is a proud Nuevomexicana, who was born and raised in Albuquerque. She deeply loves and is committed to New Mexico and the communities that make this place so special. Her experience has grounded her to work alongside communities to address critical issues like food apartheid and just community development. Some of her formal training includes two bachelor‘s degrees from the University of New Mexico in Chicana/o studies and international studies. She also completed her master‘s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University in 2019.  Sonora currently works as a Planner for the City of Albuquerque, addressing root and contemporary causes of unequal development and visioning alongside historic communities on how to grow, preserve and develop. Sonora also worked as an active community organizer with the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). Some of her work with SWOP centered on campaigns for food justice, educational access, and youth employment. She likes doing home improvement projects and tending to her garden in her spare time. She is excited to work with NMFMA to increase awareness and participation in the Double Up Food Bucks program.

• Email Sonora

Michael has been in the produce and grocery business for almost 20 years. He has worked as a department manager and area supervisor overseeing three states and 24 stores. Michael now travels the state of New Mexico, making connections between farmers and sales outlets in the state. He is passionate about his work and strongly believes in local food and farming.

• Email Mike

Alena Paisano is an experienced practitioner of farm to community programs dedicated to the development of just and local food systems serving our youth, families and communities. Alena is deeply invested in her work and also prioritizes family and community responsibilities. Alena partners with farmers, food producers, nutrition professionals and community advocates to increase access to local foods in public meal programs serving our littlest eaters through elders. Her past work has been focused on supporting diverse partners to reach their goals for improving community well-being and access to healthy local food by engaging in development of food policy with schools and farmers to achieve their vision for farm to school in action. She is passionate about working with partners in Native American communities to uplift the many unique assets highlighted in their efforts for others to learn from; promoting indigenous knowledge and supporting community leadership as foundations to movement building throughout Indian Country. As a multicultural indigenous woman with roots in the Pueblo, Apache and Dine cultures, Alena is deeply committed to working in the SW region. Based out of Santa Fe, NM she is active in local/state food policy efforts as a community advocate and a mother, seeking to contribute to a healthier, more equitable future for our next generation.

• Email Alena

Sheena is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and her clans are Honaghaahnii and Bit'ahnii. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Health and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Public Health. Since 2014, she has been a strong advocate for health education and promotion and, more recently, advocating for equitable food systems to NM communities. As the daughter of two loving parents, Sheena aspires to gain the knowledge to carry on their legacy of raising sheep and corn, hoping to inspire her two young daughters to live off the land in harmony, balance, and respect.

From Sheena: "As the ASP Coordinator, I support the food safety trainer network and provide the necessary training, education, and technical support to farmers, producers, and growers. As the Coordinator, I am actively involved in connecting folks with the necessary steps to be added to the ASP list to ensure that childcare centers, seniors centers, and other food networks meet food safety standards. I also coordinate the systems that track and monitor the process producers will undertake as applicants for the ASP list. I am also involved in workgroups to improve food access and security for NM rural, urban, and tribal communities.

• Email Sheena
• Sheena Tallis-Tallman on LinkedIn

Mark’s interest in creative pursuits started at an early age when his mom proudly taped one of his finger paintings onto the family fridge, and he’s been chasing that buzz ever since.

He kickstarted his creative career in the Albuquerque design community but left in the early 2000s to pursue advertising & marketing career opportunities at larger agencies nationwide. 

While the national exposure was often exciting and rewarding, Mark was always a New Mexico boy at heart and dearly missed having the High Desert as a backyard. Recently his love for the Southwest brought him back home to the Burque, where he once again savors being close to the great outdoors, his family, old friends, and the finest food on the planet.
 

• Email Mark

Alison is a writer, editor, and visual storyteller who considers all of the Land of Enchantment home. She is currently based in Las Cruces, NM. Working as a journalist and photographer at Roswell Daily Record set the foundation for her passion for communications and creating community connections. Her love for local food began with helping her grandmothers in their gardens and kitchens to feed her large family in the mountains of High Rolls, NM, and continued as she migrated north. In 2012, she graduated in the inaugural class, with a concentration in visual art, from New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe and continued her education at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Outside of work, she explores New Mexico's food, art, and culture scenes.

• Email Alison

A Northern New Mexico girl at heart, Jena spent her summers growing up in San Miguel County. Jena attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a focus on textile design and fashion Marketing. Working in restaurants while attending college is where her love for all things food blossomed. She dove into the culinary scene in San Francisco and worked almost every job imaginable in a restaurant. She sold tacos at the Ferry Building farmers market, washed dishes at a cigar bar in Northbeach, and curated a wine program in the Mission. Living in San Francisco, she naturally transitioned to the start-up world, where she curated national events focused on her favorite thing…food.

Jena returned to New Mexico in April of 2021, living with her husband, Rob, and daughter, Jupiter. She loves riding bikes, traveling with family, and finding the best street food (especially dumplings and tacos).

• Email Jena
• Jena Marquez on LinkedIn

Erica's bio coming soon...

After moving to New Mexico in 2002, Andrea Warner discovered her devotion to growing food in the High Desert. She loves gardening with school children and community members to support a thriving local food system. Andrea served as the market manager from the Silver City Farmers' Market from 2018-2022, working to create a marketplace for local entrepreneurs, artists, ranchers, farmers, and food producers. She lives in Silver City, NM, where she and her husband run a successful woodcraft business and are raising two teenage children.

• Email Andrea