Rebecca North | Acting Executive Director

Rebecca North is a mother, queer, gardener, hobby herbalist and straight-edge punk. She has a masters degree in transnational feminism from SFSU and is the Director of Procurement for The FruitGuys. An East Coaster, Spartan racer, and lover of cherries, Rebecca lives in the Bay Area with her wife, son, cattle dog, lab, and Bernie the cat.

Abbie Erskine | Office Manager | Communications Coordinator

Abbie has over a decade of experience working in the non-profit sector as a Program Coordinator, Wellness Center Manager and Administrative Assistant. She is passionate about organic food, living harmoniously with Mother Earth and creating a sustainable future for the next generation. She connects with the greater community through running her own Massage Therapy and Holistic Wellness business. She believes self-awareness and mindfulness leads to taking care of ourselves, the Earth and each other. Her past experiences include working with Habitat for Humanity and Mount Madonna Center for many years. 

Claire Babbott-Bryan | GrizzlyCorps Fellow

Claire (she/her) grew up along the banks of the Connecticut River in Northampton, Massachusetts. She ventured north for undergrad to study Environmental Anthropology at Middlebury College in Vermont. During her senior year, she spent six months in Buenos Aires obtaining Spanish fluency and conducting ethnographic research on urban public parks. She also spent a term at the Eco-Institute in North Carolina, where she received her permaculture certification and learned homesteading practices. Claire is eager to spend her first year out of college as a GrizzlyCorps fellow, an AmeriCorps program designed by Project Climate at UC Berkeley that works with community-based organizations to promote regenerative agri-food systems and forest resilience across California. She joins EcoFarm with a focus on the BIPOC regenerative agriculture community, working to promote racial equity in farming spaces in California and beyond. She loves to sketch, write poetry, sing, run, and road cycle. She is also a semi-professional frisbee player and has played competitive club in three continents.

Dina Izzo | Sponsorship & Exhibitor Manager

Dina has been involved with EcoFarm in some capacity for the past thirty years. She served on the Board of Directors for ten years and has been part of the planning committee for twenty five years. Dina is the founder of BluDog Consulting, a company that teaches beginning farmers basic marketing and sales techniques both one on one an in a classroom setting. Clients include Multicultural Exchange of Sustainable Agriculture (MESA), Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), Center for Land-Based Learning, and a host of farmers and businesses.

Joyce Rice | Scholarship, Work Trade and Special Events Manager

Joyce has been attending EcoFarm Conference for the last 15 years, as an attendee and most recently as a super-volunteer. She is passionate about food, farming and education. Joyce has over 25 years of experience working at UC Santa Cruz. Her jobs on campus included serving as the Company Manager for Shakespeare Santa Cruz, the Environmental Studies Undergraduate Advisor and Staff Program Manager for Student Sustainability. She spends time between upstate New York and California and is happiest being with her family & friends on both coasts, kayaking on rivers and growing food in her garden. 

Katie Hershfelt | Food Program Coordinator | Sponsorship & Exhibitor Manager

Katie is a passionate local food and farming advocate, business owner, consultant, and community builder with 15 years of experience as a trusted resource and strategic partner in building food system resilience. In 2013, she launched Cultivate Events, where she creates experiences that tell the stories of our local food movement. Her deep ties to the food system stem from her tendency to spend two too many hours at the farmers market, pull over for anything that resembles a farm stand, and be on a need-to-know basis with everything local food.

Kristina Lapinski | Program Director

Kristina has spent over 13 years working in production and as a strategic communications/marketing consultant for major tech companies, nonprofits, foundations, startups, entertainment companies, and more. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Political Science, Law & Philosophy, in addition to studying sustainable agriculture at the UCSC Farm. As a women’s rights and LGBTQ+ activist, she has a deep commitment to DEI and social, racial, gender, and climate justice work. She is passionate about access to organic food and enjoys finding and supporting organic cafes, co-ops, and small farms in unexpected locations around the world. Kristina is an avid photographer, hiker, and mountain biker, and can usually be found on the trails of Marin and Sonoma Counties. 

Rubie Simonsen | Marketing and Communications Director

Rubie has specialized in sustainability and systems change over the last ten-years serving in nonprofit and government industries. She is responsible for developing cross-sector partnerships to create unique real-world experiences for young people throughout Sacramento and the Bay Area. Having graduated with her B.A. in Sociology from Sacramento State, this Filipina-native, farmer, and yoga teacher is passionate about shaping the future of her hometown into an urban agriculture and arts hub. In 2016, she graduated from Center for Landbased Learning Beginning Farmer Training program and launched an herb farm in West Sacramento where she produced locally grown lavender, and various edible specialty herbs. First Mother Farms is currently supporting food sovereignty and youth development work with Tribal communities throughout California. She is a proud founding member of the Sacramento Globalshapers Hub, and had the honor of being the Curator in 2016. When she is not farming, Rubie can be found practicing yoga or camping along the coast.