Robert LaValva, Director
Founder of New Amsterdam Market
Robert worked for ten years as a planner for the City of New York, where he developed and implemented an innovative urban composting program. He left government to pursue his interest in sustainable agriculture and regional development and found his way to Slow Food in 2003. There, he instituted the nation's first consortium for raw milk cheese producers; worked on programs to help preserve heritage animal breeds and heirloom fruits and vegetables; and managed Slow Food’s Urban Harvest festival, which was held as the first New Amsterdam Market on October 2, 2005.
He is committed to reviving this city’s historic tradition of public markets, rededicated to regional food and culture, and eschews the term "branding" along with all that it implies.
Robert is a native New Netherlander (born in New Jersey), studied urban planning at New York University, and architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
robert [at] newamsterdammarket.org
Cerise Mayo, Program Director
Cerise served as the Director of Special Projects at Slow Food USA from 2002-2007. While there, she oversaw the coordination of the US Delegation to Terra Madre, a biennial meeting of farmers, food producers, chefs and academics held in Turin, Italy; founded and steered Slow Food in Schools, a national program of farm-to-school initiatives; and organized numerous public programs and events that highlighted the importance of sustainable food production and procurement in creating vibrant communities. Most recently Cerise served as a Program Manager at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, CA. During the 2007 summer season, she had the great fortune to apprentice with master gardeners Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch at Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine.
Prior to her work in the field of food and sustainability, Cerise worked for eight years as a Program Coordinator for numerous non-profit organizations in both New York and San Francisco, developing programs focused on art, environmental education and community leadership programs for children and low-income communities.
cerise [at] newamsterdammarket.org
Annie Myers, Intern
Annie is a student at the Gallatin School of NYU, concentrating in Agriculture and Regional Food Systems. She has previously worked at Just Food and Saxelby Cheesemongers in New York, at the Added Value Community Farm in Brooklyn, and most recently, at the Ecology Center Farmers' Markets in Berkeley, California. She regularly posts articles and essays on Thoughts on the Table. As an NYU Reynolds Scholar, Annie will be working for New Amsterdam Market throughout the summer.
annie [at] newamsterdammarket.org
|
