Slow Food USA’s all-volunteer Food and Farm Policy Team sets the tone for the organization’s ongoing engagement with federal food legislation. They meet at least monthly and play critical roles in deciding which bills to support, how to educate and engage our grassroots network about food systems change, and connect us to partner organizations and coalitions. This summer, Slow Food USA welcomed applications from dozens of brilliant activists who were interested in joining this team, and we are eager to welcome seven new members to the team! Meet the full team and learn more about how Slow Food USA brings good, clean and fair food for all to life through federal food policy.
Christina Badaracco works as a healthcare consultant and nationally recognized thought leader, focusing on advancing the role of nutrition in healthcare. She also regularly writes, teaches, and develops curriculum about nutrition, culinary medicine, and sustainable agriculture—including publishing The Farm Bill: A Citizen’s Guide, publishing cookbooks with the Transamerica Institute, and co-developing a culinary medicine course at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and lifestyle medicine series for MedStar Health. Christina previously worked for the EPA, Teaching Kitchen Collaborative, Oakland Unified School District, and others. She serves as president of the DC Metro Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a Slow Food DC board member.
Yael Cypers Kotick is the Director of Procurement for the Alice Waters Institute, an organization that works to leverage the collective buying power of public schools and universities to support the large-scale transition to regenerative food systems. Prior to her role at AWI, Yael worked to build leading sustainable sourcing programs for mission-driven food companies including Chipotle, sweetgreen, and Blue Apron. Yael graduated with honors from the New York University Food Studies program. She currently serves on the Advisory Council for the USDA Southwest Regional Food Business Center, which focuses on building local and regional supply chains.
Razija Mehinović has been involved in food systems work at different levels for years now. She was a Zero Waste Intern at her undergraduate university, where she aimed to address food security on campus through food surplus recovery initiatives and collaborating with fellow sustainability interns to meet food security needs. Most recently, she studied for her MSc. Sustainable Food Systems where she researched food aid models that utilized culturally affirming offerings, social eating schemes, and consumer choice initiatives to meet food security needs. Before her time in academia, she worked at local farm to table restaurants, and it’s where her passion for Slow Food came about!
Anna Reed (she/her) is a public health researcher at the University of Washington where she researches the health impacts of climate change and works with communities to build resilience through locally-relevant adaptation and mitigation strategies. Prior to obtaining her Masters in Public Health, Anna worked in various corners of the food system, including on small farms in Minnesota and in garden and cooking education in the Bay Area, where she taught hands-on gardening skills and developed food justice and climate literacy curricula for middle- and high-school students.
Elena Seeley (she/her) is the Content Director for Food Tank, a research and advocacy organization working toward the positive transformation of how we produce and consume food. She believes that the power of storytelling can be used as a powerful tool to create food systems that are more equitable, regenerative, and nourishing for all. She holds an M.A. in Food Studies from New York University. In her spare time, Elena can be found trying new recipes or curling up with her two cats and a good book.
Anna Transit is an attorney based in the metro-Detroit area who is passionate about food centered communities, small producers, and rural places and people. Having learned at her grandma’s elbow about preserving a garden’s bounty and the power of a well-timed cake delivery, she strives to help others remember the power of foodways in their lives. She looks forward to advocating for policies that empower communities to take ownership of their food production and consumption, and that positively impact the ability of consumers to be knowledgeable about the foods they eat and the places it comes from.
After growing up on a farm in rural Jamaica, Jessica Tretina started doing personal research on the US food system when she moved to the US and started experiencing new food sensitivities. Her curiosity brought her to the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, where she achieved a Master of Gastronomy in World Food Cultures in 2021. She began working at Food For Free in Somerville, MA as the Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications in September 2022. In her spare time, she enjoys tending to her community garden plot and learning about foraging in the North East USA.
