Kristen is a Ph.D. student and consultant based in western Massachusetts. She has spent the past decade working to foster vibrant and equitable community food systems, working with farmers, students, nonprofit organizations, and local governments across Massachusetts and in Latin America. Kristen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Gender Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a master’s degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Kristen is a consultant with Fertile Ground, conducting research, supporting program design and evaluation, fundraising, and facilitating strategic community planning processes across the state. In addition, she is Peer Academic Advisor for the UMass Sustainable Community Development undergraduate program. She is also a big fan of family farms and works as Marketing Assistant at Queen’s Greens in Amherst. 

Kristen centralizes participatory and community-based methods in her research and practice and is committed to community-led movements for social, economic, and environmental justice. Raised in western Massachusetts by a family of farmers, cooks, food service workers, and grocery truck drivers, she has spent most of her life thinking about food, the land it’s grown on, the people who move it around the world, and most importantly, what’s for dinner.