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A celebration of the people and organizations who have made the Just BIPOC Sourcing program a reality.
The Just BIPOC Sourcing Framework is a resource for achieving alignment among all stakeholders in order to create successful BIPOC sourcing pilots and programs in the foodservice industry. The framework is based on a combination of past learnings from case studies over the last decade and current pilots.
Heather Frambach directed the BIPOC Sourcing Initiative, with support from Mireya Gomez-Contreras, Guillermo Gomez-Contreras, Ciara Segura, and Douglas Gayeton, as well as advice from shareholders across the Northern California region.
Value Chain Strategist, Kitchen Table Advisors
Heather Frambach was instrumental in putting together the BIPOC Sourcing Pilot with Good Eating Company. She put together this BIPOC Sourcing toolkit with the help of the Advisory Board. Heather has an eclectic food systems background across service jobs, farmers market management, organizing, local government food policy, nonprofit farm-to-school work, and as a procurement director for Blue Apron and Imperfect Foods. Within REGEN1, she represents Kitchen Table Advisors, building power and developing supply chains with small and midsize farmers via value chain coordination in Northern California.
Cultural Interpreter & Translator, Co-owner, ALD&Y Organic Farm
My greatest teachers to date have been my children who remind me everyday to play as a part of living a balanced life. I feel lucky to get to do this with them on a regular basis on a community farm. I inherited a love for the earth from my mother who was raised in a rural town in Mexico. I grew up alongside my parents picking grapes and bell peppers in the San Joaquin Valley in CA. Now as an adult, with my formal training in sociology and my experience in the non-profit sector of over 20 years, I work to increase our connection to each other and all living beings. As a Cultural Interpreter I facilitate conversations to include diverse voices towards the redistribution of power and resources so that our ultimate impact can be abundance and dignity for all.
Co-Founder, The Lexicon
Douglas is an award-winning information architect, filmmaker, photographer and writer.
He directed the KNOW YOUR FOOD series for PBS and GROWING ORGANIC for USDA, MOLOTOV ALVA for HBO, and has authored two books, SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town, and LOCAL: The New Face of Food and Farming in America.
He is also one of Crop Trust’s Food Forever champions and a visiting professor in the Masters Program at Slow Food’s University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.
Co-Executive Director, Mandela Partners
Ciara joined Mandela Partners in 2018 to address competing food access and economic challenges – ensuring fair pricing for farmers who grow sustainably while simultaneously keeping the cost of healthy food affordable in underserved communities. Since then, she has led the growth of the organization’s food access initiatives and farmer network. In her role as co-executive director, she will continue to deepen Mandela Partners’ cross-sector partnerships and programs, and cultivate pathways for asset and wealth building in limited resource communities of color. Ciara grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and has lived in the Bay Area for over 15 years. She holds a B.A. in Feminist Studies from Stanford University and a M.A. in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin.
Owner, ALD&Y Organic Farm
I’ve spent most of my life on a farm starting with my parents’ farm in Oaxaca Mexico. When I moved to the United States I continued to work in agriculture. I started in the least valued position, farm labor. Over time I learned about the opportunity to establish my own business through organic farming and completed a training program at ALBA, Agriculture and Land Based Training Association. My journey has been one of transformation and I believe food systems have the power to transform places and communities. Today I operate my own small farm where I integrate regenerative farming practices. I work for the well-being and integrity of all people. My dream is that not people who are well off financially can buy organic food- everyone deserves to eat nutrient-rich vegetables that are cultivated using processes that care for the natural environment.
The following people provided value support, expertise, and insight in the creation of this toolkit.
April Word
Regional Sustainability Manager, Sodexo
Melody Miranda
Culinary Director, Good Eating Company
Renee Mckeon
Sustainability and Marketing Manager, Artisan Restaurant Collection
Maisie Ganzler
Chief Strategy and Brand Officer, Bon Appétit
Jonathan Kaplan
Global Sustainability Director, Compass at Google
Helene York
Independent Strategic Advisor
Natily Santos
VP Specialty Supply Chain, Aramark
Rogelio Ponce
CEO, True Harvest
The Just BIPOC Sourcing Platform was produced by The Lexicon with support from Food at Google. The Lexicon brings together food companies, NGOs, scientists, entrepreneurs, and food producers from across the globe to tackle some of the most complex challenges facing our agrifood systems, from regenerative agriculture to agrobiodiversity.
This website was built by The Lexicon™, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Petaluma, CA.
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April is the Regional Sustainability Manager at Sodexo, where she works specifically with university clients to achieve sustainability goals. She has worked as a chef, teacher, and leader, and has a track record of leveraging resources and strategic partnerships to create environmental and social impact. She earned her BA and Master’s in Teaching at Bard College and cut her culinary chops as a cook at Chez Panisse. From 2015-2020 she ran the in-house dining program at Thumbtack, where she developed and implemented an ecologically conscious food strategy, which included developing a robust regional supply chain, reducing red meat consumption, and eliminating single-serving packaging. She serves on the Board of Capay Valley Farm Shop and is enthusiastic about opportunities to deepen the relationship between eaters and their food.
Melody is an executive chef with over 20 years in the culinary field.
Her culinary spark was fueled early on during her frequent family outings to various restaurants of new, exciting, and ethnic cuisines, collecting the restaurant receipts as souvenirs along the way.
Prior to graduating from the California Culinary Academy in 2000, Melody began her culinary career at the age of 14 at an historic bed and breakfast inn among the Sierra Nevada foothills of California where she was raised. She then moved on to other work discovering and developing her artistic talents for food decoration and presentation.
After graduation and more restaurant experience, Melody started her own Private chef business. In addition, she has become a corporate chef, a self proclaimed food nerd (note the above restaurant receipt collection), and now, culinary director for the Good Eating Company.
“One of the best things about my job is being able to travel and really dig into the food culture of the cities I am in.”
Melody is a certified Soil Advocate and has a passion for all things regenerative in the food and farm world. In her down time, Melody spends time with her two children and husband working to build their small home farm back in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Renee McKeon is responsible for driving Artisan Restaurant Collection’s sustainability commitments both and for the brand as a whole and at LinkedIn San Francisco. She is responsible for implementing initiatives that drive positive social and environmental impacts of Artisan’s foodservice offer by working on local and sustainable sourcing, climate smart and plant forward menus, waste reduction, and strong partnerships with producers, nonprofit organizations, farms, and small businesses – all in support of the vision of a thriving food system.
Prior to joining Artisan, Renee worked with various nonprofits including Osa Conservation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Italy America Chamber of Commerce to promote the sustainable production and trade of good food. In her last role she was the executive director of an environmental organization working in Costa Rica where she worked on launching an innovative ecolodge with a ‘forest to table’ food program, scaling up an agroecological farm and creating educational programming on conservation.
Maisie Ganzler has been instrumental in shaping the overall strategic direction of the food service pioneer Bon Appétit Management Company for over two decades, overseeing Bon Appétit’s strategic initiatives, culinary development, purchasing, and more. In 1999, she helped develop the groundbreaking Farm to Fork local-purchasing program and has since launched many of Bon Appétit’s other progressive initiatives in the areas of animal welfare, sustainable seafood, antibiotics, farmworker rights, and food waste. More recently, she has focused on antibiotics in agriculture and aquaculture, plant-forward innovation, and the development of a proprietary kitchen waste-tracking tool.
Jonathan is the Global Director of Sustainability for Compass at Google where he works to leverage the resources and ingenuity of both companies to make food healthier for people and the planet. For more than two decades, Jonathan has advanced successful strategies to change government and corporate policy, align diverse stakeholders, develop sustainability metrics and standards, and encourage more sustainable food production. Jonathan previously directed the Food and Agriculture Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) where he led initiatives to reduce antibiotic use in the livestock industry, curb food waste, promote climate-friendly menus and advocate for alternatives to high risk pesticides. Jonathan held program director positions at San Francisco BayKeeper and California Public Interest Research Group and has served on numerous boards and advisory groups.
Now a teacher and an independent strategic advisor after two decades as a supply chain innovator with global and national experience for food service companies, Helene has made a career of questioning business as usual, partnering with chefs, and building trust among suppliers and distributors to move in new directions.
At Bon Appetit Management Company, she developed new produce, seafood, meat, chocolate, snack and coffee supply chains, and created the Low Carbon Diet, the first US national program to implement climate-friendly menus. The key ingredient to this successful program was partnering with chefs, the ‘choice editors’ of our food system.
As Global Director of Responsible Business for Compass Group at Google, Helene led a supply chain team supporting 60 restaurants and 300 micro-kitchens in Silicon Valley and supported on-the-ground procurement officers in 27 countries. She led the implementation of food waste reduction technology and practices across the world.
At Guckenheimer she served as Chief Procurement Officer and as Head of Social and Environmental Responsibility. She developed and won support for a broadly responsible procurement strategy that embedded shared value and profitability, supporting chefs’ ability to continue to serve delicious options, responsibly.
She has visited countless farms, fisheries, and processors across the world in pursuit of understanding levers of change and creating channels for byproducts dismissed as waste. She takes pride in having coached numerous emerging food business leaders and smallholder farms to get a foothold supplying contract food service. She teaches a class, Supply Chains, Logistics, Manufacturing, and Legal Contracts, to master’s students at the Food Business School of the CIA. She also works with Postelsia, an advisory service, that seeks to expand opportunities for environmentally and socially responsible smallholder fishery and aquaculture operations. Helene has served on numerous boards including Humane Farm Animal Care (animal welfare), Chef Ann Foundation (school nutrition), Fishchoice (traceability/sustainability), and Project Open Hand (food as medicine).
Natily Santos is a management leader with over 15 years of experience and a proven record of creating value in sales, operations, and supply chain functions.
As the Vice President of Specialty Supply Chain for Aramark; Natily oversees local procurement, supplier diversity and sustainability sourcing initiatives. She leads teams and strategic procurement programs that connect clients, consumers and communities to strategies that drive business growth and local economic impact.
In addition to her Aramark commitments, Natily is also very involved in community service. She is motivated to pay it forward and make a positive impact as a mentor and scholarship fundraiser.
Natily shares her time and expertise on several boards and program committees including PHLDiversity a division of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Business Enterprise Council, Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council and Prospanica – The Association of Hispanic Professionals. As part of these organizations she expands her work towards addressing areas of DEI, support for young professionals, community empowerment and economic development.
Natily graduated from Temple University Fox School of Business where she received a Master’s in Business Administration. She also earned a Bachelor of Science with Honors in International Business with a focus on Hotel & Tourism Management from Johnson & Wales University. Natily is originally from New York City and now resides in Philadelphia. She enjoys traveling, dining out and spending time with friends and family.