Animators in Action
To support community action on food, we piloted a capacity building and leadership program. This brought together a team representing a variety of backgrounds and experiences, to take part in trainings, supported the food assessment activities, and facilitated community events and actions!
Check out the folks involved in our first Food Animator project, as we look forward to working with a new team in 2022!
Ignatius Baker
Iggy is an artist and computer programming student. He has a passion for nature and sustainability, especially as it relates to growing and sharing food within our local communities.
Iggy brought his digital mapping skills to improve awareness of and access to programs - check out the Little Free Pantry blog post with a provincial map, interview, and ‘how to’ guide!
Elena Diyanova
Originally from Russia, and having lived in multiple countries over the years, Elena moved to NL with her family in 2015. Her passion for creating & sharing fresh, healthy, and affordable meals, combined with a reputation for the best homemade perogies - and the Newfound Perogi company was born!
Elena believes in using simple, natural ingredients in her cooking and her business. She is excited to join the Food Animator team and work towards improving food security in our province.
Theresa Powell
Theresa brings five years’ professional marketing experience, which she plans to use in promoting community food action projects via online storytelling.
When she’s not volunteering or working, you can find her trying out new recipes, hanging out with her little cat Dalí, and exploring the food the world has to offer
Ryan Steeves
Ryan is a financial advisor with a passion for learning new ways to prepare food. He spends his free time hiking, kayaking, browsing twitter, and getting creative in the kitchen. Ryan joined the food animators with hopes of inspiring people to learn new food skills and take pride in being involved in the creation of their own meals.
He’ll be working with O’Brien Farm Foundation to share traditional food skills in a virtual way!
Jennifer Collins
After life gives you so much strength from past challenges and experiences, you begin to realize it is now your time to help others. Food, as the foundation of health, has been a major priority with myself and my son over the last few years. I am excited to bring my passion for food+fun to life as part of the food animator team.
Check out Jennifer’s blog post, Micro Greens for Big Impact!
Amaan Merchant
Amaan came to Newfoundland to study business at Memorial University. Originally from India, he witnessed the impact of poverty and food insecurity in the community around him, and the stark divide between those who had and those who had not. As a Food Animator, he hopes to shine a spotlight on the issue of food waste, how it plays a role in climate change, and the benefits of composting for the environment. Amaan brings the particular focus of the post-secondary student perspective to the work of the St. John’s Food Assessment.
Catherine Pretty
Catherine is a community advocate with a passion to educate and support people who have been stigmatized for experiencing food insecurity. She volunteers regularly with her local community centre and hopes to use her role as a Food Animator to improve food related support for residents.
Her skills in preparing budget friendly, healthy, diverse meals for her family is a great asset to this program. Catherine works to seek change and empathy throughout her community as a role model to her three amazing children with the every day challenge as a single parent.
Debbie Wiseman
Debbie is an activist, web developer, and now food animator from St. John's. She is a member of the St. John's Food Policy Council and serves on the board of the Social Justice Co-op of NL and Happy City St. John's.
In 2020, she co-founded the not-for-profit Sharing The Harvest NL, and successfully lobbied the provincial government to change legislation to allow hunters to donate moose and caribou meat to food banks. She is an advocate for poverty reduction, food security, active transit, and reducing waste.
Deborah Coombs - Team Lead
Deborah has a passion for local food, backyard vegetable gardens, and composting. She has been gardening since her Nan gave her a small vegetable plot of her own as a preschooler and first taught her to grow radishes and lettuce. Her dream is to see a municipal composting program in St. John’s. Deborah’s background is in university administration and social media management. These days she freelances as a project manager and virtual administrator.
Lindsay Newman
Lindsay is a fourth year Business student at Memorial University with a passion for food and community building. As Director of External Affairs at NL Eats, she is passionate about connecting with, and empowering, youth against food insecurity. Lindsay hopes to open up the conversation around food waste and how we can turn our “food scraps” into delicious, nutritious meals.
Viviana Ramirez Luna
Viv is an Environmental Scientist, intensely passionate about Zero Waste (ZW). Since 2017 she has been spreading the word, raising awareness, and growing a team of citizens, government, institutions, and businesses to further the ZW movement in NL. Viv runs her own social enterprise, Planeet Consulting, is affiliated with the Social Justice Coop NL and serves on the board of the Food Producers Forum.
Viv grew up near Cali, Colombia, (the salsa capital of the world!) and has called St. John's home since 2009. She lives with her partner and their amazing 4 year-old, who she hopes will grow up with all the freedom and responsibility to do and be whatever they wish.