PROGRAM & GRANTS MANAGER

Heather spent many years in the business world in sales, marketing, and administration prior to pursuing a career change into food after being an avid cook all her life. She spent years as a chef, graduating from Baltimore International College with a double major in professional cooking and baking. She left kitchen life to connect her passion for local food and business experience as Director of Marketing for Richardson Farms, then as the Baltimore Market Manager for Relay Foods, then managing Baltimore’s only food hub as Executive Director of Chesapeake Farm to Table. She holds a Certificate in Food Hub Management from The University of Vermont.

Next, Heather connected her passion for local food and local farms to her personal mission for food access and food justice at the Maryland Farmers Market Association running the Maryland Market Money program before the program came to SMADC in 2020.

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EXTERNAL RELATIONS & DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

Cristina Berthelot was raised in the heart of Sportsman's Paradise amongst a family of fishers and tobacco farmers in Southern Louisiana. As a first generation college graduate, Cristina's childhood days spent in a flat boat on the bayou evolved into a B.G.S. concentrating in environmental sociology, minoring in biology from Southeastern Louisiana University. While at SELU, their studies reached areas of food inequity, sustainable agriculture, and regional food systems. After a summer of studying these principles abroad in Cuba, Cristina has focused on food justice through farmers markets, promoting the importance of fresh local foods, sustainable farming practices, and food sovereignty.

From one port city to another, Cristina is excited to call Maryland home, join the SMADC team and work with the Maryland Market Money program. Cristina enjoys cooking, cinematography, and getting her hands in the dirt.

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FARMERS MARKET E-INCENTIVE COORDINATOR

Raised in the Seattle area, Kelley holds a Master of Science in Public Health and Nutrition degree from Johns Hopkins University, where she focused on food systems and federal food assistance programs. At Hopkins, she worked as a research assistant for the Baltimore Urban food Distribution (BUD) application, a web-based mobile app designed to improve the food distribution network in Baltimore City by connecting small retail food store owners with local farmers to acquire fresh produce. This experience inspired her interest in all things agriculture. She interned for EastWest Food Rescue in Washington, a non-profit that purchases surplus produce from farmers and redistributes it to low-income individuals, as an assistant market manager of the Rockville Farmers Market during the 2021 market season, and even maintained a garden plot at the Locust Point Community Garden.

Kelley is excitd to join the SMADC team and apply her experience in food systems, community food access, and mobile technology to support the success of the Maryland Market Money program.

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MARYLAND MARKET MONEY COORDINATOR

Born and raised in Southern Maryland, Sophie holds a B.A. in Business and Leadership Studies, a Post-Bac in Biochemistry and a Leadership Certificate from Qatar University in Doha, Qatar.

Additionally, she completed an Organizing for Social Change and Advanced Strategy Certification from Midwest Training Academy and a Herbalism training course at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine.

Sophie has managed Hope Farms, an urban organic farm and developed educational programming with Finca Tres Robles in Houston, TX. Most recently, She worked with Blackwood Educational Land institute, a regenerative farm in Hempstead, TX.

With a lobbying background, Sophie enjoys advocating for her passions, which include food access, regenerative farming and environmental preservation. Speaking both French and Spanish, when not working you will find Sophie travelling, growing herbs and enjoying nature with her son, Dove.

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