Staff & BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meet Our Team
Silvan Shawe
Executive Director
Pronouns: She/her
With a background in farming, Silvan’s career has focused on the intersection of food justice, land access, environmental advocacy, and policy change. She studied Sustainable Community Food Systems at the University of Hawai’i, and Climate Resilience at the University of Alaska. Originally from Oregon, she has put down roots in Portland and lives with her partner and son. Silvan loves to build community connections through food and is a gleaning volunteer, amateur seed saver, and mushroom forager. Her favorite thing to grow is garlic.
Gloria Mangoni
Farmer Training Manager
Pronouns: She/her
Gloria is a passionate scholar-practitioner devoted to uplifting rural communities and smallholder farmers through research, policy, and community-based action. She often describes her path into food and land justive as one rooted in a generational legacy and strengthened by a personal commitment to rural life. Raised in a family deeply connected to the land, Gloria grew up alongside five siblings: Two agronomists, a rural health professional, a rural economist, and a geologist. Her mother and grandmother cultivated home gardens. This intergenerational bond to land shaped her earliest understanding of food systems and community well-being. With over a decade of experience in agricultural policy, community development, and international research, Gloria is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Rural Sociology and International Agriculture and Development at Penn State University. Her research focuses on how civic agriculture supports African immigrant and refugee farmers in rural America, bridging policy, practice, and live experience to promote inclusive, sustainable food systems. In her free time, Gloria embraces a joyful love for music – she’s learning how to play the piano, singing, dancing, and rediscovering creativity and rhythm as powerful forms of self-expression.
Badi Camara
Farm Manager
Pronouns: He/him
Originally from Gambia, West Africa, Badi and his family moved to Maine in 2017. Badi loves his job at Cultivating Community because he enjoys working with the land and helping other new Mainers support themselves and their families through farming. When he’s not working, Badi enjoys gardening at home, learning new things, working with stained glass, and cooking Gambian dishes. His favorite vegetable is the sweet potato.
Claudia Lockwood
Farm & Community Food Program Manager
Pronouns: She/her
After spending a decade living and working in Washington, DC and Berlin, Germany, Claudia moved back home to Maine in 2023. Claudia spent the past three years working on a local organic vegetable farm, growing fruits and vegetables for the surrounding community. With a background in program and operational management through an international lens coupled with local agricultural experience, Claudia is excited to bring her experiences to Cultivating Community. When not working, you can find her skiing, hiking, or reading. Her favorite vegetable is asparagus.
Lilly Kendall
Schools Program Manager
Pronouns: She/her
Lilly, originally from western Maine, has always enjoyed nature. From a young age, she worked alongside her parents tending a small backyard garden. This encouraged Lilly to cultivate a passion for food systems and education. She attended College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, where she studied Elementary Education and co-lead a local Farm to School program. Lilly’s passion for local food systems and experiential education led her to Cultivating Community, where she continues to work with young students in school gardens and encourage their curiosity for the natural world. Her favorite vegetable is brussels sprouts.
Eva Barinas
Gardens Engagement Manager
Pronouns: She/they
Eva grew up all over North America and the Caribbean. Over the years, Eva has fallen in love with Portland and in the summer of 2023 made Portland home. Food sovereignty and bringing people together around growing and eating food is one of the great joys in Eva’s life. In this role, she supports community gardeners and coordinates volunteer groups – weaving and building beautiful connections and possibilities in the gardens around Portland. When Eva is not working, they can be found napping on a beach, running around with horses, or going for woods walks with loved ones. Eva’s favorite vegetable is okra.
Janel Knightly
Director of Urban Agriculture
Pronouns: She/her
Janel joined Cultivating Community in April of 2023. A native of Massachusetts’ North Shore, her family has lived in Portland since 2019. She can’t get enough of Maine’s diverse food scene, thriving agriculture community, and all the beautiful wild spaces. Janel has worked in food access and systems for many years, managing programs that connect low-income and New American families to nutrition education, healthy local food, and land. She hopes to both gain and grow community through her work with the community gardens and urban agriculture spaces here in Portland. Janel’s favorite vegetables are cucumbers and leeks.
Billie Watson
Director of Youth Program
Pronouns: She/her
Billie has a background in teaching and facilitation with Seeds of Peace, Maine Youth Action Network, Congregation Beth Elohim Early Childhood Center, Success Academy, and more. In addition to Maine, she’s connected to Woodstock First Nation, New York City, southern Florida, and Fairfield, CT. Cooking, gardening, and laughing are some of Billie’s great loves, which is why she’s so glad to have found Cultivating Community. When she’s not doing enrichment work with teens, you can find her hosting a loud dinner party. Her favorite vegetable is the onion.
Marcques Houston
Board President
Pronouns: He/him
Marcques is an Assistant Track and Field Coach at Bowdoin College. As a community advocate, he has fought for everyday Mainers on issues ranging from food security to childcare to education. As a Black, lifelong Mainer from a working-class family, and the first in his family to attend college, Marcques works to bring his unique perspective to everything that he does. He has worked on several political campaigns for the Maine Democratic Party, as well as several municipal campaigns in Portland. In 2021, he was elected to serve on Portland’s Charter Commission, where he served for a year and chaired the Commission’s Education Committee. In 2022, Marcques also served on Maine’s Genome-editing Technology Advisory Panel. He received his undergraduate degree from Colby College in 2018 and earned his Master of Education from Thomas College in 2022. Marcques can be found biking or running around the East Deering neighborhood of Portland. He also enjoys cross-stitching, fermenting, fishing, and gardening. He also serves on the board of Maine Conservation Voters. His favorite vegetable is corn.
Roberto Rodriguez
Board Vice President
Pronouns: He/him
Roberto, originally from Puerto Rico, spent most of his youth and lived in Miami before moving to Maine in 2011. Roberto owns Fresh Food Gardens, a local urban farming and food-scaping small business. Roberto currently serves as an At-Large City Councilor in the City of Portland, and previously served on the Portland Board of Public Education from 2016-2021, including two years as the chair of the board. Roberto has created his dream organic urban backyard farm with his wife and youngest daughter in the North Deering neighborhood of Portland where they live with their dog AJ. His favorite vegetable is an onion.
Gillian Cridler
Board Secretary
Pronouns: She/her
Gillian is the program coordinator at Maine Medical Center’s Food Pantry in Portland. She joined the board in August 2023 after completing her FoodCorps service term at Cultivating Community, where she supported initiatives to provide nourishing and culturally relevant meals to students in Portland. Prior endeavors have included co-owning a small business and working in the food and agriculture industries. She has lived in Portland for 15 years and enjoys walking in the woods with her dog, cross country skiing, exploring tidepools, and adventuring with her family. One of her favorite vegetables is the shallot.
Jeannie Verrando
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
Jeannie comes to Cultivating Community by way of volunteering at Hurricane Valley Farm. She has seen the criticality of Cultivating Community’s mission, its service and relationship deep within Portland’s neighborhoods, and its collaborative partnerships across the city. As a member of Cultivating Community’s Board of Directors, Jeannie is dedicated to championing our mission, garnering ongoing and increased support for our work, expanding awareness around Cultivating Community across greater Portland and the State of Maine, and fostering new relationships, opportunities, and engagement to help us achieve our goals. Jeannie has worked with nonprofits in both Portland abd Boston, is a musician and writer, and lives with her partner Dave in Gorhome (having also spent 15 years living in the heart of Portland). She brings 35 years of bran marketing and marketing communications experience to our organization.
Khadija Ahmed
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
Khadija is a believer in equity and food justice as well as a militant for human rights. She works for Good Shepherd Food Bank as an Equity and Impact Manager. She’s also a founder of a non-profit organization, that serves immigrant and asylum seekers by removing barriers including but aren’t limited to transportation, language, and culturally relevancy. Additionally, she works as a chef, teaches cooking classes, and trains school staff on preparing meals that reflect the student body. She lives with her partner, five children and two cats, and enjoys reading, antique hunting, and coffee with good friends.
Amanda Scarpone
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
Amanda Scarpone was born and raised in Maine, and is deeply drawn to its natural beauty and the way Maine’s landscape can provide for its inhabitants when we treat it with knowledge, respect, and justice. Amanda is the Program Director of MaineShare at Maine Initiatives and also teaches sociology and public health courses as and Adjunct Faculty at University of New England. She is deeply interested in the ways that our health is connected to social institutions and how increased and equitable access to local, sustainable food can benefit us all. She enjoys gardening, growing flowers, produce, and herbs; and exploring mountains by biking, skiing, hiking, and snowshoeing. She lives with her husband and there two cats, Poptart and PacMan.
Mariam Taleb
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
Mariam is an agricultural service provider and program manager with over 10 years of experience in agriculture and food systems work. She has been a farmworker, farm manager, and farm educator on both urban and rural organic farms across the Northeast, and has experience in local and state policy, organizing, and public education. She earned dual Bachelor’s degrees in English & Sustainable Food and Farming from UMass Amherst and a Ph.D. from Penn State in the Socio-Ecology of invasive species.
Meg Sanders
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
Meg’s career has spanned advertising, early childhood education, and non-profit communications and development. Most recently, she has been enjoying substitute teaching. Outside of work, Meg stays busy with her two young sons, tending to her community garden plot, cooking, reading, and attempting to ski and surf. She is passionate about education, healthy food, and community, and is thrilled to be a part of promoting these vital things through work with Cultivating Community!
Header photo by Greta Rybus