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.
Sarah Shepro
Administrative Manager
Pronouns: She/her
Originally from Wisconsin, Sarah hopes to connect and grow with the Portland community through her work. Prior to her time at local nonprofits, Sarah worked in Portland’s vibrant food industry, which strengthened her interest in restructuring food systems to be more equitable. When not on the job, she enjoys exploring Maine’s shoreline and creating watercolor paintings of what she finds. Her favorite vegetable is kale.
Sandy Alles
Director of Farm Sales
Pronouns: He/him
Sandy has been working with Cultivating Community since 2017, providing farm and marketing support to the participants in the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project at the Packard-Littlefield Farm in Lisbon and overseeing farm management at Hurricane Valley Farm in Falmouth. When not on the tractor, he loves spending time inspecting his colonies of honeybees, tapping maple trees, and exploring Maine by bicycle. Sandy also loves to grow and cook with garlic, and occasionally eats it raw to ward off sickness.
Laura Mailander
Director of Farm Programs
Pronouns: She/her
Laura started her time at Cultivating Community as a FoodCorp member, teaching gardening and cooking classes at the Talbot and East End Elementary Schools. She has also worked with the community gardens in Portland and now works with community gardeners growing at Hurricane Valley Farm (HVF) in Falmouth. When not working at HVF, Laura loves finding new swimming spots around southern Maine. Laura’s favorite vegetable is fresh peas right off the vine.
Melanie Mansir
Hurricane Valley Farm Caretaker
Pronouns: She/her
Melanie has enjoyed three glorious years out on Maine organic farms as a field worker. She gets through tough work with a song and loves the community and connection fostered by working hard together. As a birth and postpartum doula, she nurtures the community by empowering families to have safe and satisfying experiences. When Melanie is not in the elements with her crocs full of dirt, she loves writing music, performing stand-up comedy, and cultivating cabbage, kale, and empathy. She loves vulnerable conversation and cooking with the food she grows. Every year Melanie falls in love with a new vegetable. This year she loves parsnips!
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.
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.
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.
Guy Mpoyi Tshitoko
Community Gardens Coordinator
Pronouns: He/him
Guy, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, moved to Portland in 2013 and joined Cultivating Community in 2019. Guy loves gardening and helping people who speak limited English access fresh food and land – he also works as a Senior Human Services Counselor with the City of Portland and is a Community Transportation Leader at the Greater Portland Council of Governments. In this role, Guy advocates for accessible transportation for the immigrant community. He is also a member of the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee. Guy speaks and reads English, French, Lingala, and Swahili. His favorite vegetable is Amerente, he likes to cook it with smoked fish and Fufu.
Billie Watson
Youth Programs Manager
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.
Jimmy DeBiasi
Board Treasurer
Pronouns: He/him
Jimmy is the Executive Director of the Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets (MFFM), where he works statewide with farmers and community partners to support and strengthen Maine farmers and access to locally-grown food. Originally from Massachusetts, Jimmy moved to Maine in 2017 to begin his work with MFFM. He has dedicated his career to community food security, spending time as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Missouri and a volunteer organizer and fundraiser for a social services organization in Portland, Oregon. He now lives in Freeport with his wife, where they have a large garden.
Jeannie Verrando
Board Member
Pronouns: She/her
After living in Portland for fifteen years, Jeannie first connected with Cultivating Community by volunteering at Hurricane Valley Farm with her WEX Marketing colleagues. Since that first day mulching the raspberry patch, Jeannie has been dedicated to championing our mission throughout WEX and the local business community and fostering new relationships and opportunities for Cultivating Community. Jeannie has worked with non-profits in both Portland and Boston, bringing 34 years of brand marketing and communications experience to our organization. She is a musician and writer and lives with her partner Dave in Gorham.
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.
Nick Escobedo
Board Member
Pronouns: He/his
Nick joined the board in 2024 after serving a year in AmeriCorps as the Food Fuels Learning Coordinator at the Cumberland County Food Security Council. In this role, he worked with nonprofits around the Greater Portland area to empower school administration and nonprofits to collectively reduce food insecurity. He graduated from the University of Southern Maine in 2022 with an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Public and Professional Writing, which he hopes to utilize in advancing the nonprofit community of Greater Portland and Maine! Nick enjoys cooking, reading, and exercising. His favorite vegetable is cilantro for its versatility and flavor.
Header photo by Greta Rybus