Our Team
OLIVIA WATKINS | Co-Founder & Interim President
Olivia Watkins (she/her) serves as Co-Founder and Interim President at Black Farmer Fund. Olivia is a social entrepreneur and impact investor. For the past seven years, she has financed, developed, and operated environmental and social projects across the US. She also serves as a board member for Soul Fire Farm Institute.
Prior to founding Black Farmer Fund in 2017, Olivia worked in several production roles at Soul Fire Farm Institute and Kahumana Organic Farms, leveraging her environmental biology background to manage and grow environmentally regenerative and socially impactful business operations.
Olivia has an MBA from North Carolina State University in Financial Management, and a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University in Environmental Biology. She was also recognized on the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact list and The Grist 50.
ONYX RAMíREZ | SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Onyx Ramírez (she/her) serves as the Senior Communications Manager for Black Farmer Fund. Originally from Washington Heights, NYC, Onyx has been working with Non-Profit organizations since 2015 and has dedicated her life's work to empowering and centering BIPOC folks and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Onyx brings 8 years of experience in Communications, Marketing, and Education experience to her work at Black Farmer Fund.
Before joining the team, Onyx served as the Community School Director for the Bronx High School of Business and was a graphic design, illustration, and marketing consultant.
She is looking forward to expanding her connection to the earth and exploring more deeply the relationship between people and plants through her work at BFF.
MYKALEE MCGOWAN | COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE
Mykalee McGowan (she/they) serves as the Communications Associate for the Black Farmer Fund.
Mykalee holds a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University where she majored in journalism and minored in photography. She comes to this work with 10 years of experience in the communications and marketing field, helping non profit organizations and small businesses get their mission and message to the masses.
Passionate about food and wellness, Mykalee is currently studying for their Masters in Nutrition with a concentration in Herbal Medicine from Maryland University of Integrative Health. With their educational background and food system work, she wants to serve the many communities that have helped her grow and thrive.
In her free time, Mykalee enjoys cooking traditional Jamaican cuisine with her mother, collecting vinyl records, and traveling.
Janet Gumbs | Finance director
Janet Gumbs (she/her) serves as the Finance Director for Black Farmer Fund. Gumbs is a mission-driven professional with a passion for guiding non-profits and NGOs towards financial stability. She has over 25 years of progressive experience in all areas of non-profit and NGO leadership with extensive experience in Financial Management.
She holds a professional accounting qualification and is a member of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA). She also graduated from the City University of New York, Baruch College, School of Public and International Affairs, with a master’s degree in public administration majoring in Nonprofit Management.
Janet Gumbs has held various Financial Management positions in several New York City non-profits, most recently as the Finance lead at the Association of Black Foundation Executives.
Olamide goke-Pariola | Development & Investor Relations Director
Olamide Goke-Pariola (she/her) serves as the Director of Development and Investor Relations at the Black Farmer Fund. Previously, she worked as a Director of Philanthropy at Cooperative Assistance for Relief Everywhere (CARE). The majority of her career has been in the nonprofit sector, having previously held roles at Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Society of American Foresters, and Conservation International. She holds a B.A in International Affairs and an M.S in International Policy Management, both from Kennesaw State University.
Ola is passionate about social justice, feminism, and Black liberation. She is thrilled to use her skills to raise money for Black farmers, and continue the important legacy of Black farm and land stewardship.
Ola is proud to connect people and institutions to the causes they care about through philanthropy.
Alexis Jaya Hutchinson | Special Projects Assistant
Alexis Jaya Hutchinson (she/her) serves as the Special Projects Assistant for Black Farmer Fund. Alexis is committed to Black liberation, with reproductive justice and an investment in documenting the genesis, surveillance, displacement, and destruction of historically Black communities in the Northeast and Midwest as the foundation of her advocacy.
Alexis has over five years of event management, social media management, and public relations experience— previously working at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and With Intelligence. She holds a BA in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis with minors in History and Sociology. In addition, she holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University, where she served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Outside of work, Alexis takes care of her plants, Elias and Chloe, and operates a Brooklyn-based book club which centers literature by Black women. She also enjoys baking, hiking, and writing.
Myra Marcellin | Business Support Director
Myra Marcellin (she/her) serves as the Business Support Director at the Black Farmer Fund. She is also the Massachusetts Agriculture Innovation Center (MAAIC) Financial Business Advisor at the Franklin County CDC (FCCDC). In this role, Myra provides business technical assistance to farmers and value-added food producers across the state of Massachusetts.
Myra has more than 25 years of working with New England farmers as Vice-President and Senior Loan Officer at Farm Credit East (FCE), supporting small and mid-size farmers in realizing their business goals and helping young, beginning farmers launch their businesses. She has also served as the Executive Director at the Carrot Project, advancing their mission of breaking down financial barriers in the agriculture and food sectors and increasing access to capital.
Myra is passionate about serving agricultural communities by bolstering local food economies, creating thriving farm operations, and building a more racially diverse, equitable, and just food system. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors at CISA, as a director at Norcross Wildlife Foundation, and is a Trustee to the Eastern States Exposition representing the State of Massachusetts.
CHARLES WADE | INVESTMENT DIRECTOR
Charles Wade (he/him) serves as the Investment Director for Black Farmer Fund. He previously held senior roles at J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup, where he originated, structured, and distributed a range of credit solutions for private equity firms, hedge funds, and asset managers.
Originally from New Paltz, NY, Charles enjoys animal husbandry, gardening, and backpacking, and he is passionate about leveraging his finance experience to support food entrepreneurs in their efforts to improve the health and sustainability of community food systems.
Charles holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS from West Point.
CHRISTINA REESE | OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Christina Reese (she/her) serves as the Director of Operations for the Black Farmer Fund. Before her time with BFF, Christina was based in DC managing Operations for nonprofits such as Free Press and City Year, Washington DC.
Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts from Illinois State University where she majored in Psychology and Minored in Criminal Justice. She also holds an Applied Project Management certificate from Northwestern University.
Outside of work, Christina can be found tending to new plants, engaging in home renovation activities, or enjoying the East Coast. She is looking forward to supporting and uplifting Black farmers and folks in the food world and building relationships within the Buffalo food community!
JARED DAVIS | PEOPLE & CULTURE ASSOCIATE
Jared Davis (he/they) serves as the People & Culture Associate for Black Farmer Fund. They are passionate about racial justice and people power and have extensive experience providing organizations with research support, cultural strategy, organizational management and creating and implementing equitable, people-centered systems and processes.
Prior to joining the Black Farmer Fund team Jared worked in a myriad of capactities: Public Relations (Embassy of the UAE), Newsroom Research (Al Jazeera America) and the Nonprofit Sector (A New Dawn in the Negev) with an emphasis on International Relations. Jared holds an MA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Arab Studies and a dual BA from Trinity College (CT) in International and Language & Cultural Studies. He is fluent in Spanish, Italian and Arabic.
AMANDA EVERICH | Community Facilitator & Education Manager
Amanda Everich (she/they) is a seed, creator, educator, collaborator and facilitator from The Bronx, New York - unceded Wappinger Munsee Lenape land.
With over 10 years of various roles working and growing in community programming spaces, they bring their experiences from studying English Literature at The City College of New York, teaching in Reggio Emilia education as a forest school teacher for 5 years, working as a teaching artist for 9 years, and farming from Farm School NYC and as a pollinator at Rock Steady Farms. Each of these experiences nourished their passion for the expansive and healing possibilities of storytelling, community, art and education.
As a co-founder and collaborator of alternative education programs they are trained in Reggio Emilia pedagogies focused on project-based learning that evolves from play, environmental exploration and empowerment through art. Their visual art and facilitation is guided by a curiosity about the processes and lessons of the ecosystems of information around each of us.
As a play advocate and radical mapmaker, Amanda honors these sacred and creative sources as energies of transformation and connecting with the ancestral wisdom of the land to empower individual and collective liberation.
Sonja Lockhart | Community Engagement MANAGER
Sonja Lockhart (she/her) serves as the Community Engagement Manager for Black Farmer Fund. Sonja is committed to transforming local food environments to support community health and wellbeing. She comes to this position with over 5 years of experience working on community engaged projects, including designing and evaluating initiatives focused on skill-building among Black farmers and increasing food sovereignty in Black communities.
Prior to receiving her MPH, she worked for a public health nonprofit in Oakland, California collaborating with coalitions to address issues related to healthy food availability, mental health and wellbeing, and housing affordability. Sonja received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Food Systems and Health from Cornell University and her B.A. in Science, Technology, and Society with a focus in Environment and Sustainability from Stanford University.
Savannah D’Orazio | impact investment associate
Savannah D’Orazio (she/her) serves as Impact Investment Associate at Black Farmer Fund. She assists on the investment committee with the development of BFF’s integrated capital strategy. Her expertise lies in vetting prospective investments and performing financial due diligence processes within the portfolio. For the past 3 years, Savannah has been a full time entrepreneur working in community wealth education, event production, and consulting for early stage tech startups.
Prior to joining Black Farmer Fund in 2024, Savannah worked with various investment funds, leveraging her scouting and financial analytic skills to negotiate deals in real estate and venture capital. She has also worked within experiential education settings teaching gardening to elementary schoolers at the New York Botanical Gardens and has worked on farm to table procurement for the Los Angeles Unified School District within the Urban and Environmental Policy program in Southern California.
Savannah has a BA from Occidental College in Biology, and an MA from Teachers College at Columbia University in Education Policy and Public Politics. She has received awards for distinguished research and data analytics and is a Gates Millennium Scholarship alumni.
Her personal goal is to reach more people than McDonald's, especially as it relates to positive impact for women’s health, climate resilience, and extracurricular opportunities for low income youth. Savannah loves standup comedy, home cooking and gardening.