Jessica was looking for a way to combine her love of food, educational expertise, desire to do community service, passion to live sustainably and the urgency she feels to connect people. 

Jessica created food justice non-profit, growing SOUL — Sustainable Opportunities for Universal Learning - in 2009 as a manifestation of her life’s passions. Comprised of leaders and educators in the local food movement, growingSOUL created a self-reliant, urban farm-to-table, economically sustainable food system. This included fresh food production, processing, preservation, distribution and nutrient recycling through composting. Moving to Queens NYC in the fall of 2019, soon to become the epicenter of Covid-19, Jessica combined her decades of experience and fresh food provider connections as she pivoted to manifest The growingSOUL Collaborative Network.  The Collaborative continues their work distributing food to neighbors in need in the Mid-Atlantic and New York City while Jessica is busy in upstate New York starting a new partnership with Sticky Fingers Delectables to expand Putting Stock in Your Community programming.