FOOD MOXIE STAFF

KIRSTEN BERNAL

KIRSTEN BERNAL

Operations Administrator

LEEWAY Media Artist in Residency: Ra Primus (pronouns- they/them)

LEEWAY Media Artist in Residency: Ra Primus (pronouns- they/them)

LEEWAY Media Artist in Residency

Ra Primus is an interdisciplinary artist who has been living in West Philadelphia for the past six years. They are originally from P.G. County, Maryland. Their practices include, audio collages, bass guitar, poetry, singing, and painting. They have a strong belief that life itself is one’s greatest performance. With every conversation, outfit and space occupied, Ra makes the intentional effort to create and curate their time into a living masterpiece. As a 2023 recipient of Leeway’s Media Artist in Residency, Ra plans to collaborate with Food Moxie in order to document the creation of seed to table food systems that benefit marginalized communities in Northwest Philadelphia. With an audio journal splicing together meetings, interviews, testimonials, speeches, poetry, music and found sound, the collaboration will speak to bridging food and economic insecurity and creating food sovereignty, in the context of racial justice.

FOOD MOXIE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Kiasha Huling, MSW/LSW

Kiasha Huling, MSW/LSW

Co-Chair

A long time, Cedarbrook/East Mount Airy resident, Kiasha Huling joined the board of directors in February 2023. Kiasha is a social worker and nonprofit administrator. She has worked with communities and organizations in Philadelphia across the sectors of Public Health, Environmentalism, Community Engagement and Organizational Development. Kiasha is a graduate of Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Kiasha presently serves as the Development Director for Resources for Human Development, a national health services nonprofit based in Philadelphia. Kiasha also serves as an environmental organizer for West and Southwest Philadelphia with the Clean Air Council. Her work also extends to advisory roles with PHMC HUP at Cedar Health Campus, Hunting Park Green, City of Philadelphia Department of Health Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Unit, University of Pennsylvania’s Injury Science Center, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Healthy Neighborhoods Advisory Committee and The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commision Water Table. Kiasha also serves as Vice Chair of UC Green, Philadelphia’s oldest and largest community greening nonprofit organization. 

 Kiasha’s commitments to community and mission are rooted in the advancement of equitable, inclusionary services and intervention that yield safer, greener, healthier communities. Practiced in the disciplines of humanistic design and community organizing, Kiasha values amplifying, addressing and adhering to the vision and goals of the people as a prerequisite to successful systems and entities.

Samantha Mogil, MS, RDN

Samantha Mogil, MS, RDN

Co-Chair

Samantha is a strategic leader and systems thinker dedicated to advancing health equity and brings over a decade of experience in food systems, public health, and communication engagement.  She currently serves as the Grants Manager for the Regional Foundation, overseeing strategic partnerships and operations to support organizations addressing community and economic development initiatives. 

 Previously, she worked as the Senior Manager of Ending Hunger for Good at Philabundance where she collaborated across sectors and alongside Philadelphia residents to address the root causes of hunger. Samantha has also served as the Director of Community Impact at the American Heart Association and as the Manager of Government and Community Affairs at Share Food Program.  

 Samantha received a Master of Science in Human Nutrition from Drexel University, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from University of North Carolina at Asheville, and Certificate in Community Development from the University of Stellenbosch.  She is a licensed Registered Dietitian, and she also completed the City of Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Planning Institute program in 2023.

 Samantha grew up in Bucks County and has lived in Philadelphia for over 12 years.  She is dedicated to cultivating authentic relationships and advocating for racial and economic justice.

 

C Timothy Branner II

C Timothy Branner II

Timothy “Tim” Branner is an accomplished management professional with thirty-plus years of experience in advancing diverse talent acquisition, equal employment, and compliance.  He is currently the Associate Director of Affirmative Action Programs with Raytheon Technologies (RTX).  In this role, Tim is responsible for providing direction for Raytheon’s national affirmative action objectives and related strategic initiatives, partnerships, and activities.  He is also responsible for supporting the implementation of HR compliance programs. 

Before joining the Raytheon Technologies Corporate staff, He served with United Technologies Corporation (“UTC”) for 14 years in progressively increasing roles supporting UTC – Climate, Controls & Security Systems, and the Otis Elevator Company’s EEO and HR Compliance functions.  

He also worked for the INROADS organization, where he spent 15 years in leadership, serving in his final role as the Area Manager for the Western-Tristate & Canada area.  

A recipient of various awards and recognition throughout his career for his involvement and participation in professional and community organizations.  Including direct service as a member of the Board of Directors for the Urban League of Greater Hartford, a Saint Francis Hospital Foundation Board of Corporators, and a past member of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation’s (Amtrak) Customer Advisory Committee (ACAC).  

He is a recent past member of the Tuskegee University Board of Trustees and a past vice president of the South Florida Tuskegee Alumni Club.  In addition to these positions, he has served as a volunteer alumni recruiter, past national co-chair of Tuskegee University’s Business & Industry Cluster, and the lead for United Technologies’ national recruiting relationship with the university.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Tim currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Dr. Lisa Russell Branner, a Philadelphia native and graduate of Tuskegee University and the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, and their youngest son, Clinton.  Tim holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Tuskegee University.

Glenn Bergman

Glenn Bergman

Glenn Bergman is the founder of Food Moxie: his vision of Weavers Way sponsoring its own non-profit focused on increasing access to healthy food has blossomed into a multi-site organization that engages in a variety of partnerships to empower children, youth, and families with the values and knowledge to be healthy, strong, and informed.Glenn is a long-time resident of East Mt. Airy with his wife Dianne, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at CHOP, and dog Chase. 

Marie Clark

Marie Clark

Marie Clark is a seasoned communications and program management professional with nearly 25 years of experience providing program design and strategic communications services to nonprofit, foundation, government, and corporate clients. As a program management and communications consultant, her work has included designing and managing a multi-year national civil society capacity building project in Trinidad & Tobago. Today, Marie lives in Philadelphia and her consulting work largely focuses on working with clients to design and cultivate strategic programming, partnerships and communications that yield new funding, access to new and expanded audiences, and other opportunities.

Catherine Kendig

Catherine Kendig

Finance chair

Catherine has worked at the intersection of energy, environmental policy, and business for over a decade. Her background in ecology inspires her to take a holistic approach to solving issues related to social justice and urban sustainability. In her current role she works for Tesla where she works to expand the presence of sustainable energy solutions across the Greater Philadelphia region. She and her partner are part of the Ralph Brooks Community Garden. Her passion for urban farming began while volunteering at Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC.  Determined to continue to build upon this impactful work in Philadelphia, Catherine began volunteering with FOOD MOXIE four years ago.

Eldredge Ragsdale

Eldredge Ragsdale

Eldredge Ragsdale’s military life began in 1962. After traveling the world and training, supervising, and mentoring military personnel, he retired in 1987 as an Army Staff Sergeant. He went on to a 20-year career with the Philadelphia Housing Authority, being involved with the functions of PHA in operating affordable housing for the city residents with limited incomes. Eldredge is a Master Gardener. He joined the Awbury Arboretum Community Garden in 2008 and in 2014 was elected its President, a position he still holds. In 2018 he joined the Board of Directors of Awbury Arboretum.  An active member of the PHS City Harvest Program and Philadelphia Orchard Project, he was awarded the POP Golden Persimmon Award in 2019 and has donated thousands of pounds. He is also the orchard and garden tender at Historic Strawberry Mansion.
Andrea Turner

Andrea Turner

Andrea Turner is a seasoned corporate finance professional with nearly 25 years of experience in Governance, Finance and Audit in multinational banks and finance companies. As a governance professional, she is currently responsible for the oversight Capital Adequacy reporting processes. As part of a strong Citizenship agenda at her bank, the opportunity to join Food Moxie came about Andrea strives to bring her energy, commitment and expertise to make a meaningful impact in service to the community as a board member and volunteer. Andrea lives in the western suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband, teen daughter and two dogs where she enjoys supporting the local music community and reading a good mystery.

Liz Werthan

Liz Werthan

Secretary

Liz has been part of Food Moxie since its inception. She is deeply interested in our community and in supporting families and children. She believes that working on critical issues on a small scale can teach us much about how to have real impact with families as Food Moxie is doing at Stenton Family Manor and through its other programs at Saul, MLK HS and Awbury Agricultural Village.