ABOUT


Kaitlyn (she/they) is a strategic thinker and innovator with a passion for advancing sustainable food systems through effective community building and technical assistance. Their expertise spans marketing, business strategy, curriculum development, and management of complex grant programs & projects. Their diverse portfolio includes founding successful enterprises and spearheading initiatives & education that strengthen the value chain. Kaitlyn has consistently driven impactful initiatives that promote food sovereignty, centering & belonging, and economic growth. Their work is defined by a commitment to fostering collaboration, building resilient systems, and empowering communities to achieve sustainable success.
Since moving to upstate New York -- where Kaitlyn currently lives with her partner, Jeff -- Kaitlyn has worked professionally in the small business, agriculture, and non-profit sectors. Kaitlyn continues to be instrumental to the development of small businesses from her role in opening and managing projects like Taste NY Broome County, a New York State Agriculture & Markets initiative, hosting workshops and providing technical assistance for product development with Cornell Cooperative Extension, and teaching food systems and agriculture to youth and community garden members, as they led VINES through its expansion of programming and services. They've provided technical support to hundreds of NY businesses as the Value Chain and Marketing Specialist and Senior Program Manager at CADE, a Farm & Food Business Incubator. Kaitlyn is the former Board President of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY (NOFA-NY) and acted as Interim Director during its Executive Director search. They are Secretary and Director for Finger Lakes Incubator Commercial Kitchen (FLICK), where they are a founding board member. Also as a founding board member, Kaitlyn as former President led the Binghamton Farmers Market through its revitalization with the collaboration of the City of Binghamton’s Economic Development department. They take interest and are involved as a volunteer with other agri-businesses and community programs that amplify and support regional agriculture in NY and Northeast Ohio where they take original roots from. They continue to be an active partner in the development, marketing and communications of Sirna’s family enterprises, including the farm and a successful farm to table restaurant, which they founded, as well as Terrapin Consulting – their own firm. More recently Kaitlyn joined Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) as a Grant Administrator, providing yet another touchpoint in meaningful sustainable agriculture work. With over a decade working in business development and a Masters of Science in Sustainable Communities (Thesis: "Food Gentrification: An Examination of Food and Culture as it Relates to Food Security"), Kaitlyn passionately advocates for small businesses and local farms, and has first hand experience working in these (literal & professional) fields across the Midwest and Eastern US.