Alita received a B.S. from the University of Michigan in Environmental Science and Sustainable Business. She founded the South East Market in Grand Rapids, Michigan: a people-powered, neighborhood grocery store that sources first from BIPOC, women, and local farms and food businesses. Alita supports the city of Grand Rapids in updating policy to support urban agriculture and conservation. She is the Land Organizing Director for the National Young Farmer Coalition and President of the West Michigan chapter of Young Farmers. Alita consults on projects with several different organizations around the sustainable and equitable development of our food system. Alita’s passion is to help people connect to and grow their respect for nature and our home planet Earth. She does this namely through public gardening projects, workshops, and Freedom School, a children’s program she founded during the pandemic rooted in empowering future leaders by connecting them to urban agriculture, wellness, ethnic studies, and community organizing. In her free time you can find Alita with her partner, Sergio, and their two daughters, Willow and Alondra, traveling, and enjoying nature.