Team Locavore

You may recognize Kim from Navidi's Olive Oil store, which she managed for 8 years. Kim and her family are long time Bend residents, and Kim has a strong management and culinary background.

 Her hubs and brother are both head chefs, and she has worked in over 30 restaurants. She became a Chef de Cuisine at Mamma Mia and Mothers in Portland and accompanied Chef Lisa Schroeder to the James Beard House in New York.

I’ve spent my life working in professional kitchens and in that time, I’ve learned international and domestic cuisines and traditional cooking techniques. Over time a feeling developed inside me as I worked in these kitchens; a profound sense of alarm at the careless waste of the food industry and the absence of mindfulness to the impact on our environment and community.

Community is important. Health is important. Respect for our planet is critical. I believe that food is not only culture, but valuable medicine. I care deeply about how this belief can affect our community. Locavore puts its best foot forward to enable our region’s farms to strengthen our local economy. For me, choosing to become a part of Locavore was not only clear, it felt like a blessing.

Gwen comes to us with many years of experience growing food not only in her own garden, but designing edible landscaping and teaching others how to grow their own food in challenging spaces.

With many years spent in restaurant kitchens, Gwen is always happy to help suggest cooking techniques and recipes

In her spare time, you’ll find her foraging in the forest or creating in the kitchen.

Sarah has been a volunteer at Locavore for over 5 years. Sarah is the very model of kindness, compassion, and deeply cares about everyone as a person. A former RN at St Charles and an avid local foodie, Sarah is the woman for this job! She says "My values are pretty much perfectly aligned with those of Locavore's. I am excited about contributing! I have worked with people for many years, met challenges, enjoyed being on a team, have studied and practiced tons of communication skills. I personally love to cook and use local, organic products!"

While she loves to get her hands dirty helping out at local farms, she keeps our marketplace neat and clean!

Combining her deep love for nature and ecology with her belief in just and sustainable food systems, Lexie’s dream is to help foster thrive-able places for humans, wildlife, plants, and fungi alike. She looks forward to working hard alongside our community for our shared health and well-being.

Isabelle was born and raised in Bend; she loves to summer sled on Mt. Bachelor in the summers, snuggle with many pets, and hunt for chanterelle mushrooms. 

Her favorite plants are mountain mint and elderberry bushes. She received a BA in Environmental Studies from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where she wrote about wild foods, landscaping, and outdoor recreation.

Melanie feels most comfortable and happy working in local and organic co-op style grocery stores like Locavore (this is her third!). With a diverse work background that runs the gamut from farming to copywriting, she is excited to help elevate the local food scene of Central Oregon and center the importance of food access to the health of the community. 

Also: she plays guitar, her favorite tea is licorice root, and her favorite way to eat tomatoes is on good sourdough toast with mayo, curry powder, and flaky salt.

Jenna comes to Central Oregon Locavore with a background in Integrative Nutrition and a passion for all things holistic wellness. She enjoys inspiring her community to make lifestyle changes and nutrition choices that lead to the overall vitality and health of our home and planet.

Jenna loves foraging, growing medicinal herbs and mushrooms, and raising chickens. You can often find her in the nearest body of water or cozying up at home with a bowl of her favorite homemade Khao Soi.

Jay grew up in San Diego where he spent time playing soccer and going to the beach. He helped a professor teach at-risk youths about tide pool biodiversity in an attempt to broaden their world view. 

While Jay came from day trading previously, his previous job was working at a local gym to help improve mental and physical health. Jay was looking for a new career path that had strong communal ties that had a charitable message and mission. 

River grew up is Mexico and moved to Michigan when she was 8. She is fluent in Spanish and half Mexican. She lived in Eugene for 10 years and just recently moved to Bend. River is here because she is passionate about organic and local food, sustainability, and making a connection directly between farmers and consumers. 

RIver thinks of food as medicine and has worked on many organic farms. She has a certification in Permaculture and she enjoys hiking, backpacking, seeing jam bands in concert, baking gluten free pastries, watching movies, playing guitar and painting.

Birké recently moved up to Bend from Sonoma County to try to slow down and enjoy the beauty that Central Oregon has to offer. Birkè’s background is in marketing and event planning. She is passionate about organic local food and sustainability. She is excited to be part of a organization that focus on supporting local farms and educating and providing resources for its community members. Birkè loves to travel, hike, cook, and spending time with loved ones.

Originally from California, Jamie loves living in central Oregon with her two goldendoodles, Maverick and Bodhi. She loves hiking, creating, and all things herbal. She is passionate about good food and local farmers and land. She strives to live a simple, intentional life and to get back to ancestral ways of living. She is so excited to be a part of team Locavore.

Emily has done the slow crawl from east coast to west coast over the past few decades. After the last period of 10+ years in Colorado, she finds herself loving Central Oregon. An avid skier, biker, and general outdoords woman, she is enjoying the PNW as one big playground! A firm believer that one of the best ways to learn about an area is through plants and food, she is excited to build relationships with the vendors at Locavore. 

With a Private Chef background and over 10 years experience working both front and back-of-house in restaurants, Emily feels giddy seeing all the amazing local food products Bend and Central Oregon have to offer. You work with food long enough, you start to see the disconnect between the consumer and the grower.

That disconnect fades with places like Locavore, and Emily is proud to be a part of bridging that gap. 

When she’s not cooking at home with family, she is most likely out thrifting, enjoying nature, dancing to live music, or walking her rescue dog, The Mighty Quinn.