Julie Brown
Director
Julie and a group of friends set up GC more than 25 years ago: tired of simply talking about how to change the world, they decided to do something practical to make a real difference. She's been Growing Communities' director since it launched in 1996 and now also helps run a 12acre orchard in Kent. Described by Transition founder Rob Hopkins as a perfect balance of practical and theoretical, Julie has been nominated for a Triodos Ethical Small Business Award, has stood on the London Food Board, is active on the UK Fruit & Vegetable Coalition and campaigns tirelessly for policy as well as practical change to food and farming in the UK.
Zosia Walczak
Deputy director (supply chains)
As well as leading on sales and distribution at GC, Zosia is non-executive director at Better Food Traders and led an organic school food pilot in London. All her work focuses on increasing access to food that respects nature, climate, communities, health, farmers and food workers. She previously trained and worked as an organic fruit and veg grower, and before that worked in marketing and publicity tech for the film industry as well as film and music journalism.
Katy Barker
Senior manager
Katy has worked at non-profits from the arts and sustainable fashion to social work and community building. She’s passionate about promoting ways to live within our ecological limits - even more so when they’re delicious!
Danny Fisher
Deputy director (supply chains)
Danny runs our London organic wholesale arm, the Better Food Shed, having played a key role in planning, designing and launching it. He also overseas operations at GC South, the branch of the veg scheme covering south London. He previously worked at Organiclea, a growing coop and veg scheme in the Lea valley.
Jo Barber
Veg scheme coordinator
Jo has run the GC veg box scheme since 2017 after retraining in sustainable food systems with an MSc in Food Policy from City University. She held training, internship and volunteering positions at Organic Lea, Forum for the Future and The Hornbeam café before joining GC in 2016. Before this she worked in NHS and charity sector press and communication roles.
Kerry Rankine
Farmers' market coordinator
Kerry coordinates the market, working with our farmers and producers. She also works on food policy issues and mentors food startups. A long time ago Kerry was a Greenpeace campaigner, which often involved getting wet and windblown. The market is a bit like that but much less time spent in police custody.
Richenda Wilson
Marketing coordinator
Chen oversees everything from the website, social media and events to newsletters, press releases and posters. After 20 years in journalism she progressed from veg scheme member to delivery worker and market manager before the lure of the warm(-ish) office proved irresistible. Most important tool of the job? Googly eyes to stick on those wonky vegetables.
Sophie Verhagen
Grower - Hackney
Sophie has been Hackney head grower since 2015, managing the market gardens to keep your salad leaves flourishing, and working with volunteers, trainees, corporate groups and visitors from schools. Before this, Sophie did almost every other job at GC and was one of the first urban farm trainees.
Alice Holden
Head grower - Dagenham
Alice set up our Dagenham Farm from scratch in 2012 and has nurtured the space and the soil to ensure it has produced over 5 tonnes of vegetables every year since then. She had previously spent many years working on farms, including a two-year Soil Association apprenticeship and managing a 100 acre farm in Wales. Her passion for a sustainable future then led her to urban horticulture.
Rachel Stevenson
Finance officer
Rachel’s background is in the public and voluntary sector. Originally our office manager, she left to do an MA in Creative Writing, but we lured her back. She’s been vegetarian since it was fashionable in the 80s. Her favourite veg/fruit is anything beginning with A: aubergine, asparagus, avocado, artichoke.
Mathew Day
Better Food Shed operations manager
Mathew works with growers and farmers to link their amazing produce to customers in London and further afield and to make sure you can eat the best of what's in season each week. Before making the switch to fruit and vegetables, Mathew worked as a butcher with small farmers across the UK. He felt that while livestock certainly plays a role in farming sustainably that it does not work within what is currently considered a successful conventional business.
Elizabeth McLeod
GC South veg box coordinator
Elizabeth orders all the veg for GC South and oversees the packing of your wonderful bags. It’s thanks to her we have such a bountiful variety of veg each week! Although originally from New Zealand, she has called South London home for the past 20+ years. Elizabeth is a cycling enthusiast and often goes camping with her family.
Helena Buckley
Customer experience assistant
Helena makes sure all your collection points are up to scratch and veg-ready - weilding her purple paintbrush wherever she can - as well as answering your questions and managing most of our events. She has a masters in the Anthropology of Food, and while her main interests are in food and culture, she became increasingly concerned by the problems in our food system. She also works at TastEd, a charity aiming to get sensory food education into schools.
Nicole David
Customer management assistant
Nicole is the person whose name you'll most often see on emails when you write to us. She welcomes new joiners, answers all your membership queries and makes sure all your account info is accurate and up to date. Those of you who have been on the scheme for a very long time might recognise her friendly face from her days hosting the staffed collection at the Old Fire Station before she left London for the Kent seaside.
Liza Konash
Marketing assistant
Liza keeps GC's newsletters full of nutritious nuggets and our social media sparkling. Her love of good food led her to a degree in nutrition and work with supper clubs.
Ellie Virk
Assistant veg scheme coordinator
Ellie was a civil servant for nine years until she decided to pack it all in and pursue a career in sustainable food. Provenance is her passion and the health of our soils is what spurs her on. She’s absolutely mad about greengages but very against it in the form of jam.
Dom Barton
Assistant veg scheme coordinator
Dom runs GC's weekly fruit and veg pack, making sure all the right produce makes it into the right bags at the right time. His background is in TV production. But after a few years of being on the veg scheme he made the shift to working in sustainable food.
Elysia KT
GC South office and marketing coordinator
Elysia is behind GC South's lovely weekly newsletters, social media channels and handles all customer accounts. If you email asking for an extra kohlrabi last minute, she’s the person who makes it happen! A born and raised South Londoner, outside the office, she is an actor, writer and keen plant-based chef.
Jake McLellan
GC South packing and delivery worker
Chief van driver Jake ensures all your bags are delivered safely to their sheds in one piece. Navigating the South London parking zones is his forte, and he’s been a part of the packing team for eight years. He is a Rambert-trained dancer and outside of the veg box life, he teaches Iyengar yoga.
Laurie Lyons
GC South packing and delivery worker
Number one packer Laurie has been with us for seven years. A true veg swot, she knows her kohlrabi from her kale! When she’s not packing your veg bags, she works at a South London bookshop and tends her allotment.
Kerry, Kwame, Maddy
Market team
Kerry (left), Kwame (right) and Maddy (not pictured) take turns to manage the farmers' market on Saturdays, while Kwame and Maddy keep them supplied with excellent coffee. You'll find the market cafe in our blue and yellow trailer, Betty.
GSW team
General support workers
Rain or shine, wind or snow, these are the folk who weigh and sort your vegetables, grade out substandard specimens and pack your bags at GC HQ.
Helen, Amina, David, Dave, Aneesh
Delivery team
Helen, Dave and Amina (l to r in photo), plus David, Aneesh and others, make up our dream team for the veg deliveries, working through all weathers to deliver your fruit and veg bags.
Paul, Paul & Mark
Better Food Shed team
This is the valiant team who rise at dawn to deliver fruit and veg from the Better Food Shed in Bow to veg schemes, shops, schools and food projects across London.
