Meet Our Staff
Candace Mullins is a grower, weaver, and Appalachian food systems advocate stewarding land with her partner on their farm, Cedar Creek Farm, in Somerset, Kentucky. She serves as the Executive Director of Grow Appalachia, a Strategic Initiative of Berea College that partners with organizations, communities, and families in Appalachia to create healthy, resilient, and economically viable food systems. Candace holds a BA in Business Administration from Berea College and has been working with Grow Appalachia for more than a decade. In that time, she has collaborated with non-profit leaders, farmers, gardeners, and local-food advocates across the region working to build a vibrant, regional food system where healthy food is accessible to all. Her work at Grow Appalachia is most passionately centered around capacity building and resource distribution. More recently, she has helped usher a fellowship program designed to support and recognize foodways practitioners from across Appalachia. Growing up around her grandparents’ dairy farm in Casey County, Kentucky, Candace is proud to continue a farming tradition focused on relationships between land, animals, and people.
Mark began with Grow Appalachia in 2012 and currently delivers direct technical support to producers throughout the region.
Faye blends nearly a decade of career in health and well-being program delivery, research and evaluation in London, England, with seven years of naturally grown farming and sales in the local food economy in Kentucky. Her work centers around program evaluation, monitoring, and impact.”
Maiesha joins the Grow Appalachia team to support the organization with grant management, compliance, and oversight. She is dedicated to analyzing financials, developing efficient tracking systems, and ensuring adherence to regulatory guidance. Maiesha is excited for the opportunity to work with the Appalachian communities and our partners to create and maintain access to healthy, nutritious food in the region. She looks forward to interacting with, learning from, and contributing to the lives of those who are at the heart of our mission. A Kentucky native, Maiesha grew up in the small town of Clinton, where very few faces were unfamiliar, and deer were the frequent visitors. Surrounded by a tight-knit family, she now shares the joy of raising three wonderful children with her husband Erick, a love sparked at Berea College. Her passions? Singing, learning and performing praise dances, and cherishing new experiences, with a special fondness for culinary adventures.
Chris works with small farm families in Eastern Kentucky to develop plans to increase their farm’s efficiency and profitability.
Storey works with small farms in Eastern Kentucky to explore innovative strategies that increase profit and efficiency.
Kayla manages our social enterprise program, including high tunnel, roof run off water catchment and micro drip irrigation consultations & installations, fertilizer and growing supply sales. Kayla found a passion and love for sustainable farming after living abroad and interning on a nearby permaculture farm, and ever since she has been involved in the local food movement in the Berea area. One of her life long dreams is to grow an all purple garden with seeds saved and given to her. She also enjoys speaking in Spanish, playing her banjo, and crafting with natural fibers.
Steph’s role with Grow Appalachia includes manufacturing high tunnel materials, managing growing supply orders, and traveling with Kayla building high tunnels around the region. She also provides support to the Garden Grants and Farmer Development programs. Steph previously worked on and managed numerous rural and urban farm operations and has spent a considerable amount of time focused on community organizing. She is deeply passionate about building community centered on justice, reparations, and resilience. She is a single mother and enjoys seed starting & saving, live music, dancing, and crafting.
Lara returns to the Grow Appalachia team to plan and deliver our Berea Kids Eat program’s summer food service meal outreach. Lara collaborates with partners across Berea to ensure children have access to healthy, nutritious meals during the summer. Working with those partners, they aim to provide numerous enrichment opportunities and events for youth during the summer months while they are out of school. She believes children learn through play and is passionate about helping foster youth’s literacy and social emotional capabilities through play and fun. She loves thrifting and antiquing as self-care, reading sci-fi and YA dystopia novels, listening to music, and gardening at her apartment. Their favorite thing to grow are tomatoes and cucumbers. Lara lives in Berea with her partner, Mikey, and plans to marry them in the next few years.
Taye works with local youth, coordinating and implementing programming based on gardening and nutrition education.
David Cooke is a native of southern West Virginia and the youngest child of a coal miner and a schoolteacher. He holds degrees from Berea College and West Virginia University. Cooke previously served 13 years as an extension agent in southern West Virginia working extensively with small landholders and other entrepreneurs in agroforestry and other natural resource based small business enterprises. As the founder and first director of Grow Appalachia(for 12 years) he is deeply proud of the passionate and committed staff of Grow Appalachia, and the program’s role as an outreach service and education program of Berea College.
