Our Team
OLIVIA WATKINS | CO-FOUNDER
CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Olivia Watkins (she/her) serves as Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director at Black Farmer Fund. Olivia is a social entrepreneur and impact investor. For the past seven years, she has financed, developed, and operated environmental and social projects across the US. She also serves as a board member for Soul Fire Farm Institute.
Prior to founding Black Farmer Fund in 2017, Olivia worked in several production roles at Soul Fire Farm Institute and Kahumana Organic Farms, leveraging her environmental biology background to manage and grow environmentally regenerative and socially impactful business operations.
Olivia has an MBA from North Carolina State University in Financial Management, and a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University in Environmental Biology. She was also recognized on the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 Social Impact list and The Grist 50.
MELANIE ALLEN
CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Melanie Allen (she/her) serves as Co-Executive Director at Black Farmer Fund. She is passionate about pushing forward efforts that create a future where black farmers and residents take control of local food systems, and have access to healthy, affordable and sustainable food.
Melanie has worked on the intersection of climate change, agriculture, human rights, and international policy for nearly a decade, specifically through her work with Conservation International, Amnesty International, and Les Jardins Chez Marlene.
Melanie studied Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware and completed her Masters in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis University. Melanie is a 2015 Robert & Patricia Switzer Fellow, 2018 Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace and sits on the Advisory Board for the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at UC Santa Cruz and Board of Trustees for the Lawson Valentine Foundation. In her free time, Melanie enjoys tending to her fire escape garden in Brooklyn (Lenape land), dance classes and experimenting with curry dishes.
CHARLES WADE | INVESTMENT DIRECTOR
Charles Wade (he/him) serves as the Investment Director for Black Farmer Fund. He previously held senior roles at J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers, and Citigroup, where he originated, structured, and distributed a range of credit solutions for private equity firms, hedge funds, and asset managers.
Originally from New Paltz, NY, Charles enjoys animal husbandry, gardening, and backpacking, and he is passionate about leveraging his finance experience to support food entrepreneurs in their efforts to improve the health and sustainability of community food systems.
Charles holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BS from West Point.
ONYX RAMíREZ | SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Onyx Ramírez (she/her) serves as the Senior Communications Manager for Black Farmer Fund. Originally from Washington Heights, NYC, Onyx has been working with Non-Profit organizations since 2015 and has dedicated her life's work to empowering and centering BIPOC folks and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Onyx brings 8 years of experience in Communications, Marketing, and Education experience to her work at Black Farmer Fund.
Before joining the team, Onyx served as the Community School Director for the Bronx High School of Business and was a graphic design, illustration, and marketing consultant.
She is looking forward to expanding her connection to the earth and exploring more deeply the relationship between people and plants through her work at BFF.
SHERWOOD HARRIS | IMPACT INVESTMENT MANAGER
Sherwood Harris (he/him) serves as the Impact Investment Manager for Black Farmer Fund. Sherwood’s passion is for helping small-to-midsize businesses within the food industry increase sales, profit margins, and EBITDA, as well as the amount of capital raised. Having started his career in finance with Merrill Lynch more than 20 years ago, Sherwood focuses on investing in a range of social impact businesses while promoting new profitable growth strategies for SMEs.
Former Graduate Research Engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and AVP of Marketing at NCM Capital Management Group, Sherwood earned his MS in Finance from The George Washington University and BS in Architectural Engineering from NC A&T State University. He renewed his Series 7 and Series 66 FINRA certifications in 2018.
MYKALEE MCGOWAN | COMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATE
Mykalee McGowan (she/they) serves as the Communications Associate for the Black Farmer Fund.
Mykalee holds a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University where she majored in journalism and minored in photography. She comes to this work with 10 years of experience in the communications and marketing field, helping non profit organizations and small businesses get their mission and message to the masses.
Passionate about food and wellness, Mykalee is currently studying for their Masters in Nutrition with a concentration in Herbal Medicine from Maryland University of Integrative Health. With their educational background and food system work, she wants to serve the many communities that have helped her grow and thrive.
In her free time, Mykalee enjoys cooking traditional Jamaican cuisine with her mother, collecting vinyl records, and traveling.
Janet Gumbs | Finance director
Janet Gumbs (she/her) serves as the Finance Director for Black Farmer Fund. Gumbs is a mission-driven professional with a passion for guiding non-profits and NGOs towards financial stability. She has over 25 years of progressive experience in all areas of non-profit and NGO leadership with extensive experience in Financial Management.
She holds a professional accounting qualification and is a member of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants (ACCA). She also graduated from the City University of New York, Baruch College, School of Public and International Affairs, with a master’s degree in public administration majoring in Nonprofit Management.
Janet Gumbs has held various Financial Management positions in several New York City non-profits, most recently as the Finance lead at the Association of Black Foundation Executives.
CHRISTINA REESE | OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Christina Reese (she/her) serves as the Director of Operations for the Black Farmer Fund. Before her time with BFF, Christina was based in DC managing Operations for nonprofits such as Free Press and City Year, Washington DC.
Christina holds a Bachelor of Arts from Illinois State University where she majored in Psychology and Minored in Criminal Justice. She also holds an Applied Project Management certificate from Northwestern University.
Outside of work, Christina can be found tending to new plants, engaging in home renovation activities, or enjoying the East Coast. She is looking forward to supporting and uplifting Black farmers and folks in the food world and building relationships within the Buffalo food community!
JARED DAVIS | PEOPLE & CULTURE ASSOCIATE
Jared Davis (he/they) serves as the People & Culture Associate for Black Farmer Fund. They are passionate about racial justice and through education and media aims to ensure that the detrimental impacts of social differentiation and marginalization are made accessible, compelling and engaging to everyday people. They are looking forward to exploring racial justice at the intersection of agriculture in the U.S. with BFF and the power that community-based investment can have on affecting change in Black communities.
As a research and communications professional they have over six years of on the ground experience in Public Relations (Embassy of the UAE), Newsroom Research (Al Jazeera America) and the Nonprofit Sector (A New Dawn in the Negev). Jared holds an MA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in International Relations and a dual BA from Trinity College (CT) in International and Language & Cultural Studies (Arabic and Italian). In Jared's free time they can be found hanging with their dog Habiba, cooking West Indian food or curled up in the sun with a good book.
AMANDA EVERICH | Community-led Investment Committee Facilitator
Amanda Everich (she/they) is a seed, creator, educator, collaborator and facilitator from The Bronx, New York - unceded Wappinger Munsee Lenape land.
With over 10 years of various roles working and growing in community programming spaces, they bring their experiences from studying English Literature at The City College of New York, teaching in Reggio Emilia education as a forest school teacher for 5 years, working as a teaching artist for 9 years, and farming from Farm School NYC and as a pollinator at Rock Steady Farms. Each of these experiences nourished their passion for the expansive and healing possibilities of storytelling, community, art and education.
As a co-founder and collaborator of alternative education programs they are trained in Reggio Emilia pedagogies focused on project-based learning that evolves from play, environmental exploration and empowerment through art. Their visual art and facilitation is guided by a curiosity about the processes and lessons of the ecosystems of information around each of us.
As a play advocate and radical mapmaker, Amanda honors these sacred and creative sources as energies of transformation and connecting with the ancestral wisdom of the land to empower individual and collective liberation.
Sonja Lockhart | Community Engagement MANAGER
Sonja Lockhart (she/her) serves as the Community Engagement Manager for Black Farmer Fund. Sonja is committed to transforming local food environments to support community health and wellbeing. She comes to this position with over 5 years of experience working on community engaged projects, including designing and evaluating initiatives focused on skill-building among Black farmers and increasing food sovereignty in Black communities. Prior to receiving her MPH, she worked for a public health nonprofit in Oakland, California collaborating with coalitions to address issues related to healthy food availability, mental health and wellbeing, and housing affordability. Sonja received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Food Systems and Health from Cornell University and her B.A. in Science, Technology, and Society with a focus in Environment and Sustainability from Stanford University.
Savannah D’Orazio | impact investment associate
Savannah D’Orazio (she/her) serves as Impact Investment Associate at Black Farmer Fund. She assists on the investment committee with the development of BFF’s integrated capital strategy. Her expertise lies in vetting prospective investments and performing financial due diligence processes within the portfolio. For the past 3 years, Savannah has been a full time entrepreneur working in community wealth education, event production, and consulting for early stage tech startups.
Prior to joining Black Farmer Fund in 2024, Savannah worked with various investment funds, leveraging her scouting and financial analytic skills to negotiate deals in real estate and venture capital. She has also worked within experiential education settings teaching gardening to elementary schoolers at the New York Botanical Gardens and has worked on farm to table procurement for the Los Angeles Unified School District within the Urban and Environmental Policy program in Southern California.
Savannah has a BA from Occidental College in Biology, and an MA from Teachers College at Columbia University in Education Policy and Public Politics. She has received awards for distinguished research and data analytics and is a Gates Millennium Scholarship alumni.
Her personal goal is to reach more people than McDonald's, especially as it relates to positive impact for women’s health, climate resilience, and extracurricular opportunities for low income youth. Savannah loves standup comedy, home cooking and gardening.