Maureen loves food -- thinking about food, growing food, eating food, cooking food, and, of course, buying local food at LEAP's famers markets. Maureen has been working with food, agriculture, and community since the early 2000s. Her work and professional experience is wide-ranging and includes teaching high school agriculture in Raleigh, NC, working with migrant farmworkers in eastern North Carolina and in the Colorado plains, doing food safety inspections in Boulder, CO, and studying the economic viability of the local food system in Northern Colorado. Maureen has an MA in Anthropology from Colorado State University and undergraduate degrees in Agriculture Education, Spanish, and Anthropology from North Carolina State University. Maureen is a Bloomberg Fellow at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health where she studies the intersection of food systems, community, and health. Maureen, her spouse, two young kids, and pup all love Roanoke and are happy to call Southwestern Virginia home.

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Jeff Bland, known as Chef Jeff around Roanoke, has been involved in the food industry for over 40 years. As a graduate of Johnson & Wales University, he gained a solid foundation of culinary fundamentals. After finishing school in 1987, his real education began, in Providence, Orlando, Williamsburg and, most recently, Roanoke, where he served 13 years as a corporate chef for a national food distributor. He has helped many people open restaurants and knows the challenges they face. Jeff is a passionate educator and advocate for the culinary arts and local food.

Laura is a long-time customer and supporter of the Grandin Village Farmers Market and the West End Farmers Market. She is a graduate of Bridgewater College with a degree in English and a professional administrator with almost 20 years experience working with nonprofits. An 18-year resident of Roanake, Laura lives with her teenage son and senior Yorkie-poo. In her downtime, Laura enjoys cooking with local ingredients, hiking and camping, and community theater. She is passionate about finding viable ways to serve hungry people in the community while maintaining their humanity and dignity.

Originally from Charleston, SC, Kyra grew up in a large southern and Greek family, where food was a way of life. Kyra first moved to Virginia in 2008 to attend Virginia Tech, from which she earned a B.S. in Wood Science and Forest Products. She has called Roanoke home since 2014. Kyra has most recently worked as a hardware design engineer, but also has experience in technical sales, and customer service. As someone interested in and passionate about sustainability, Kyra has been working on a personal level to break away from conventional agriculture. Her research into local, regional, and sustainable food systems lead her to LEAP. Kyra’s hobbies include experimenting with new recipes, spending time outside with her daughter, husband, and two dogs, and helping as many people as she can access quality, locally sourced food.

When Sam graduated college, he didn’t know how to cook a pot of rice. He was an adult by the time he realized that an onion is a root. In the decade following his formal education, he has learned a lot about food. Sam has worked as a baker, line cook, commercial farmer, market manager, farm volunteer, food writer, and as a board member and director of an Arkansas-based local foods nonprofit. He loves food for its tangible nature and believes in it as the ultimate unifier in polarizing times. He loves hearing about people’s personal histories with food and agriculture and is interested in the long tradition of agriculture in Virginia. When he isn’t trying to discover a new way to eat eggplant, Sam enjoys camping with his wife and dog and watching movies at the Grandin Theatre.

Lanae spent a decade as a nutrition professor, food security researcher, and local food systems advocate prior to joining LEAP. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture in Boone, NC, and the advisory board for the High Country Food Hub. She continues to be involved in research and program evaluation projects focused on food security, rural food access, local food promotion, and nutrition incentive programs. Lanae grew up in rural Appalachia and is a longtime resident of North Carolina. She lives on a homestead situated on the NC/VA border where her family raises fruits and vegetables, laying hens, and heritage breed Kunekune pigs. Her favorite pastime is historic food preservation and canning, especially jam- and salsa-making.

Connie grew up in Bedford County and has lived in the Roanoke Valley for 35 years. Connie now lives in Botetourt County with her lovely family. Her daughter has many food sensitivities and Connie’s search for solutions brought her to the local food market. Soon, this search turned in to a love and appreciation for local food suppliers and market outlets in the Roanoke and surrounding areas. She is a proud promoter of the benefits of local and healthy food. After many years of buying local food, Connie started working for Good Food Good People, a Floyd-based former LEAP vendor and distributor of local products. She now serves as the smiling face of LEAP's Grandin Village and West End farmers markets, as well as coodinating and supporting LEAP's Mobile Market.

Kelly grew up in northern Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.S. in Rural Sociology. Her main passions are travel, food, and farming. After graduating, she backpacked through Europe for three months. Upon returning, she worked in restaurants until being accepted as an intern on an educational farm run by Heifer International in Massachusetts. There she fell in love with farming, teaching, and her now husband, Daniel. After two years of apprenticing on a farm in California, Kelly and Daniel moved back to Daniel’s hometown of Roanoke to figure out their next move and never left! When Kelly isn’t at work, she is typically working on her small farm, lovingly called Truffula Farm, in SE Roanoke, with her husband and daughter.

Maureen (Mo) McGonagle was born in Arlington, Virginia, and has spent the past 13 years living and working in the New River Valley. Through her combined experiences working on a small-scale vegetable farm, working with local food access initiatives through the Blacksburg Farmers Market, and working with community gardens through the New River Health District, Maureen has cultivated a deep passion for alternative food systems as a mechanism for environmental and social sustainability. As a graduate from Virginia Tech with both a B.A. in Humanities, Science, and the Environment, and a M.S. in Agriculture, Leadership, and Community Education, Maureen is excited to harness her academic understanding of global food systems, and apply it in a local and regional context. In her free time, Maureen enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking with her dog, running, meditation, and playing music. She is excited to relocate to Roanoke, and call the Star City home.

Christina has worked as a journalist and food writer in North Carolina, Atlanta, and Boston. She landed in Roanoke in 2006, where her need to feed her growing family in a nutritious and sustainable way sparked a love of local food that has not waned. Christina, her husband, and their three kids sold lettuce and herbs at the Grandin Village Farmers Market during the market’s first summer. She served on LEAP’s Board from 2018-2020. She’s excited for the opportunity to tell LEAP’s story to a wider audience.

Hannah grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and attended the University of Virginia. After graduating, she embarked on an agricultural education by working and volunteering at a variety of nonprofits and farms in Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, and Illinois. She missed the Blue Ridge Mountains and came to Roanoke to start her farm operation, Luddite Farmer, in 2021. She is inspired by low-tech methods of farming and living and sees urban agriculture as an essential part of the movement to address resource use, climate change, community health, and resilient food systems.

Aaron is originally from Colorado, but has fallen in love with life in southwest Virginia. He was happily surprised by the region’s vibrant outdoors and local food scene, and tries his best to get involved in both as much as possible. An electrician by trade, when Aaron is not outside slack lining, farming, meditating, playing basketball, or camping, he’s almost certainly listening to dance music (House, Trance, Dubstep) or attending a music festival or concert. Aaron is thankful for this opportunity with LEAP, and is beyond excited for our community's future.

Although she received her degree in agronomy, Frances spent the bulk of her career in graphic design and advertising where she worked as a project manager. She first took an interest in LEAP as a member of the Roanoke Women’s Foundation back in 2014 when LEAP was raising money to build the LEAP Kitchen. A few years ago Frances started a microbusiness making mobiles (Fulcrum Mobiles) and now applies her balancing skills to LEAP’s books.