Decolonizing & Demystifying Careers in Food Research Career Panel

Elizabeth Hoover is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management at UC Berkeley. Their research focuses on Native American environmental health and food sovereignty movements. Their first book, The River is In Us; Fighting Toxins in a Mohawk Community, (University of Minnesota Press, 2017) is an ethnographic exploration of Akwesasne Mohawks’ response to Superfund contamination and environmental health research. Their second book project From ‘Garden Warriors’ to ‘Good Seeds;’ Indigenizing the Local Food Movement (University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming) explores Native American farming and gardening projects around the country: the successes and challenges faced by these organizations, the ways in which participants define and envision concepts like food sovereignty, the importance of heritage seeds, the role of Native chefs in the food sovereignty movement, and convergences between the food sovereignty and anti-pipeline and anti-mining movements. Elizabeth also co-edited, with Devon Mihesuah, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019). They have published articles about food sovereignty, environmental reproductive justice in Native American communities, the cultural impact of fish advisories on Native communities, tribal citizen science, and health social movements.

Brittani R. Orona (she/her) is an enrolled member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northwestern California. She is an incoming Assistant Professor of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University (Fall 2022) and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at UC Davis in Native American Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Human Rights (Spring 2022). Brittani’s work focuses on Indigenous environmental justice, advocacy, and the history of fisheries restoration on the Klamath River Basin.

Taiyo Scanlon-Kimura is the Strategy Manager at the Berkeley Food Network. From rural communities in Japan to historically disenfranchised college students in Ohio to good food champions across California, Taiyo has had the privilege to work with aspiring and inspiring change makers. He is a proud alumnus of Oberlin College and the Fulbright US Student Program, and regularly mentors folks in both networks.

Sara Moncada (Yaqui), M.A., is a Native educator, dancer, filmmaker, author and cultural arts advocate. She is CEO of The Cultural Conservancy, a native-led non-profit working in Indigenous rights and revitalization projects, is co-founder of Wise Women Circles, a women-owned media company, and is co-director of Sewam American Indian Dance, a Bay Area-based cultural arts and education organization. She presents internationally on Native American arts and culture and is co-author of the book The Dance of Caring, a book exploring Native American Hoop Dance as a model for wellness. She is producer of the internationally successful documentary film NURSES If Florence Could See Us Now and the upcoming film project Finding Compás; and is producer of The Cultural Conservancy’s The Native Seed Pod, a new podcast series that explores and celebrates traditional seeds, Native Foodways and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Kevin Tuok (he/him) is a fourth-year undergraduate student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is currently studying Molecular & Cellular Biology with a minor in Data Science. He has been with BFI for over two years, now serving as the UC Global Food Initiative Undergraduate Fellow and as the undergraduate representative on BFI’s executive committee. He is passionate about sustainability and promoting the health of those around him, and plans to pursue a career in research and public health.