Meet The Team
The Slow Food Barbados chapter is run by a wide board of volunteers and small administrative team.
Board Members
DIRECTOR
& FOUNDING MEMBER
Julie is a professional health and wellness coach, culinary enthusiast and organic gardener. She is very passionate about the local food movement, the arts, natural health and environmental awareness.
JULIE HOOPER MCNEEL
CO-FOUNDER & ORGANIC FARMERS LIAISON
John is an organic farmer for over 27 years and is a co-founder of the OGCA. He is a leading advocate for the organization and the management of the environment with sustainable methods. John believes in promoting food you can trust from farmers who care.
JOHN HUNTE
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION
Bio to come.
MAHMOOD PATEL
Core Team Members
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Andre is a food sovereignty advocate, agriculturalist, and community-driven organizer. Passionate about sustainable food systems, he manages the day-to-day operations of the Slow Food Barbados soup kitchen while leading fundraising and sponsorship efforts.
ANDRE FIELD
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Courtney is the founder of CÉJ Creative Co., a boutique digital marketing agency.
She is committed to doing her part to fight food insecurity in Barbados and is a lover of plant-based cooking.
COURTNEY É. JORDAN
SOUP COORDINATOR & DRIVER
Natasha joined us in January 2023. As she manages the soup kitchen, she will be the one greeting you if you come to volunteer with us.
In the telecommunications and finance sectors for over 15 years, She loves reading, giving back, travelling, and networking.
NATASHA HACKETT
KITCHEN COORDINATOR & LEAD COOK
In the fishing industry for over 30 years, Diann joined the soup kitchen in 2022. She works closely with the volunteers, and you may even see her delivering soups to families from time to time.
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Diann’s favourite activities include ballroom dancing, baking and reading.
DIANN WILLOUGHBY
HEAD CHEF
With a background in banking and leadership, Joel puts his culinary skills to the benefit of those most in need. He has embraced the Slow Food concept to encourage the preparation of local and sustainably grown produce to enhance nutrition in his community, with whom he nurtures an intimate connection.
JOEL HEADLEY
INTERN
ELA VERMETTE-FURST
Ela is an Indigenous food systems scholar from so-called Canada who is deeply passionate about helping communities (re)connect to their food systems. Drawing on her experience co-creating research with Indigenous communities to support food sovereignty, she is excited to contribute to food sovereignty movements in her second home with Slow Food.
Advisory Board
Andrea is the owner and Managing Director of Hatchman's Premium Cheeses Inc. Andrea believes that we should be sustainable in a way without taking from the environment. Andrea plays her part by forming part of the ecological cycle and preserve it for generations to come.
ANDREA POWER
SUSTAINABILITY
Vishal Ramjattan is a curriculum officer with the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago. He is responsible for the areas of agriculture and technology education. Also a senior lecturer at UWI, his doctoral research focuses on the use of innovative pedagogies to support curriculum implementation in elementary schools.
VISHAL RAMJATTAN
EDUCATIONAL GARDENS
CHEFS ALLIANCE
Dane Saddler is a national award-winning chef with over 15 years of experience in fine dining cuisine under his belt throughout the Caribbean. Dane has taken a personal interest in promoting health and wellness, and often partners with local farmers to access and offer fresh ingredients.
DANE SADDLER
PERMACULTURE
Jenn is a passionate permaculturist, and educator, who advocates for regeneration. She has a background in art, design, outdoor experiential learning. As a mother, Jenn wants nothing more than a world, in which delicious, whole, nutritiously dense, sustainably sourced food is more plentiful than not.
JENN WARD CLARKE
Gayle a Global Rum Ambassador for Foursquare Distillery. She also has years of experience as a Montessori teacher and photojournalist. At the distillery, they have taken steps to become sustainable by using solar technology, capturing and repurposing CO2 gas, and implementing waste management.
GAYLE SEALE
INDUSTRY & EDUCATION
FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
Cloe is a researcher and filmmaker from Quebec, Canada.
Since moving to Barbados in January 2020, she studied the island's food system and made a documentary film, 'Food What?, about her findings.
She collaborated with Slow Food Barbados since 2021.
CLOÉ FORTIN
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING
Patrick is a high energy serial entrepreneur that always wants to get things done down to the last detail.
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Since joining Slow Food Barbados as our Digital Media Manager, Patrick has learned more about our food system than ever before and has become a passionate champion for change.
PATRICK MOUFARRIGE
LIFESTYLE & WELLNESS
DR. JANELLE BRYAN
Dr Janelle Bryan is a Lifestyle & Wellness Physician, Sports Scientist, and Adjunct Lecturer. She serves in several capacities in various health, non-health, and youth organisations. Dr Bryan is keen on advocacy and policies enabling healthy food environments, facilitating healthy food being more affordable and more accessible, and enhancing food security.
EDUCATIONAL GARDENS
Bio to come
ANNE DESROCHERS
AMBASSADOR
Christina is a young agriculturist who promotes regenerative agriculture. At Slow Food she is often seen working assiduously in the background at events or working closely with kids in the educational gardens program. She is an avid lover of food often posting her creations on social media or in the #slowseven challenge.
CHRISTINA POOLER
AMBASSADOR
As the past Soup Drive Coordinator, Stefon is an enthusiast of Cuisines, Beverages and how they connect people and communities to different cultures. In his spare time, Stefon enjoys attending wine tasting events, cooking, and traveling. His favorite hobby is collecting Ornamental Indoor Plants.
STEFON BARKER
Malou works on various projects at the intersection of sustainable travel, volunteerism, digital media, and community development. When she is not working she can be found in the ocean, volunteering, or blogging about places she has visit and new interesting dishes.
MALOU MORGAN
AMBASSADOR
AMBASSADOR
Kirk is a singer, DJ, host, actor, and motivational speaker. He takes every opportunity to promote Good, Clean Fair, Food across the island. Kirk has even documented his personal good food journey, starting his own home garden growing a variety of fruits and vegetables.
KIRK BROWN
AMBASSADOR
Bio to come
NICOLAS SOBERS
AMBASSADOR
Bio to come
CHARMAINE ST JOHN
AMBASSADOR
As a consultant on various Management & Tourism projects as well as a creative entrepreneur, Vicky utilises her vast experience in marketing, strategic planning, event planning and project management for good! She is passionate about the upcycling and repurposing of existing products to extend their life and usefulness; curating an environment for breeding Monarch butterflies in her back garden and raising awareness about the impact of pesticides on locally grown food, human beings and wildlife.
VICKY CHANDLER
AMBASSADOR
Bio to come
NIKOLA SIMPSON
Past Contributors
FORMER PROGRAM COORDINATOR
RHEANNA CHEN
