Based in both Fajardo, Puerto Rico, and Sonoma County, California, MaríaElena is a Queer femme cultural worker, human-centered operations executive, community-accountable researcher, and food systems consultant with over nineteen years of experience using food as a tool for community transformation. She considers her life’s work to be fostering food systems that honor intergenerational ancestral cultural knowledge, center BIPOC communities, nourish the environment, and deepen Queer community. In her current role of VP, Operations at the Indigenous-led nonprofit The Cultural Conservancy, MaríaElena leads the organization’s strategic operations & systems development, financial stewardship & accountability, human resources & organizational health, and facilities.

Over her career, MaríaElena has supported community-based organizations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico with field-building research, strategy, convening, community of practice stewardship, and capacity building. Previously, she has led initiatives in food justice community organizing, food access expansion, farmers’ market development, and food entrepreneurship, and has supported small-scale sustainable farmers in Washington State, California, Florida, Italy, and Puerto Rico. A first-generation college graduate, MariaElena holds a Master’s in Community Development from the University of California, Davis, and a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is an alumna of Soul Fire Farm BIPOC Immersion, Proyecto Agroecológico El Josco Bravo, and Rockwood Leadership Institute, and collaborates locally with El Departamento de la Comida and Alacena Feminista del Este.