Marianne Zaugg
Executive Director
After graduating in business, Marianne continued her educational path, studied psychology and opened a consulting practice for development, assessment and management assisting nonprofits. With more than 30 years of work experience, she consulted for the entertainment industry, worked with the public health sector building innovative programs for environment and education, and developed funding for numerous start-up companies.
Over the past decade, Marianne has been promoting Farm to School programs. She dedicated her time to the initiative of growing organic food locally and preparing healthy meals. As the Director of Development at Earthworks Farm, she began her outreach to connect farms to schools and implemented an extensive education program.
Hence, Eco Urban Gardens was established, and since 2015 Marianne leads the initiative of continued building of Farm Labs at schools and Grow Gardens program throughout communities creating a sustainable environment for all. Her body of work includes a number of published essays, books and multimedia tools supporting health and wellness.
Rosemary Gavidia
Program Coordinator
Rosemary Gavidia is a seasoned professional with a proven track record of leadership and achievement across a diverse range of roles. An accomplished leader and an effective problem solver, Rosemary’s dedication and commitment shine through in her career path.
Driven by a passion for growth and community impact, Rosemary has managed community initiatives and spearheaded local policy changes, showcasing her leadership skills and dedication. Her background in Biology and Business Administration allows her to blend science with strategy.
Excited for her new role at Eco Urban Farms, Rosemary looks forward to nurturing ideas, building partnerships, and making a positive impact.
Alan Melgoza-Calderón
Farm Program Manager
Alan graduated in Plant Science from Don Hutley College of Agriculture at Cal Poly Pomona. As a student, he helped maintain the Discovery Farm’s educational edible gardens and became involved in various community outreach projects that helped improve awareness of agriculture and entomology.
After graduating, Alan began working for City of Hope National Medical Center in their new urban agriculture project, “Garden of Hope.” During his time, Alan transformed the garden’s landscape and helped introduce agriculture to patients, employees and the City of Duarte community. As City of Hope’s first AmeriCorps Fellow, Alan was also able to shape the garden’s education program and volunteer infrastructure to help address food insecurity and preventable illnesses through agricultural education and recreation.
Today Alan is Eco Urban Gardens’ farm manager and helps with the further development of the edible landscapes and programming at Arroyo and Mountain View High School. Alan hopes to bring his plant science and agriculture background to help fulfill Eco Urban Garden’s mission.
Angela Wan
Program Specialist
Angela Wan, RN, completed her graduate studies in health management and policy and environmental justice after her undergraduate training in nursing at the University of Michigan. As a student, she received multiple grants on topics such as preventing heat illness by public health nurses, safe drinking water following emergencies, and drought relief for small-scale farmers. She was on a research team that studied noise-induced hearing loss in farm workers and has multiple publications on the topic of environmental sustainability in healthcare.
In the last five years, she worked at City of Hope on process improvement, analytics, and activation for the Enterprise Support Services department that covered hospitality and facilities operations. She led the coordination of multiple building openings, enterprise capital planning, and the build of the medical center’s therapeutic teaching garden.
Angela’s vision is to harness the power of health professionals to promote environmental sustainability in communities at large.
Tara Ta
Farm Teacher Intern
My name is Tara Ta and I am currently an undergrad student at Cal Poly Pomona working towards a B.S. in Plant Science at Don Hutley College of Agriculture. I graduated from Arroyo Highschool where I was a dedicated member, and later, president of Arroyo’s Garden Club. Joining the garden club was the first step into discovering myself and my passions as I was able to get involved with the community and the land. I enjoyed spending my time learning and gardening while also tackling issues such as food insecurity and the environment. Through the experience, I knew that urban agriculture was the path I wanted to take in my career. Currently, I am spending my time earning my degree, working at Cyber Yogurt, and volunteering with EcoUrbanGardens. In the end, my goal is to work, learn, educate, and get involved with my community as I hope to see the community I grew up in continue and prosper as it has allowed me to.
Andrew Ramos
Farm Teacher Intern
Andrew is a student attending Cal Poly Pomona as an Agricultural Science major in the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture. He is a graduate from Arroyo High School and was a part of the Arroyo Garden Club from freshman all the to senior year, later serving as club president in his final year. There he learned various skills such as cultivation and harvesting as well as dietary and nutritional habits, which resonated with him and inspired him to continue his relationship with Eco Urban Gardens after graduating. Now Andrew hopes to further his knowledge in cultivation and take care of the community and environment around him as he continues to work towards an undergraduate degree at Cal Poly Pomona.
Elizabeth Christy
Volunteer
Elizabeth graduated in environmental studies from Temple University. She entered an internship under Joanne Donahue, the Manager of Land Restoration at the Schuylkill Center to gain practical skills in horticulture. With the focus of keeping a nursery healthy for the plant sale, she removed invasive plant species from the property, creating an educational sensory garden for school education.
Thereafter, she worked under Harold Taylor, the head of the West End of Outdoor Horticulture, where she oversaw the orchard, Migratory Bird Sanctuary, vegetable garden, idea garden, trial garden, children’s garden, front gate and grass trial garden.
Kodiak Ly
Volunteer
Kodiak Ly is a PhD student at the University of New Mexico. Kodiak is studying medical sociology with a concentration in the medicalization of mental illness. They have been a part of Eco Urban Gardens (EUG) since their freshman year of high school (2015). Initially, Kodiak presided over the Best of Thymes Farm Lab as a dedicated volunteer. After high school they received a paid internship where they develop funding materials, design outreach tools, and research data analytics.
Their experience at EUG has proven instrumental to their research interests. Kodiak seeks to understand if the medicalization and treatment of mental illness redirects attention away from the structural issues that may have initially triggered mental illness. They have observed first-hand the effects of horticulture therapy on disrupting cycles of trauma. Therefore, Kodiak plans to use it as a tool to address structural issues, born of social disadvantage, which cause individuals to engage in maladaptive behaviors.