Updates
Celebrating The Women of We Don’t Waste #IWD
March 8, 2022
Today is International Women’s Day, and We Don’t Waste is celebrating our women on staff who #BreakTheBias every day! From managing incoming food donations, to driving the trucks to pick up excess food, to evaluating the organization’s impact on the community, we have some incredible women propelling We Don’t Waste as the largest food recovery-focused organization in Denver.
Starting with the leadership of the team, We Don’t Waste’s Director of Impact & Engagement, Allie. Her role involves assessing We Don’t Waste’s impact and figuring out how we can make a bigger and better impact (all while keeping the community at the center of our work).
“One way I work to #BreakTheBias at work is by simply being aware of unconscious biases and challenging preconceived ideas. Most of all, I think it’s important to listen and elevate voices and experiences that you may not notice if you’re not open to hearing from people.” – Allie
Working with Allie to help engage and educate our community is Julia, our Programs and Education Manager. Julia is at the forefront of our education efforts, performing regular school presentations and food waste audits around the city, as well as putting together educational materials and making sure our Mobile Food Markets run each week without a hitch!
Those Mobile Food Markets are run each week in major part because of our volunteers, all of whom are led by our Volunteer Coordinator, Barona. She recruits, trains, leads, and coordinates the hundreds of annual volunteers that come through our doors both in the Distribution Center, and at our Markets. A fun fact about Barona: She is currently working on her carpentry skills, and just received her first toolbelt!
Kayleigh, a Food Recovery Specialist, is a part of our operations team that makes food recovery possible, and she also helps maintain partnerships with our nonprofit food recipients. Food Recovery Specialists are the most important members of our team, facilitating relationships with food donors, maintaining perfect food safety for pickups, and getting the excess food where it needs to go!
“I think I break the bias in my work life by being the only female Food Recovery Specialist on the team. Things like driving a truck, working a pallet jack, and operating a forklift tend to be thought of as more male-oriented jobs, but I do them all!” – Kayleigh
Next, we have Laura, who used to be a Food Recovery Specialist, but has moved over to our administrative side of the office as an Administrative Assistant. Now she focuses on a variety of tasks, “from Mobile Food Markets to grant research and school food audits, in addition to administrative tasks necessary to help keep the team organized!”
Grace, our Food Acquisition Specialist, works daily to bring new food donors on board with We Don’t Waste’s mission. There are countless opportunities to reduce food waste in Denver, and Grace helps find those opportunities and create new relationships! Without her work, we wouldn’t have as frequent and reliable pickups as we do.
Jessica, our Development & Events Coordinator, also works to develop We Don’t Waste’s reputation and relationship with the community. If you’ve attended a We Don’t Waste event, Jessica was behind the scenes, creating an incredible experience for everyone to enjoy. She also helps grow and integrate We Don’t Waste’s partners, donors, and sponsors into one large welcoming community!
Finally, there’s Caroline, our Communications & Marketing Coordinator. She is the one typing up We Don’t Waste’s emails, blogs, and social media posts and stays busy interacting with our community on a daily basis. If you’ve seen an illustration on a t-shirt or on our website, she’s also probably the one that drew it as well.
No matter where we are operating, there is a woman representing us and paving the way forward. We are proud to have such strong female representation in every aspect of We Don’t Waste’s mission.
Grace summed it up the best, “One of my favorite aspects of working at We Don’t Waste is collaborating with my female colleagues — each of whom is brilliant, creative and stands unwavering in her beliefs.”