Dorian Martin is a mixed media artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been immersed in art since childhood through the Cleveland Heights public school system, where he explored painting, drawing, poetry, music, sculpture, and audio engineering. His current focus is producing and performing hip hop music, with shows across Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York. Since the pandemic, Dorian has been active in social activism and community organizing with groups such as Safer Heights, DSA, and Coventry Village, taking part in mural projects, protests, art exhibitions, and women empowerment events. He loves working with different layers and textures in my art. Beauty is Imperfection.

Monique (she/her) has been part of the community composting movement since 2019, when she founded Compostable in Los Angeles. Her vision for a community-led organization is woven through the fiber of Compostable's foundation. In 2022, this vision was recognized nationally when Monique received Waste360’s 40 Under 40 award. 

Monique completed UCLA's Sustainability Certificate program. She further developed her knowledge through Kiss The Ground's Soil Advocate training and The 131 School's Compost Operator Certificate program. She serves on the steering committee for the Hyphal Network, a ILSR working group exploring nationwide cooperative models, and leads the LA Chapter of the California Alliance for Community Composters. In her free time, Monique fosters dogs, participates in a weekly garden club, and is an avid reader.

Nando was born and raised in New York City’s Lower East Side, but also lived for several years in the Dominican Republic. Early in high school, Nando joined The Brotherhood’s Knowledge of Self Chapter, becoming a founding youth member of the organization, and also participated with a group called Open Road of New York, an environmental program that engages youth in garden and park design projects in economically disadvantaged communities.

He was also the Director of Open Road Park from 2003 to 2008, located in downtown Manhattan and is an award winning community gardener and developer. Having joined BroSis staff in 2005, he coordinates all of their environmental programming – managing a team of four, overseeing the 6,000 square foot NYC Parks Department Green Thumb Garden and Environmental Education Center; and co-facilitating their International Study Programs to Ghana (2007) and the Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico (2008).

Karl is the owner of YES Compost LLC a food scrap composting and vermicomposting (using worms) business based in Belgrade MT.  His team collects an average of 10 tons of food scraps each week from homes and businesses and turns this "waste" into valuable soil amendments: Compost and worm castings. YES Compost's mission is to empower regenerative agriculture by crafting food scrap compost of exceptional quality that can be used to naturally restore health and immunity to garden and farmland soils.

Domingo Morales, a NYC native, Green City Force (GCF) Americorps alumnus and inaugural winner of the David Prize, he is the founder and CEO of Compost Power and serves as a compost consultant globally. His leadership and passion for a healthier and more environmentally-just city was born out of lived experience. As a former public housing resident, he saw first-hand how residents of underserved neighborhoods and public housing suffered from poor access to healthy food and a lack of sustainable infrastructure. Today, Domingo manages 10 community composting sites, supports GCF and the NYC Housing Authority as an expert on composting and waste diversion programs, and coaches others to implement best practices across the city. Domingo is laser-focused on making composting cool and accessible for everyone.

Kristie leads the composting division at Compost Crew. The company operates several distributed composting systems – its Compost Outposts – in partnership with area farms and municipalities to process high quality compost and build food system resiliency. Kristie is also the president of the MD-DC State Chapter of the USCC. Kristie has a background in environmental consulting, hazardous waste remediation, a degree in environmental science, and is an avid field hockey fan.

Maggie Smart-McCabe (they/she) is a community composter who loves working with soil health and native plants in community green spaces. They 5+ years of experience in regenerative gardening, managing community composting hubs, and leading volunteer programs in gardens. Maggie is currently the Compost Hubs Program Manager at LA Compost, where they supported the development of programs like Community Compost Day LA, Community Microscopy Workshops, and the Community Composting Certificate at Occidental College. They also support SoilWise through facilitating workshops about soil health and bioremediation. Maggie also co-founded Club Gay Gardens— a collective of local LGBTQIA+ volunteers who build and maintain a native habitat parkway garden at the Glendale arts nonprofit, Junior High LA.

Lynn Fang, MS (she/her), co-founder of SoilWise, has over 10 years of experience in ecological landscape design, soil science, community composting, and regenerative farming. She centers soil health as the foundation of thriving and abundant gardens. Her teaching and community work include partnerships with LA Compost, Integrative Development Initiative, Arlington Garden, Altadena Community Garden, the 131 School of Compost, Cal Poly Pomona, and Pitzer College. Since the fires, Lynn has offered her expertise and experience towards post-fire soil contaminant testing and bioremediation, guided by scientific research, local case studies, experienced practitioners, and scientists in the field. She brings a thoughtful, ecological, and community oriented approach to soil bioremediation.

Brenda and her team at ILSR are supporting community-scale composters via forums, webinars, podcasts, guides, policies, training, and more. In 2017, the US Composting Council awarded her its H. Clark Gregory Award for outstanding service to the composting industry through grassroots efforts. In 2019, BioCycle magazine featured Brenda as one of its organics recycling trailblazers. In 2023, LA Compost presented her with its Community Compost Champion award. She has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University.

Brenda is an enthusiast of research-driven social marketing to increase composting participation and reduce contamination. She took Doug McKenzie-Mohr's 2024 Community-based Social Marketing Course and moderated ILSR's webinar on Composting Contamination Education and Outreach in April 2025.

As Communications Associate for the Composting for Community Initiative, Dzidedi’s work focuses on implementing the initiative’s communications strategy and building stronger ties across the national Community Composter Coalition. She has a background in outreach and communications and is passionate about community-driven economic development and sustainability. She received her M.A. from the Geneva Graduate Institute and her B.A. in Global Affairs from Yale University.

Dzidedi is curious about applying innovative social marketing strategies to composting and is excited to share her insights from taking Doug McKenzie-Mohr's 3-day Community-based Social Marketing Course in December 2025.

Renée is the Deputy Director of the Lower East Side Ecology Center, where she advances creative, community-based approaches to composting and urban sustainability. She believes composting is essential to closed-loop food systems, regenerative urban ecosystems, and climate resilient communities. Over the past decade, Renée has led community composting programs and collaborated with artists, nonprofits, volunteers and city agencies to integrate community composting into the fabric of New York City.

Michael is a former elementary school teacher, the author of the children's book "Composting for Community, Founder of LA Compost, and a Program Manager at the 11th Hour Project. While at LA Compost, he led the creation of a decentralized network of community compost hubs spanning the most populous county in the country. In his current role at the 11th Hour Project, he is leading the foundation’s national composting and organics recycling strategy, with a focus on innovative capital, creative land access, and meaningful public-private partnerships.

Leo Beckerman serves as the Director of Operations for Zero Foodprint and the Vice President of the California Association of Compost Producers. He oversees strategy and day to day management of Zero Foodprint’s programs including Compost Connector in California and the Restore Grants, available to farms and ranches implementing Climate Smart Agricultural practices throughout the United States. He champions natural climate solutions, working closely with government agencies to include Agriculture and Working Lands in Climate Action Plans. Leo is an entrepreneur with a background in public health, foodservice, and non-profit management.

Angel Veza is the Director of Innovation Initiatives at ReFED, where she leads efforts to scale food waste solutions and manages the ReFED Catalytic Grant Fund, providing catalytic capital to promising innovations. She began her career teaching in underserved communities before earning her Grand Diplôme from the French Culinary Institute. Angel went on to work in New York City’s top kitchens, including Morimoto and the two-Michelin-starred Atera, and with foodservice leaders like Compass Group. Witnessing significant food waste firsthand, she joined World Wildlife Fund’s food waste team and led supply chain, sourcing, and procurement initiatives to reduce waste at Manhatta Restaurant, part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group.