Monte Belmonte (he/him) is radio host and executive producer of NEPM’s The Fabulous 413, recently switching gears after 17 years hosting Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI. Monte is also known for spearheading several local fundraising campaigns, including the annual March for The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, and serves as the volunteer board president of the nonprofit Shea Theater Arts Center in Great Falls (Turners Falls). He is married to Smith College Spanish lecturer Melissa Belmonte, and has three incredibly creative kids, Atticus, Enzo and Pax.

Irene Shiang Li co-founded Mei Mei in Boston in 2013 and built the brand around ethical, sustainable sourcing and fair and transparent employment practices, including open book management. Mei Mei is now a dumpling company and Irene is now building Prepshift, a tech-enabled coaching and workforce training firm. Prepshift focuses on aligning food business teams around their common goals and empowering them with education and transparency. Irene believes that in restaurants, everyone can win. She is a Zagat and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, six-time James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef nominee, and 2022 James Beard Foundation Leadership Award winner. In 2023, Irene and her sister co-authored Perfectly Good Food: a totally achievable zero-waste approach to home cooking with W.W. Norton.

Shavel’le is a Boston resident and is deeply committed to serving the communities she lives, works, and travels in. Her passions include community, youth development, and transportation. She founded and still organizes a major biking event called Mattapan on Wheels created to address issues of safer infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, provide an opportunity for young people to develop their leadership skills, and bring attention to cycling in the Mattapan community. She co-founded a talk in 2020 called Transportation Talks to bring residents that live in Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and those that identity as BIPOC together to explore how transportation affects their quality of life. Shavel’le Olivier is a 2014 graduate from Boston College where she earned her Bachelor’s of Science, double majoring in Marketing and Management and Leadership. In 2019 she received her masters in Nonprofit Management with a concentration in Organizational Communications at Northeastern University and is now the Executive Director of Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC). She recently completed a graduate certificate at the Boston University School of Public Health. Shavel’le co- founded a consultant agency, Consult LeLa where she engages young people between the ages of 10-25 in the transportation planning processes happening in the City of Boston.

Ollie Perrault (she/they) is a seventeen year old climate activist from Easthampton, MA. She has been a leading member of Mass Audubon's Statewide Youth Climate Leadership Program since she was 11 and is now the director of Youth Climate Action Now. She is also a founding member of Maura Healey's advisory Youth Climate Council. Ollie is a committed advocate for youth empowerment, environmental justice, and interdisciplinary climate education. During this panel, she will be speaking about the power and importance of youth voices in organizing spaces as well as the impact of a rapidly changing climate on her family's farm.