The Speakers

Farmer and Director of Africulture

Michael Carter Jr. is a 11th generation farmer and is the 5th generation to farm on Carter Farms, his family's century farm in Orange County, Virginia where he gives workshops on how to grow and market ethnic vegetables, farm business management, food safety and a host of other agricultural and African/African American history workshops, seminars and trainings.

With Virginia State University, he is the Small Farm Resource Center Coordinator for the Small Farm Outreach Program. Michael sits on the boards of the Virginia Association of Biological Farmers (VABF), Virginia Food Systems Council and Foodshed Capital. He also served as the state coordinator for the Black Church Food Security Network and as the food safety coordinator for the Six State Farm to Table organization.

He acquired an agricultural economics degree from North Carolina A&T State University and has worked in Ghana, Kenya and Israel as an agronomist and organic agricultural consultant. Carter Farms has birthed Hen Asem (Our Story) and Africulture that teach and expound on the practices, principles, plants, and people of African descent that have contributed to agriculture worldwide and the many stories that history almost forgot.

Michael presently consults on food access, food security, market outreach, social and economic equity programs, racial understanding, racial equity, curriculum development, immersion, and history trainings, among other areas.

Founder/Stylist/Author

Primo Noir, LLC Organics & Botanicals

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Established in March 2018, Primo Noir, LLC is an independent healthy lifestyle initiative offering access to fresh heirloom & organic products and services. Our Product List and Online Shopping experience features a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers grown with environmentally safe practices, in addition for our signature chemical free hair and skin care line. The use of small scale tools, environmentally safe practices, good vibes and healthy efforts allow us to cultivate quality products and host beneficial services for residents & businesses in the Washington Metropolitan area.

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Being drawn to nature and her passion for the creative arts at an early age, Felice a native Washingtonian obtained her Bachelors in English & Telecommunications from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1998 & certification as a Natural Hair Stylist from Prince George’s Community College in 1999.

Her love for the creative arts inspired her to self-publish three poetry collections, Masquerade & Daydreams, Freedomstyle and The Cultural Cure.

Intrigued by the use of plants for personal care and hygiene Felice developed a love for agriculture as a youth during summers spent with family who were subsistence farmers in Georgia. She began educating herself on urban farming techniques when she returned home.

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After years of growing and using organic and heirloom plants and using many of them in response to common health and beauty concerns. She further mastered and perfected the skill to restore hair and skin. In March of 2018 Felice expanded her practices and founded Primo Noir Organics & Botanicals to offer farming initiatives and organic salon services

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A mother of three, she is devoted to inspiring and facilitating opportunities to increase global awareness of the beneficial uses of nature in the beauty industry.

Soilful City Farms, Washington, D.C.

Xavier Brown is a native of Washington, DC and a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He operates at the boundaries of urban agriculture, environmental sustainability, and African Diasporic culture. His work intertwines sustainability with the issues that impact stressed communities from gun violence to mass incarceration.

By studying the practices of indigenous people and going back to ancestral knowledge, Xavier is creating a new sustainability movement that is healing the people and the land by reconnecting our scared relationship to the earth.