WHO IS SOIL GENERATION?

TRIAD CO-DIRECTORS

What does our triad co-directorship entail? An embodied practice of shared leadership. We co-create theory, analysis, and visions of SG: weaving lessons from the past, intentional action in the present, and envisioning radical and revolutionary futures. We collectively strategize and materialize projects and programs related to our Reform, Radical, and Revolutionary gourds. We invest in each others’ professional development. We implement a culture of creative and introspective work with ourselves and each other, building our radical womanist theory by deepening our relationship with each other, ourselves, the land, our cultures, and Spirit.

SONIA GALIBER

Sonia is an earth worker, political organizer, educator, and artist, and food was her first learned love language. Coming from lineages of land stewardship, social justice work, and creativity, she feels at home devoting her energy to the intersection of these worlds. Sonia first got involved in SG in 2016 to support the creation of the Threatened Gardens campaign while serving as the Director of Operations at Urban Creators in North Philadelphia. During her tenure, she the developed Urban Creators’ operations and programmatic infrastructure. Within SG, she works on political organizing and analysis, theory and narrative crafting, visual design, and project implementation. Philadelphia’s first Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan and SG’s Agroecology FROM the People! are among the works she has helped co-create. Sonia participated in Philadelphia’s Food Advisory Council, the Alliance for a Just Philadelphia, and the HEAL Food Alliance on behalf of SG. As an educator, Sonia has worked with people of all ages in an interdisciplinary learning weaving the environment, the political, and the artistic. Similarly as an artist, she has co-created public art activations and self-published illustrations investigating interconnection with the natural world, migration, heritage, and identity. Sonia is also a spiritually inspired herbalist, a hot sauce maker, and a big fan of video games and sci-fi & fantasy. Sonia is passionate about her Afro-Okinawan roots, her queer identity and community, and her deep reverence for the mystical spirit of the natural world.

ZaKIA M. ELLIOTT

Zakia is an organizer, educator, facilitator, artist, and Philadelphia-native working within the intersections of the environmental justice, climate justice, and food and land justice movements. She came into SG first as a beloved community member leading the Philadelphia Climate Works Coalition (PCW) in 2017, of which SG is a founding member. In that role, she bridged the intersecting needs of environmental, community-based, and labor union organizations, by advocating for housing repairs and energy justice for residents, transportation equity, and justice for sanitation workers and other workforces that are underappreciated and heavily impacted by pollution and health inequities. Her work spanned coalition-building, campaign planning, community engagement, cross sector relationship building, policy reform, and public education. Zakia further applied her experiences in sharing power, decision-making, and navigating the tensions of equitability in the PCW Coalition to support SG’s member and leadership transitions and joined SG as a Co-Director in 2021. Zakia is grounded in her studies of feminist and womanist theory and resilience in movements, in her healing practices, and in her roots in environmental and climate justice. With SG, she continues to deepen her practices of land-based spirituality, artistic expression, and as a witness to life as a gardener. She presently represents SG on the Climate Justice Alliance’s Black Caucus, and also serves on the Board of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, and the Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) Alumnae Advisory Board. Her work was recognized by her peers as the 2022 Sustain PHL recipient of the Sustainability Next Gen Award and the Women In Natural Sciences Distinguished Alumnae Award.

SUAD MANA

Suad is an organizer and facilitator passionate about building grassroots equitable systems and cooperative economic strategies. Suad has been involved with organizing for affordable housing, community land trusts, and food justice. Suad helped lead SG’s policy work and strategy around vacant land and threatened gardens, as well as convene a local farm brigade during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through political education in communities, she convened growers in different districts to demand community control of land, while also exploring stewardship models to ensure permanent ownership. She also helped co-create Philadelphia’s first Urban Agriculture Strategic Planning as a member of SG’s team. Additionally, she has helped lead community workshops around CLTs for neighbors concerned about displacement and served as a board member for Mill Creek Urban Farm. Through her work organizing with SG, she saw the need for engaging data as a tool for storytelling and pursued a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. Through these experiences, Suad remains grounded in her work through her deep spiritual roots and eternal gratitude.

COLLECTIVE MEMBERS

Their powerful work is intrinsically connected to SG’s values, vision, and community offerings. We honor life’s ebbs and flows, and our collective team has at different times held core responsibilities. These collective members continue to pour into SG in these capacities:

KIRTRINA BAXTER

Kirtrina is a dedicated mother, spiritual drummer, returning-generation farmer, food & land justice activist, community strategist and afroecologist. Founder emeritus of Soil Generation, she played a core role in the founding of the SG coalition and building it into what it is today. Her commitment to Black & Brown growers, to women of color, and to land, food, racial, and economic justice has resulted in a powerful body of work and relationships whose impact continues to ripple through our communities. She is the founder of 4DaSoil, our fiscal sponsor, and an emergent cooperatively-run organization of Black and Asian women providing fiscal sponsorship and land access services to Black & Brown-led organizations fighting climate change as growers & land stewards. We benefit from Kirtrina’s mentorship, her deep roots in Black and Brown grower organizing, wisdom of shared leadership, her deep spirituality, sharp political analysis, and her visionary community-led financial ecosystem.

LAN DINH

Lan has organized with SG since its inception, contributing powerful work in political organizing for land justice, like in the Threatened Gardens campaign. As a Philly native and a farmer, she has always brought with her a wealth of knowledge about plants, herbs, culture, and political systems. Her commitment to her community is deep: rooted in relationship building, cultural resilience for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities, and a fundamental love and respect for the Land. We continue to benefit from Lan’s rich knowledge for land cultivation and stewardship, her aligned experience in shared leadership and healing, her integration of conflict mediation in her community work, and her political acumen. Lan is Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Vietlead and Resilient Roots Farm.

DR. ASHLEY GRIPPER

Ashley served as a critical partner on our Urban Ag Plan Planning Committee, bringing with her a reverence and sharp analysis of our communities’ leadership in urban farming, policy needs and barriers, and the innumerable benefits that reverberate across time and space. She demonstrated her commitment to Philadelphia’s rich history in urban farming through her doctoral dissertation at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and she continues to shape the academic landscape through her work as a professor at Drexel University’s Ubuntu Center. Ashley formerly worked at Sankofa Community Farm and remains involved in Philadelphia’s Food Policy Advisory Council and Garden Data Collaborative. Ashley is the Founder and Co-Lead of Land Based Jawns. We continue to learn from Ashley’s praxis in land-based living, spiritual rootedness in the Land, and her ability to straddle the world of grassroots and academia with resilience and continued commitment to her community and values as a Philly jawn first and foremost.