OUR TEAM

“I want the world to be united through healthy and happy food and to thrive together.”  – Jeong Kwan

Ainsleah brings a diverse working background that blends culinary experience with a deep commitment to social justice. Her career has spanned a multitude of roles, many centered around creativity, food security, and fostering inclusive spaces. She believes that access to nutritious food is a fundamental human right and that both cooking and work should be enjoyable and inspiring. Ainsleah is dedicated to using her culinary knowledge and varied experiences to support initiatives that help everyone thrive. She views the Nelson Community Food Centre as a place where her diverse passions can flourish, contributing to a more interconnected and vibrant community. Ainsleah enjoys finding innovative ways to create beautiful, nourishing meals with limited ingredients, seeing cooking as a form of communication and a way to connect with people through the universal need for good food.

“Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.” – Anthony Bourdain

Bee is deeply passionate about community, growing organic food, foraging and food sovereignty. She has been working in kitchens since she was old enough to work, and started a small catering company where she created highly nutritious meals for her clients. In 2019 Bee moved to an off grid farm, where she learned more about living sustainably, growing food, raised chickens, and prepared meals for members and guests in the seasonal outdoor kitchen and small cabin in the winter. She worked with a teacher for many years learning about biodynamic farming, landscaping, animal husbandry and foraging and continues to be a student of the land.

Last year she finished a diploma in Social Services and Support Work, which brought her to the Nelson Community Food Centre. At the food centre, she has been able to combine her passion for making food, using sustainable ingredients and supporting her community.

Monica recently completed her MBA at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. Prior to that, she spent more than a decade working at a food bank in Montana, where she gained broad experience in event planning and management, organizing an annual Thanksgiving Day race, connecting patrons with community resources, coordinating volunteers, managing websites and social media, and evaluating programs to support continuous improvement.

Now settled in Nelson, Monica and her family enjoy many of the outdoor activities the area offers, from mountain biking to skiing. She has a daughter at South Nelson School, where she volunteers with the PAC. At home, she’s kept company by a tubby tabby cat and an energetic young cattledog mix.

Much of Rosemary’s life and work experience has been rooted in community-centred service and harm reduction. Before joining the Nelson Community Food Centre, they most recently owned and operated a vintage shop in the Slocan Valley for over a decade. This period deepened their understanding of inclusivity, building strong networks and mutual aid, and evolving with the needs of a small community. Their first four years in the Valley were spent living in a one-room cabin by the river, an experience that helped them develop a connection to the land and its inhabitants in a way they hadn’t known before. This continues to shape what they value today, including local food access, environmental restoration, and Indigenous-led conservation and self-governance.

They consider themselves a lifelong student and are reminded daily that there is as much to unlearn as there is wisdom to gain. They strive to help create more equitable, sustainable, and compassionate systems and find encouragement in small acts of kindness. Rosemary is excited to join the Nelson Community Food Centre as a place to bring people together—gathering around nourishing food and mutual care.