Leah Atwood

Leah currently serves as program manager for Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA), a non-profit organization facilitating an international farmer-to-farmer exchange program on behalf of sustainable agriculture. Leah grew up on a family-scale non-production farm in the redwood forests of Arcata, Ca. and has lived in the Bay Area for the last 10 years where she moved to pursue a degree in Environmental Policy and Spanish at UC Berkeley. She has spent much time abroad in South and Central America as well as in Bangladesh working on behalf of social, environmental and food justice initiatives. As a result of her travel and work experiences she gained insight into international agriculture systems and the value of socio-ecologically mindful practices and unconventional multi-stakeholder collaboration. Leah’s past non-profit experience includes working in program development for the International Institute for Bengal Basin to address water rights and pollution mitigation in Bangladesh, India and Nepal and with East Bay Sanctuary Covenant where she worked in translation and fundraising on behalf of indigent refugees seeking legal guidance. Her latest project is launching Ag-vocate.org- a web portal to promote civic philanthropy in the direction of local small-scale agriculture. In her surplus time she teaches yoga to at-risk teens with the Art of Yoga Project and is trained in facilitation and conflict mediation.