Josephine: Josephine is a music educator, audio engineer, and pop artist born and based in Los Angeles, CA. Her affinity for musical work manifests in the many angles from which she approaches it. Shetty teaches music production, critique, and event production in the Music Technology program at California Institute of the Arts, is a freelance live audio engineer for local live music events, and performs regularly with her band Pride Month Barbie. Josephine enjoys absurdity, tending to her balcony garden, collecting bric-a-brac, and reading popular science books.
Tarek: Hello, my name is Tarek, I am 22 years old and I was born in Oakville, Ontario and came to the US when I was five years old. I grew up in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. I graduated from Rutgers University in January with a BS in agriculture and food systems. Some of my interests include the gym, reading, running, and of course gardening and all things agriculture. My personal goal is to own a farm of my own, and this is why I decided to apply for the Future Farmers Program, as I believe that it would help me get ahead in reaching my goal.
Alysha: As an entrepreneur, birth doula, and mother, my journey from Detroit to the Texas area has fortified my resilience and adaptability, while simultaneously unleashing a relentless pursuit of personal growth and fulfillment. The trajectory of my life shifted abruptly when my son endured a diffuse anoxic brain injury at just 10 months old, a consequence of an adverse reaction to the national baby formula shortage. This transformative experience ignited within me an unwavering commitment to explore and better understand the sciences of natural living, biodynamic farming, and the methodology of permaculture.
Ali: Ali is a Michigan native, yet a citizen of the world through a love of travel and connecting with people walking different life paths. Ali has been consistently active with WWOOF since Summer 2023, volunteering at various locations across the country. Pronounced like Muhammad Ali, Ali has been committed to sustainable living and living according to natural laws after living on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent from 2022-2023. While there, Ali was exposed to the Rastafarian way of living and fell in love with the morals, principles, and lifestyle. Now, Ali is continuing an education in AgroEcology while living a purposeful life according to the ethics of Permaculture.
Emma: Emma (she/they) is incredibly honored to be a part of the WWOOF USA’s Future Farmer Program for the 2024 season. With undergraduate degrees in Economics and Dance from SUNY Geneseo, Emma’s path to urban agriculture was a long and winding road. Through managing local farmers’ markets in the New York metropolitan area, she began learning about regenerative agriculture, leading her to work with the urban farm and food justice nonprofit, Green Village Initiative, as part of the national FoodCorps service program. Growing up in a leftist Jewish community, they care deeply about advocating for the liberation of all people and believe that food sovereignty is a pathway to a liberated world. Emma is a lifelong learner and is thrilled to be joining the WWOOF USA farming community.
Vanessa: I started out in the finance industry but realized there’s more to life than computer screens. So, I took a dive into the wellness world, helping people connect to their bodies in meaningful ways. As I played a role in others’ self-care, my own healing journey called me to reconnect to the land and my food in a way I had been missing. I decided to pursue a career nourishing this relationship by creating an agricultural business which provides food, beauty and green spaces to the community through a network of urban farms. When not working towards creating green spaces, you can find me playing pickleball, Mahjong or doing any number of creative pursuits such as woodworking or watercoloring.
