Christopher Wharton, PhD
Chris is co-founder of Chow Locally and an assistant professor of nutrition at Arizona State University. At ASU, Chris studies the connections between the local food system and food security. As part of the Chow Locally team, he works with farmers and farmers’ market managers to realize his dream of getting the healthiest foods produced in Arizona into the hands of as many Arizonans as possible.
Derek Slife
Derek is also co-founder of Chow Locally and a brilliant software engineer. Derek took his expertise in software design and applied them to an important problem in the world today: improving the food system for the health of all. Through his work, the Chow Locally site was built, making accessing and eating local foods more convenient than ever before. When he's not writing software, he enjoys cooking for his family and friends.
Chef Stephanie Green, RD
Stephanie is a registered dietitian and trained chef. As past-president of the Arizona Dietetic Association, she is well connected to the Arizona food scene and a respected local authority on nutrition. As part of the Chow Locally team, she helps develop our weekly Chow share assortments and related recipes.
Monika Woolsey, MS, RD
Monika is a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist. Her nutrition specialty is all things hormonal. Her experience in that discipline served to convince her that sustainable lifestyles and well-produced food were a crucial part of helping people to live healthier lives. She is especially passionate about the healing potential of the local food growing right in your backyard, as well as creating a business environment supportive of the small businesses making this lifestyle a reality.
Janie Paulson
Janie is an amazing Chow Locally employee who manages many of our farmers’ market booths. She loves what Chow Locally is doing for your health, supporting the local farmers and all of our communities. She is an Artist/Designer who has been working with paper and carving glass and varied mixed mediums for the past 30+yrs. Janie has had her own interior design business with retail studio. She now teaches art to autistic adults, with Seeds, a nonprofit for young adults, taking them from "learning to earning". Without Janie, Chow Locally couldn't get to as many markets as it does!
Shaun Jacobs
Shaun is Chow Locally’s 'Details Man.' He diligently works with our farmers to help them update their offerings on our site, he manages sales, and he generally leaves no rock unturned in helping Chow Locally run smoothly. He a complete novice in the kitchen and helps bring the amateur cook's perspective to Chow Locally. He has "eaten out" most of his life and has traditionally been is more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. With the help of Chow Locally he is enjoying learning about a whole new world of local food that he and his wife can cook at home. Shaun is an online marketing expert and project manager who helps manage the many plates we have in the air at Chow Locally He is married with three kids, has a new mastiff puppy and has a flock of 20+ urban chickens.
Annie Cowan
Annie is a passionate, hard-working medical student who has been with Chow Locally from the beginning. Around the time her partner, co-founder Derek Slife, came up with the idea, she was in the middle of learning about nutrition and obesity in her classes and jumped at the idea to be a part of a company that stood for changing the face of food and health in the U.S. Annie was instrumental in establishing many of the initial farmer relationships, spreading the word through social media, creating interesting web content, and brainstorming the company’s founding concepts. When she isn’t immersed in medical textbooks, you can often find her and their daughter Eislynn pitching in with packing Chow Share boxes or talking up fresh food at a Chow Locally booth!
The Consummate Volunteers
Tim Hardy and Erin Hertzler have been there every step of the way for Chow Locally, and they’ve helped us each weekend as we prepare our customers’ orders. They make absolutely sure we send our customers home satisfied every single weekend. You can normally find them playing their didgeridoos after a hard days work at the Phoenix Public Market.
The ASU Intern Team
Chow Locally is fortunate to be able to work with many great ASU nutrition student interns who help us with the innumerable tasks related to making our social entrepreneurship company run. From connecting with the public to updating our website, our interns help us do good in the world, and they get great community experience in return!