TEAM

Mikelle Carver has been working with AVF since 2019. She is our trusted financial strategist, empowering the organization’s growth through numbers. She is a passionate advocate for agriculture and sustainable resources. To learn more about her, visit her LinkedIn page.

Rachel Hector is the Assistant Grants Manager at Capacita Consulting serving clients through project management, grant coordination, grant writing, and grant research. Rachel has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has 10+ years of experience in the nonprofit sector working in direct service, education, program design, grants management, individual giving, and communications.

She is passionate about supporting organizations focused on promoting human rights, catalyzing change by addressing root causes, and accessing justice for populations who have been historically marginalized. 

Michael Foster is dedicated to advancing equity through empowerment evaluation. Throughout his career, he has worked on efforts to empower individuals from marginalized communities. He has worked for more than a decade as a consultant at the Leadership Institute at the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The overarching goal of the Leadership Institute is to build leadership capacity within and across Native American communities throughout New Mexico. Through this work, Dr. Foster has contributed his expertise in program evaluation and curriculum development. You can learn more about his work here.

Allison Hoots, Esq. is the founder and principal attorney of Hoots Law Practice PLLC and has been an attorney since 2011. She is licensed to practice law in: New York, District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania. You can keep up-to-date with Allison’s current work on LinkedIn.

Hoots Law Practice PLLC established in 2019 to meet the needs that are unmet by most larger firms. Using her unique background of experience in contracts, employment, corporate/business formation, and intellectual property law, as well as advising endeavors in the psychedelics space, Allison Hoots, Esq. is devoted to providing keen personal attention, reliable structure and procedures, creative solutions, and strategic legal protection for her clients.

Ana Puente Flores is from Mexico City. She came to NY in 2015 for her undergraduate studies at the City College of New York. There, she was a Skadden Arps Legal Honors Program fellow and a Beyond Identity scholar-activist.

As Institutional Development and Research Director at the Politics of Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), she researched femicide in Mexico City, as well as gender violence in post-war contexts in Southeast Asia. She helped build and found the program Beyond Identity: A Political Platform for Scholar-Activists.

In the summer of 2018–during the beginning of the family separation policy–she was a legal intern at the Dilley Pro Bono Project. There, she prepared detained families seeking asylum for their credible-fear interviews. She also led narrative practice workshops with immigrant youth in detention.

As a paralegal at KIND NY’s Detained Team, she created the first culturally relevant Know-Your-Rights training for tender-age children. She is currently a 2L at CUNY School of Law. With a fellowship from the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice, she worked for the organization Lakota Peoples Law Project and helped write an amicus brief in support of ICWA for the case Brackeen v. Haaland in the Supreme Court.

She connected with AVF in 2023, while interning with elders Justice Cheryl Fairbanks and Chief Justice Robert Yazzie. In her organizing work, she seeks to open up a path for alternative spaces of care, mutual aid, collective storytelling, and cultural revival. Her political energy is geared toward migrant and indigenous folks fighting and thriving for the land, waters, and seeds. With her family, she stewards a community garden where they plant tobacco, maíz, and other plant medicines. Through this work, she seeks to reweave the present human dynamics towards sustainability, memory, collectivity, and balance.

Shannon Chada, also known as Good Singing Woman (Mino Nagamowin Ikwe), walks a path that unites culture, community, and nature. As the founder and Executive Director of Full Circle Harmony Ministry and the Academy of Holistic and Spiritual Arts, a 501(c)(3) organization, she is dedicated to fostering spiritual and holistic well-being within her community. Shannon passionately builds connections and alliances between Indigenous communities and non-native allies, promoting inclusivity, diversity, and environmental stewardship. She collaborates with organizations committed to supporting cultural and Indigenous efforts, along with bioregional climate resilience, stability, and regeneration.

With over 27 years of experience, Shannon serves her community with compassion and wisdom in multiple roles, emphasizing unity, shared vision, and purpose to foster community collaboration and harmony. Her work focuses on guiding individuals on their spiritual journey through holistic therapies and education, providing spiritual mentoring and guidance for both personal and professional growth.

As an Event Coordinator, Shannon Chada's unique blend of skills and experience ensures that every event she organizes is imbued with a deep sense of purpose, cultural richness, and a commitment to holistic well-being. Her dedication to community, culture, and nature shines through in every aspect of her work, making her a valuable asset to AVF.

Diana Chaplin brings over 15 years of experience in communications strategy and marketing for both nonprofit and startup organizations with a distinct passion for conservation and uplifting storytelling. Her background also includes publishing, leadership development, and graphic design. Prior to joining CRC in 2022, Diana was the Marketing Director at global reforestation nonprofit One Tree Planted during 5 years of its  early critical growth, establishing the organization as a media-savvy environmental brand and growing a robust internal team while funding the planting of over 40 million trees!

Roger Vanoro is an award-winning documentary film maker. He also is a counselor and healing arts practitioner. We are grateful to have his masterful skills to share AVF’s story. To learn more about Roger, visit www.rogervanoro.com

Yonah Sadeh has been making films since 2010. To learn more, read his featured article in Rural Intelligence.