Elizabeth’s commitment to environmental justice, food security, and youth wellness is rooted in her lived experience. At nine years old, she began working as a strawberry picker alongside her family, witnessing firsthand the dedication of farmworkers and the inequities embedded within our food system. Growing up in a community known for producing an abundance of food, she often questioned why families like her own—whose labor sustained the agricultural industry—still struggled to put food on the table. Those early experiences inspired her to pursue an education that would help her understand and address these systemic challenges.
Elizabeth earned a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, where she deepened her understanding of environmental policy, food systems, and environmental justice. Throughout her academic and professional journey, she worked alongside farmworker communities by helping distribute masks and community donations during the COVID-19 pandemic and California wildfires, while also promoting heat stress awareness to support the health and safety of campesino families.
Her passion for community engagement expanded through providing garden-based education centered on social-emotional learning. She saw how school gardens became more than places to grow food—they fostered belonging, strengthened connections to local food systems, encouraged mindfulness, and created opportunities for youth to build resilience. Motivated by both her professional experiences and her own mental health journey as a young person, she pursued a Master of Science in Counselor Education with a clinical specialization. This training allowed her to connect her passions for environmental justice, agriculture, and mental health, viewing gardens not only as spaces for learning but also as places for healing and wellness.
Today, Elizabeth aspires to serve as Center Manager allcove, where she can integrate her lived experience, clinical training, and community-based work to create safe, inclusive spaces that empower young people, promote mental well-being, and strengthen connections between individuals, their communities, and the environments they inhabit.
