FoodWhat Staff
Doron Comerchero
FoodWhat Founder and Executive Director of Strategy. Doron (he/him) spent his 20s in the South Bronx as a community organizer for GreenThumb, NYC’s community gardening program, supporting community efforts to protect local gardens that the Guiliani administration sought to destroy. Rich soil called, and he transitioned from city life to living in a tent on a beautiful piece of farmland in Santa Cruz as an apprentice at the UCSC Farm and Garden. Back East for one season farming full time at a 50-acre Food Bank Farm, he returned to Cali in 2007 to launch FoodWhat. Doron is also in long-time service on the council that nourishes Rooted in Community, a national grassroots network of programs like FoodWhat that empowers young people from historically excluded communities to take leadership through food, justice, and local economic development. Over a decade and a half later, Doron is driven to create safe spaces for youth to grow and cultivate their power and resiliency to co-lead the organization with heart, laughter, and intention.
Email: doron@foodwhat.org.
Abigail Camarillo Cruz
Farm Education Manager. Abi (she/her) is a youth advocate and artist. Abi and her family made the difficult decision to leave Guanajuato, Mexico at the age of 3 when it became difficult to sustain a healthy and productive life. Abi and her family eventually arrived in Santa Cruz, California with the hope of building a better and healthier future. In 2017, Abi made the decision to join FoodWhat as a youth participant. Her time and experiencees at FoodWhat allowed Abi to redefine her truth and to step into a power and voice she had previously been unable to harness. In 2022, Abi returned to FoodWhat as the new Program Coordinator. Thanks to her experience as both a participant and a staff member, Abi is uniquely positioned to connect with youth in a way that allows them to feel safe and heard. As a staff member, Abi is always seeking ways to uplift her community by creating shared spaces where youth can learn and flourish.
Email: abi@foodwhat.org
Kellee Matsushita-Tseng
Land Stewardship Manager. Kellee (she/they) joined the FoodWhat?! Team in 2023 with over a decade of both farming and education experience, with a special love for connecting people to seed stewardship. Kellee is a fourth generation Japanese-Chinese American, born and raised in Los Angeles. Kellee received a Bachelor’s Degree in Art History/Photography from University of Southern California, and went on to work with youth as a mentor and educator through media arts/community storytelling programs in Los Angeles, before starting their journey in farming. Kellee leads community and education programming for Second Generation Seeds and is a co-founder of Bitter Cotyledons.
Kellee’s work has focused on building possibilities for community health and self-determination through tending the land, growing food, and uplifting ancestral knowledge and the cultural brilliance of our traditions and foodways. They are passionate about the magic that can happen when young people have the opportunity to build their own connection to this work and are honored to be part of that process.
Email: kellee@foodwhat.org
Irene Juarez O’Connell
Executive Director of Programs. Irene (she/they) is a mentor, educator, and advocate for youth and young people in Santa Cruz County. Originally from Los Angeles, Irene came to Santa Cruz to study Public Art and Latin American & Latino Studies at UCSC. Having previously served the community in mentorship roles in local high schools and in the Santa Cruz Juvenile Detention Center, Irene joined FoodWhat in 2016 with experience in community organizing around youth violence prevention. She is passionate about the intersections where youth expression and creativity can meet empowerment for lasting, impactful change for their lives and their communities. Irene is excited to work with young leaders and have her hands in the soil! Irene has received the NEXTie for Artist of the Year 2017 Award and the Eduardo Carrillo Healing the Community with Art Award that same year.
Email: irene@foodwhat.org
Puiyee Tse
Finance Manager. Puiyee (she/her) comes to FoodWhat with over 20 years of experience in profit and nonprofit sector in Santa Cruz County. She oversees the accounting function from accounts payable to year end audit. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Puiyee earned a degree in Liberal Art at the National Taiwan University, and an Associate of Science degree in Accounting at Mission College, Santa Clara. When she’s not crunching numbers, she likes to travel around the world. Puiyee enjoys her work and often shares how honored she is to be with what she considers such an amazing organization.
Email: finance@foodwhat.org
Kayla Kumar
Development and Communications Director. The purpose of Kayla’s (they/them) work is to organize people around the love, togetherness, and possibility found within communities. Much of their career has focused on working with youth and they have done so in environments ranging from music classrooms, basketball courts, and juvenile halls.
They are a non-traditional fundraiser who centers rigorous ethics, narrative reclamation, systems change, and honest relationships in their work. During their 8 years of fundraising, they have played a key role in raising over $8 million for nonprofit organizations.
Kayla has worked on projects related to restorative justice, houselessness, housing, healthcare, community organizing, and political campaigns. In 2022, Kayla joined the team of local leaders who saved the Watsonville Community Hospital by raising the funds necessary to bring the hospital into public ownership.
They are a Board Member of the low-income healthcare clinic, Salud Para La Gente. In the past, they have been a Commissioner of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Commission of Santa Cruz County and a Board Member of the financial justice nonprofit Ventures. They received a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Saint Joseph’s University and a Master’s Degree in Applied Economics from San Jose State University.
Email: kayla@foodwhat.org
Reyna Peralta
Programs Manager. Reyna (she/her) is a first-generation immigrant originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. She recently joined the FoodWhat fam as Youth Programs Manager! She graduated from the University of California, Merced in 2019 with a degree in Sociocultural Anthropology. She loves learning and studying culture, traditions, and history. Reyna is committed to working alongside young people, reconnecting them with food and land to discover autonomy and collectivism.
Email: reyna@foodwhat.org
David Antonio Robles
Culinary Manager. David (he/him) loves to use his skills to cultivate community and resilience among youth. He recognizes the power that food has to connect the individual to their culture, their community, and their environment and hopes to guide young people through that process. During his time as an undergrad, David started working for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) where he began to understand the responsibilities of land stewardship and its connection with the health and resilience of his community. David comes to FoodWhat from the CASFS Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture as a 2nd year in the Farm Garden. He attended UCSC where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in History with a concentration on Social Movements in the Americas. He also spent time as a cook at a local restaurant, Bantam.
Email: david@foodwhat.org