In her early career, she worked at a community center that offered vocational, recreational, and educational services to at-risk youth. She served as Director of the Summer Employment Program and coordinated seminars and workshops for community engagement. She later went on to work in the private sector as a legal secretary in one of NYC’s largest Latino-owned law firms. Upon her employer’s election to the NYS Assembly, she returned to community service-oriented work as the Assembly member’s Constituent Office Manager. She worked for the Unified Court System as a Secretary to Supervising Judges in both the Civil and Supreme Court. She is currently a Court Analyst within the Civil Court’s Citywide Administrative Services. Itza began her volunteer work with the community fridge movement, exclusively with Grassroots Grocery and its network, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. First as a driver, now as a canvasser, she makes use of her well-honed skills of community engagement practices.

Clarissa is a Public Health Professional with an interdisciplinary background and entrepreneurial spirit that uses creative relating as a tool for mitigating the effects of intergenerational trauma. With a vast experience in building strong relationships and developing solid community supports, she embraces her passion for creative expression to meet her clients where they are and is skilled in peer advocacy to assist community members facing various health-related disparities. Her educational training in Health Science paired with an interest in Health Education fortify her collective experiences in multiple social service industries. Clarissa’s knack for community-based business building allows her to work with diverse teams and compassionately support organizations in the application of tangible solutions to complicated Public Health issues including the Mental Wellness, Substance Misuse, Sexual and Physical Health, as well as Interpersonal Violence concerns plaguing the underserved populations of New York City.

Clarissa’s involvement with Grassroots Grocery has grown to align with the needs of the organization as it expands to continuously meet the Bronx community’s complex health profile.

Elizabeth Smoltz has worked in Real Estate for over 20 years in various areas such as development, asset management, leasing, and construction. She is currently in the process of developing a large project in Northern Westchester. As her daughter is at Holy Child and has many service opportunities, she became a passionate volunteer at Grassroots Grocery. She is currently on the board of Aces for Alzheimer’s as well. She lives in Larchmont with her husband and three children and three dogs.

Isabel Gillies is the New York Times best-selling author of Happens Every Day, A Year And Six Seconds, Starry Night, and Cozy, the Art of Arranging Yourself in the World. For many years, she was an actress in TV and film. She played Kathy Stabler for over a decade on Law and Order SVU. As a born and raised New Yorker, mother and dedicated home-cook for her family, Isabel is deeply inspired by the mission of Grassroots Grocery.

John Barczak is a professionally trained chef, certified health coach, functional nutrition coach, yoga teacher, educator, and consultant. Upon seeking volunteering options to serve his fellow Bronx residents during the pandemic, John discovered Grassroots Grocery (then Mott haven Fridge) on Instagram and has been volunteering and lending his passion and insight ever since.

Matt Sahn is the Head of Enterprise Engineering for Aladdin Wealth Tech. at BlackRock. He has helped develop front-end web applications, APIs, Java application servers, and high-scale portfolio risk calculation engines. Matt has recently joined our team as a pro-bono tech lead to help manage our tech product and our blossoming tech intern program.