Meet some of our CAGJ activists!

Heather Day co-founded CAGJ with others who helped organize the 1999 WTO protests, and were inspired to build a membership based, multisectoral organization for global justice in Seattle. She was co-chair of the Board for many years before becoming CAGJ’s Director in 2007. Heather has a Masters in Geography from the UW; her research focused on how the Free Trade Areas of the Americas was defeated by activists collaborating transnationally in the Hemispheric Social Alliance. She has also been active in CISPES for many years – Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. Heather loves her job and is inspired by CAGJ’s amazing activists!

Derek Hoshiko is a current member of CAGJ’s Advisory Board. He has worked with BALLE Seattle, the local network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, for over four years. He is the co-founder and project manager at Web Collective, Inc., a Seattle-based employee-owned cooperative. Derek considers himself an activist entrepreneur and believes strongly that business can be successful and infused with values. He strives to create lasting change in himself and in the groups and organizations he touches through daily practices aimed to increase consciousness in every action.

Karen Rogulja received a masters degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from the University College London, where her work focused on modern imperialism, and local, sustainable economies in the global South as a way to break the cycle of colonial dependency. Karen became involved with the AGRA Watch project after attending the December Teach-in, and looks forward to raising awareness of alternatives to a green revolution in Africa.

Maria Elena Rodriguez is a recent UW graduate who is excited to be co-coordinating the Food Justice Project! She became involved with CAGJ after attending the December 2008 Teach-in because she was inspired by the work being done surrounding issues of access to food and working towards a more just local food economy, within anti-oppressive, anti-racist, and food sovereignty frameworks. Maria also volunteers with Solid Ground Lettuce Link and is an active member of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.

Phil Bereano is a CAGJ Advisory Committee Member and also active in AGRA Watch. He got involved in the beginning when he was contacted by CAGJ because he is one of the few people in Seattle to have attended (been accredited to) several WTO Ministerial Conferences and has been interviewed and written about trade inequities. He has also been contacted by the Gates Foundation in regard to their work in Africa. He is interested in international lobbying and education on GE foods and crops. Some of his other activities include: American Civil Liberties Union, Chair of Religious Life Committee of Kol Haneshamah, a Reform Jewish Congregation.

Teresa Mares is working on a PhD in Anthropology and is co-coordinating CAGJ’s Food Justice Project. She got involved at CAGJ after attending the Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere dinner and is excited to be working with others towards a more just and sustainable food system.
Click here to see an article about Teresa in the May 2009 Solid Ground newsletter, Groundviews.

Victoria Gibson became a member of CAGJ after being a server at the 2008 SLEE dinner. After learning about the issues that CAGJ is involved in, she wanted to be a part of this movement. She has become an involved member of the Food Justice Project and helping out with logistics and office work as needed. When not at CAGJ, Victoria is a rowing coach, cyclist member of Cafe Appasionato, and works at Race in JL in the Fremont area.

Bill Mace volunteers as a CAGJ Co-chair and has participated in the first Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere Dinner. Bill first became involved with CAGJ in 2003 when his work in the fair trade movement led him to participate. His interests in trade justice, immigrant rights, and food justice keep him involved in CAGJ’s work. Outside of CAGJ, Bill enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, biking and traveling.

Bill Aal is Co-Chair of AGRA Watch, and a co-founder of CAGJ. He is deeply involved in social and environmental justice work with a particular focus on agricultural sustainability and social healing. He joined forces with Margo Adair as co-director of Tools for Change whose mission is: “ To bring History, Heart Spirit, Vision and Values into the Center of Public Life.” Versed in opening the imagination, awakening people’s best thinking and inspiring group transformation, Aal works with group reflection to unleash collective genius in organizational settings. He has consulted with a wide variety of social and environmental groups in Washington and around the US. Bill was an active board member of the Washington State Sustainable Food and Farming Network for ten years and was a board member of the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. He is co-founder of Riseup.net which builds computer-based communications networks for activists.

Chris Iberle started working with CAGJ as an intern in 2004. He went to Germany, graduated from Seattle University with a degree in Political Science and worked with Amnesty International. Chris started supporting CAGJ as a co-chair in 2007, helped coordinate the development of CAGJ’s new website, and chips in on other projects as needed. He works as a volunteer coordinator at Food Lifeline, a food bank focusing on food rescue and distribution in Shoreline, WA. He enjoys friends, bikes, hiking Cascadia, listening to punk rock and its derivatives, and playing soccer. Chris looks forward to changing the world, and hopes you’ll come along!

Masha has been involved with the trade justice movement throughout college, organizing at the local and national level. She is the Coordinator of CAGJ’s Trade Justice Project , which seeks to draw the critical connections between the food crisis and policies of economic inequality. Masha’s other interests lie in various women’s issues, the development of civil society, immigration, most things Balkan, and much more!

Caitlin began working with CAGJ as an intern with the Food Justice Project and continued by helping to organize the 2008 Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere dinner. She is very interested in how larger structural issues affect food sovereignty and access as well as what the title SLEE implies: strong local economies everywhere are a human right and mean just trade relations with the people and the environment at the forefront. When not working with CAGJ, Caitlin is a geography student at the UW and slings cheese at Seattle farmers markets.

Gabrielle Roesch is very proud to be a part of CAGJ and has been volunteering in the Food Justice Project for about a year and a half. Gabrielle was connected to CAGJ through a former board member Anna Brandt and has been involved ever since. She works in her professional life with WSU Extension in Snohomish County and is working on projects with sustainable agriculture and small ranching, youth education and outreach and climate change. Gabrielle is particularly interested in small farm advocacy and in exploring what it means to have just food and a sustainable food system not just for elites but for all of our communities. Gabrielle is about to head back to school to get her MS in Environmental Economics and hopes to continue working with CAGJ for a long time to come.