Meet the Team

 

Terra Cultura’s management team and board of directors have significant experience founding arts and environment focused organizations, in sustainable agriculture, water conservation, work-exchange programs and eco-education, and with creative arts, agriculture and community-building organizations. 

Carolyn White

Board President

Carolyn White, Board President, Member, and Chair for the Development Committee, is a Virginian by way of California currently residing in Lake Tahoe. A graduate of American University’s MFA program, she writes short fiction, nonfiction and poetry about families and the stories they keep on telling. She was the recipient of the Myra Sklarew Award and fellowships from The Ucross Foundation and The Lighthouse Works. Her work has appeared in Prism and The Citron Review and been shortlisted for Best American Essays

Jesse Martinez

Board Vice President

Jesse Martinez, Member and Vice President of the Board of Directors, has experience as a Board member for several non-profit organizations, serving as President, Treasurer, Regional Commissioner, etc. He has been a resident of Aromas, CA since 1998 (with a brief seven-year stint in St. Helens OR). Jesse currently works at UC Santa Cruz in a management capacity for the Office of Research. He is very active with the Aromas Grange and serves on their Board of Directors. Jesse is also a musician and guitarist/singer/songwriter in his free time. He is also the proud Papa of two grandchildren who also live in Aromas.

Hester Hamman

Board Treasurer

Born in Guatemala City and brought up primarily in the hill country of Texas, Hester Hamman, Treasurer of the Board of Directors, received her formal education at San Diego State University with a brief stint at ILS in Brisbane Australia. She has managed departments at various music industry companies including The Spreckles Building & Theatre, The 4th & B Theatre, and Ticketmaster/LiveNation, in San Diego, CA, as well as Masterdisk Studios in NYC. She has extensive business management experience and is also a skilled musician and educator.

Brought up in a musical home, she plays piano, guitar, ukulele and upright bass. She is also a skilled puppeteer, playwright and performer, and is fluent in American Sign Language and Spanish. When she’s not leading jams, teaching music to kids or hanging out with her enormous dog Dodge, she manages a historically preserved commercial building in the West Village of Manhattan.

Tyler White

Board Secretary

Tyler White, PhD is a member and Secretary of the Terra Cultura Board of Directors.  Ty recently retired from a 36-year career as a biotech professional in the San Francisco Bay area. A native of Georgia, Ty came to California to attend graduate school and never left.  A private pilot since he was a teen, Ty currently serves in leadership roles in two non-profit aviation organizations in California and Nevada, including a glider-only airport located in the desert north of Reno. Ty is experienced in developing infrastructure for off-grid sites and with fundraising for capital improvements. In addition, Ty served as a trustee of a family foundation that funded education micro-grants serving a small school system in rural Virginia. Ty is particularly excited to be involved with Terra Cultura’s mission to promote community resilience.

Hannah Gelb

Board Member

Hannah Gelb works in administration at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego and is very excited to be a member of the board in 2020. She created the watercolors for Terra Cultura’s promotional materials and has many art-y projects in mind for the farm. She studied at San Diego’s Finest City Improv Theater before co-creating Hannahlyze This, a mental health and comedy podcast she co-hosts with her dear friend (also named Hannah). In her spare time she likes to paint, pet the neighborhood kitties, and strum her banjo.

Rosalie DiCarlo

Board Member

Rosalie DiCarlo, CFRE, member of the Board of Directors, is a strategic development professional, with direct fundraising experience in healthcare, higher education, and community causes. Her record of strategic and programmatic responsibilities has resulted in long and short-term advancement plans, including fundraising and volunteer development while managing a portfolio of key prospects and donors. Her work in non-profit organizations stems from a desire to raise awareness and funds in support of promising research and community programs, which advance and protect the health and well-being of children and families.

Rosalie lives in Long Beach, and when not working as a professional fundraiser for City of Hope, she enjoys taking advantage of the Mediterranean climate and exploring the diversity of the various local communities’ arts, culture, and culinary experiences.

 

Thomas Hintze

Board Member

Thomas Hintze is a member of the Board of Directors at Terra Cultura. Tom has comprehensive leadership experience as a grassroots organizer. He co-founded the Occupy Wall Street Kitchen at Zuccotti Park and led a team of volunteers to provide up to five thousand free meals a day to activists and underserved populations in New York City. He also founded two law collectives, which offer legal trainings to activists and communities of color. Prior to that, in 2009 Tom worked as the director of the 4K for Cancer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting communities nationally in the fight against cancer. After serving as director, he became a founding member of the organization’s board of directors in 2010. Tom is currently earning his Ph.D. in English at the University of California, Davis, where he researches and teaches in twentieth century literature, focusing on laughter and the politics of representation in modernist media and literature. He co-edited Tidal: Occupy Theory, Occupy Strategy and his work has appeared in The Berkeley Journal of Sociology.

Rachel Wohlander

Executive Director, Board Member

Rachel Wohlander is a co-founder, and the executive director of culture and education at Terra Cultura. She is an interdisciplinary artist and educator with a background in performing arts and creative writing. Her writing and performance focuses on art for social change, and her work has been performed at marches, rallies, protests, and high-profile political events. Rachel combines her expertise in arts education, and facilitating multidisciplinary collaboration, with her passion for nurturing plant, animal, and human communities. An accomplished theater director, writer, producer, and curator, Rachel has cultivated a wide network of creative collaborators. She has worked at regional and off-Broadway theaters, managed the Manhattan painting studio of prominent artists, produced a thriving bi-coastal literary and art salon, and developed arts curricula for children and adults. Her interest in farming comes from urban gardening, and volunteering on farms in the United Kingdom, South America, and the United States. When she is not writing or farming, she is playing with ink and watercolor, learning to play old-time tunes on the fiddle, or exploring new places with her dog, Selene. Rachel received her M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Art from Brooklyn College, and her certificate in Permaculture Design from the San Diego Sustainable Living Institute.

Nathan Kosta

Board Member

Nathan Kosta is experienced in implementing and managing educational technology infrastructure in public institutions, as Lead Technology Specialist for the Santa Cruz City School District. In his free time, he works to explore the intersection between art and technology, in both the visual and audio realms. He is extremely excited to help build Terra Cultura into a vibrant community and valuable educational resource.

Jessika Le Maire

Board Member

Jessika is a Professional MBA, with wide experience managing outstanding business in the Hospitality Industry, developing Food and Beverage business models, starting up operations, marketing gourmet coffee, chocolate specialty products and gifts for souvenir shops. Love to lead extraordinary Operations and
Sales Teams, engaging project management collaborations, and establishing Quality Assurance Controls. Competent in handling long term relations with vendors and class A client Portfolio.

Celina Stotler

Board Member

Celina’s bio will go here.

Jessica Wohlander

Executive Director, Operations

Jessica Wohlander is a co-founder and Director of Operations for Terra Cultura, with a rich background in community organizing and sustainable resource management. She has directed her passions for environmental justice and food justice towards empowering communities to lead on their own transition to sustainable, just, and healthy futures both in the US and abroad. She is a founder of the non-profit organization Rootskeeper, and brings knowledge of program development, project management, and fundraising to Terra Cultura’s Core Management Team. Jessica has extensive experience managing, training, and recruiting a broad volunteer base and has worked closely with a network of volunteers and community leaders in the San Benito County area. She is also a recognized authority on coalition building, and has been invited to speak on the subject at local and national events. Jessica received her MA in International Development from The New School and her certificate in permaculture design from the San Diego Sustainable Living Institute. When she isn’t out in the field she can likely be found doodling with water colors, cooking up something tasty and vegan to share with friends and family, or on an adventure with her pup, Persie. 

Rosalie lives in Long Beach, and when not working as a professional fundraiser for City of Hope, she enjoys taking advantage of the Mediterranean climate and exploring the diversity of the various local communities’ arts, culture, and culinary experiences.

 

Travis Hill

Executive Director, Finance

Travis Hill is a co-founder, and Executive Director of Finance for Terra Cultura. He has considerable experience in startup business management, as a founding member of the senior management team for a music tech startup company. Through this position, Travis mastered the skills of B2B partnership and project development. Travis also has extensive programming and web development experience, and has designed and launched many successful marketing websites and social media campaigns. He is a recognized expert on new media marketing and audience development, and has spoken at forums and panel discussions at SXSW and at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts on the subject. He is also an avid musician and Permaculturist, having received his Permaculture Design Certification from the San Diego Sustainable Living Institute.