About Us

Erin Dale McClellan is a mother, community activist, political strategist, and cultural worker in Raleigh NC. She was raised in a military family with roots in Tennessee and Texas. As Executive Director of Blueprint NC, a collaborative of 48 progressive organizations working for a fairer, more just North Carolina, Blueprint NC is part of the State Voices national network.  As director, she is responsible for fundraising, compliance, managing staff and driving the organizations' vision for collective impact. Her expertise is in campaign planning, coalition building, and community organizing.  She has 13 years of experience in successful coalition work on campaigns including increasing the minimum wage, public financing of judicial campaigns and same-day voter registration.

Erin's work focuses on organizational capacity building with an emphasis on culture, civic engagement/organizing, planning, communication, and evaluation. She is Board Chair of the Southern Partners Fund, a member of Black Workers for Justice, and a founding member of the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative in Southeast Raleigh. She has been awarded the Ella Baker Award from the Youth Organizing Institute, Women to Watch from Women AdvaNCe, SiStars Award from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Annie Mackie Ward from NC Women United, the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations and most recently won Local Hero Citizen of the Year for 2015 from Indy Week magazine. Erin is most proud of her accomplishment as a mother of two Prince Kings. She has a degree in Sociology from the College of William and Mary.

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Listen to her interview about Fertile Ground on the State of Things here: Activism Inspired By Life On A Military Base: Meet Erin Byrd

Samone Bullock Dillahunt is a Raleigh native and community engagement enthusiast! She has dedicated her life’s work to ensuring that people from all backgrounds have access to the knowledge, resources and support they need to overcome both personal and systemic barriers.

She currently serves as Director of Marketing & Community Relations at Advance Community Health – a private, nonprofit, patient-governed, community-directed organizations that removes common barriers to care by serving communities whose residents have historically experienced financial, geographic, language, cultural, or other barriers to receiving care. She previously worked as a Public Engagement Specialist for GoTriangle, where she developed and implemented comprehensive and culturally competent public engagement, marketing and communications strategies across the Triangle.

Samone earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Public Administration from North Carolina Central University. She joined Fertile Ground’s Board of Directors in 2020.

Wanda Cox-Bailey, a retired Wake County librarian, is a founding member and current president of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) Triangle Chapter and a self-appointed Community-Based Memory Worker charged with recording and documenting the memories, values, narratives, and oral histories of our Southeast community gathered from across the generations. She is committed to the grassroots effort of maintaining the relevance and visibility of Raleigh’s vanishing African American neighborhoods.

Who am I?  I am a retired IT professional who believes in servant leadership and working for community equity.  I aim to be honest and respectful of people’s time and finances at all times.

Gabriella Lott (she/they) is from Lake Wylie, South Carolina. Gabriella has a passion for community-led development projects, and deeply believes in Fertile Ground’s vision for seeding a solidarity economy in Southeast Raleigh. 

Gabriella is trained as an urban planner, and presently works for a national affordable housing nonprofit. She has supported affordable housing and community engagement projects in Raleigh, Durham, Atlanta, and other parts of the Southeast. Gabriella is committed to challenging the urban planning field’s contributions to spatial oppression, and developing a professional ethic that is anchored in housing justice, land sovereignty, and cooperative economics.  

Gabriella is honored to bring her passion for organization to the Secretary position on Fertile Ground’s board. She is incredibly inspired by all that Fertile Ground’s member-owners have accomplished, and looks forward to building on these efforts.

Co-operator since the mid-80s serving as a member worker of local food cooperative and assisting with establishment of a grower cooperative in the 90s; mother of 2 adults; grandmother to 2 grandsons; Raleigh native; visited 14 countries (8 on African continent). Life mission: empowering others as we journey to self-actualization (one’s full potential). From her list of favorite quotes are - Until lions have their own historians, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. W. African proverbWhen spider webs unite they can tie up a lion. W. African proverb

Jasmine is a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified diabetes care and education specialist residing in Raleigh, North Carolina. She believes in a realistic approach to improving nutritional habits for a better quality of life. Her interest in nutrition blossomed from health problems dominating her and her family's lives but could have been corrected through preventive diet measures. She earned her bachelor of science in nutrition dietetics from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and her master’s in nutrition education from Rosalind Franklin University in Chicago.

She co-founded EatWell Exchange Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the primary goal of bridging the gap in health outcomes by guiding communities in making positive lifelong changes while respectfully maintaining their culture. She provides community outreach and various culturally relevant nutrition programs to prevent chronic diseases—Jasmine partners with nonprofits, businesses, organizations, and schools to reach various low-socioeconomic populations. Since 2017, her organization has impacted over 45,000 people. Jasmine is the CEO of her consulting company, Nourish Through Nutrition, which teaches about diabetes, mindful eating, and making behavioral changes with all foods. She emphasizes making changes around their lifestyle while also debunking food myths, helping people develop better relationships with their food, and making healthier food choices that are sustainable and last a lifetime. As a media dietitian, she has been featured on many local and national media outlets and health panels, such as Today's Dietitian, WFLA Tampa, Philadelphia Channel 17, NBC Miami, Real Simple, Self, Essence Magazine, and many more local TV stations and publications.

Jennifer Truman is a designer of experiences and places. A native North Carolinian and military brat, she now lives in Raleigh with her husband, kids, dogs and chickens. Jenn has over a decade of professional experience in small civil engineering and architecture firms and volunteering with local food organizations. She has a passion for building neighborhoods where folks live, work, eat and play through collaborative local engagement.

Sonia is a dedicated retail professional with thirteen years of experience utilizing team-building and interpersonal skills in a fast-paced, customer-focused retail environment where she has gained knowledge in all departments within a grocery store. Sonia has a passion for driving sales and exceeding in all aspects of work. In addition to her professional pursuits, Sonia would love to give back to the community, being a part of what Fertile Ground has started and will accomplish is a way for her to do just that.

Jim Senter, a Fertile Ground board member since 2016, is a native of New Orleans and still has family connections to the Crescent City. He’s been a member of a rural residential co-op for 26 years and a resident there for 12. He has published articles on the history and economic theory of the cooperative movement and has a passion for fruit trees and native plant gardening.

I graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in African and Latin American Studies, where I focused on the ways physical and social environments impact communities of color. With over 20 years of experience in real estate, I have developed a deep understanding of how spaces can shape economic and social outcomes. This background allows me to bring a strategic perspective to supporting Fertile Ground Food Coop’s mission of creating sustainable, equitable food systems. I’m passionate about aligning my expertise in real estate with the cooperative’s vision of promoting food justice and community empowerment.