Theresa Men – President
Theresa Men is currently an in-house attorney at a tech company headquartered in Louisville (El Toro IP Targeting). She is passionate about food and social justice. She grew up in a Chinese-Taiwanese household and grew up eating food from her culture– and loves to share recipes!
While in law school she assisted LACE with their symposium, it was one of the highlights of her year. Theresa’s goal is to help create a sustainable economy that puts people and community over profits.
Lisa Markowitz
Lisa Markowitz is a proud Community Grocery Owner, and since 2017 has been a member of the UofL research team partnering with LACE.
As a teacher, researcher, and activist, Lisa has been involved with matters of food and politics for close to two decades. and sees these three endeavors as intertwined. At U of L, where she teaches Anthropology, she has developed six different food courses, including one called Food Justice, and takes great pleasure in engaging students with local food activism. Her own research has dealt with rural food security and sovereignty in South America, and here in the U.S., with food policy and the creation of alternative agrifood institutions (like food coops). Over the years, Lisa has worked closely with the Community Farm Alliance, serving on the Board and leading the research for the Louisville Community Food Assessment. She was also a member of the Louisville Food Security Working Group and the short-lived Louisville Food Policy Council. She is on the Board of Sustainable Louisville (SAL) and served for six years on the Executive Board, two as President, of the Culture& Agriculture Section of the American Anthropological.
Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier (M.S. Sociology & M.A. Philosophy) is the founding Executive Director of the Kentucky Chamber Foundation’s Center for Diversity Equity & Inclusion. Prior to his role at the Chamber Frazier served in Diversity and Inclusion related roles at different institutions including Bellarmine University as the Director of the Dr. Patricia Carver Office of Identity and Inclusion, and At Virginia Tech where he served as the Assistant Director for the Asian Cultural Engagement Center. Frazier also started his own DE&I consulting practice Education to Action LLC.
Frazier serves on a number of boards and taskforces for Kentuckians including the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America Mid States, the Kentucky Non-Profit Network’s Racial Equality Taskforce, and the President’s Advisory Council for the Noir Black Chamber of Commerce. Recently he was recognized among Louisville’s 2021 40 Under 40.
Nathan Hernandez – Board Consultant (previous president)
Nathan Hernandez is a career public servant and elected official who has been on the LACE Board since 2019, serving as Treasurer until 2023. Nathan was elected in 2022 to the St. Matthews City Council becoming the youngest council member and the first person of color elected in city history. Nathan currently serves as a financial examiner within the Public Protection Cabinet supervising financial institutions, primarily credit unions, across the state.
Staff
Tiffany Michelle Brown
Executive Director
Having worked in the legal industry and successfully managed community-based reform efforts, I have created a reputation as a powerful advocate for equity and racial justice. My advocacy for the issues for which I advocate is grounded in my personal experiences. My passion and life’s purpose for this work can’t be replicated.
I have served as the first Chief Equity and Implementation Officer for the City of Lexington charged with building out and implementing the recommendations on the Mayor’s Commission on Race, Justice and Equality. Prior to this, I advocated for equity through a lens of racial and social justice at the Center for Social Justice at the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio. As a social justice advocate, I believe that it is imperative for community-based reformers and institutional policy makers to work together to achieve sustainable and meaningful solutions.
A true consensus builder and passionate connection maker, I have a talent for communicating to multiple stakeholders and helping synthesize multiple perspectives to come up with a shared vision and set of goals. My dedication to public service and advocacy, as well as my gift for telling the story and narrative of my practice and life’s work in a connected, authentic way that resonates with audiences, is fueled by my own trials and triumphs and the countless stories of people who continue to be unfairly met with systemic barriers.
My past professional and personal experiences have ignited within me a passion for being intentional in my work and created an unrelenting desire to be an agent of change. I routinely engage in thought leadership and partnerships surrounding my deep commitment to empowering young people to develop their own voice and be their own agents of change.
Marvin Stewart
Communications Coordinator
Meet Marvin, a native of Louisville who is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with
a Bachelor’s of Arts in Public Relations. While at EKU Marvin was involved in a variety of organizations committed to diversity & inclusion, volunteer work, event management, recruiting, and mentorship. These organizations allowed him to gain the experience needed to be successful in his personal and professional lives.
He has over six years of experience with communications, graphic design, and marketing. These three fields have allowed Marvin to use his creative and personal skills to benefit the organizations and careers he’s held in the past and present. The non-profit sector has always been a big passion for him, along with uplifting and supporting the community of the Louisville. Outside of work, Marvin enjoys spending time with friends and family, and freelance graphic design.
Mia Bass
Membership Coordinator
