Meet our Team
Leslie Williams Executive Director
Leslie is an immigrant settler of Scottish and Irish ancestry, who grew up in coastal Georgia in the traditional territories of the Yamacraw people, and now lives on the unceded traditional territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
She has worked in many different roles, from teaching to activism to non-profit organizations. Her upbringing in the Deep South led her to write an award-winning novel exploring the history of lynching and its aftermath. She has for decades been an enthusiastic grower of food and avid beekeeper and advocate for native pollinators, as seen in her earlier roles as Apiary Manager at Hives for Humanity, and as a founding board member of the BC Native Bee Society. She’s deeply committed to food security and habitat protection, for both humans and non-humans.
Nikolai Neun-Hornick Farm Manager
Nikolai grew up in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh nations. He discovered his love of food exploring cuisines on Commercial Drive at a young age and feels grateful to now be part of food production. He comes to the Sharing Farm with a varied background that includes cooking, carpentry and a degree in History. He is a graduate of the UBC Sustainable Farming Practicum and co-conspirator of Good Times Growers, a small scale mixed veggie farm in Burnaby.
Entering his second season with the Sharing Farm, Nikolai is most excited about his new list of veggie varieties, seeing a new crew of farmers assemble and being humbled by the amount of farming lessons to learn. He is also looking forward to working with others to provide access to climate-and-farm-worker sustainable, high quality produce in the city.
Off the farm, Nikolai can be found searching Vancouver for the best tacos, spending time in the mountains and playing indoor soccer as many nights of the week as possible.
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Jenna West Program Coordinator
Jenna is a program coordinator with both the Sharing Farm and Farm to Cafeteria Canada. She is passionate about exploring the ways food and its cultivation can build community, help address food insecurity, and facilitate place-based sustainable development. She graduated from the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and has come to her current positions from a background in organic veggie production and a variety of environmental education roles. Jenna spends a potentially disproportionate amount of her own time looking at and learning about plants—whether gardening, hiking, cooking, or foraging—often with friends or family. She also enjoys dabbling in artsy endeavours, which currently include sewing and playing the piano.
Jenna lives and works from the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.
Sarah Drewery Garlic Fest Director
Sarah has been working at the Sharing Farm since 2016 and has organized four Garlic Fests in that time. Originally from England, she has worked in non-profit organizations in BC since 2009.
Although she should say that her favourite vegetable is garlic (and it is definitely up there), she has a possibly unhealthy obsession with delicata squash and can easily be manipulated into taking on mundane or unpleasant tasks with the promise of a baked squash at the end of it—especially if it's baked in the Sharing Farm cobb oven.
In her spare time, she loves mountains, especially hiking and climbing.
Kristen Penhall Workshop Coordinator
Kristen has been involved in a variety of roles at the Sharing Farm over the years. They have a passion for sustainability, biodiversity, and community which makes the farm the perfect place for them. They enjoy spending time working on their own hobby farm, teaching at Terra Nova Nature School, and doing anything outside- especially if it includes hanging out with their dog.