Robert LaValva, Director
Robert worked for ten years as a planner for the City of New York, where he established one of the country’s largest urban composting programs. He left government to pursue his interest in sustainable agriculture and found his way to Slow Food, where among other activities he instituted a consortium for raw milk cheese producers; worked on programs to help preserve heritage animal breeds and heirloom fruits and vegetables; and managed Slow Food’s Urban Harvest festival, which was held in 2005 as a regional, sustainable market under the magnificent arcade of the New York City Municipal Building. He is committed to reviving this city’s historic tradition of public markets, rededicated to sustainable, regional food.
Robert is a native New Netherlander (born in New Jersey), studied urban planning at New York University, and architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
robert [at] newamsterdammarket.org
Cerise Mayo, Market and Event Director
Cerise served as the Director of Special Projects at Slow Food USA for the past four years. While there, she oversaw the coordination of the US Delegation to Terra Madre, a biennial meeting of farmers, food producers, chefs and academics held in Turin, Italy; founded and steered Slow Food in Schools, a national program of farm-to-school initiatives; and organized numerous public programs and events that highlighted the importance of sustainable food production and procurement in creating vibrant communities. Most recently Cerise worked as an apprentice with master organic gardeners Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch, at Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine. She also currently serves as the administrator for the Raw Milk Cheesemakers’ Association.
Prior to joining Slow Food, she worked for eight years as a Program Coordinator for numerous non-profit organizations in both New York and San Francisco, developing programs focused on art, environmental education and community leadership programs for children and low-income communities.
cerise [at] newamsterdammarket.org
Annie Myers, Summer Intern
Annie is a student at the Gallatin School of NYU, concentrating in Agriculture and Regional Food Systems. She has previously worked at Just Food and Saxelby Cheesemongers in New York, at the Added Value Community Farm in Brooklyn, and most recently, at the Ecology Center Farmers' Markets in Berkeley, California. She regularly posts articles and essays on Thoughts on the Table. As an NYU Reynolds Scholar, Annie will be working for New Amsterdam Market throughout the summer.
annie [at] newamsterdammarket.org
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