Shantell has been a board member of Foodshed Capital since April 2020 and serves on our loan committee. She works as the Black Membership Organizer for the Climate Justice Alliance, a nationwide nonprofit supporting a Just Transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies. Previously Shantell served as the Program Director of the Charlottesville Food Justice Network and a member of the Chesapeake Foodshed Network’s Community Ownership, Empowerment and Prosperity Action Team.

In 2015, Shantell was awarded the Dalai Lama Fellowship to study compassionate, ethical leadership and social entrepreneurship. During the fellowship she co-founded Growing for Change as a graduate student at UVA. She is a 2018 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award nominee and a 2019 Charlottesville top 10 under 40 recipient. In 2020 Shantell was awarded the Castanea Fellowship, a two-year fellowship for diverse leaders working for a racially just food system in the areas of health, environment, agriculture, regional economies, or community development. She currently chairs the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission and is a steering committee member for University of Virginia’s Equity Center. A great granddaughter to NC tobacco sharecroppers, she believes every human is endowed with the right to self-determination in our food system. Shantell holds a B.A. in Global Development Studies and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Virginia. She lives in Atlanta, GA.