Featured Leader: Cullen Naumoff

In this Featured Leader piece we talk with longtime food hub wiz, current FSLN Network Weaver, and food systems leader Cullen Naumoff who lives in Seattle, WA. In addition to being the founder & CEO of Farm Fare, she is a network weaver, the queen of get-er-done, mama to Greer, partner to Nelson, cancer survivor and spin instructor. She won’t stand still while there’s work to be done moving good food around a region and pursuing big dreams for what could be.



Thank you, Cullen, for taking the time to share more about yourself and for bringing ideas, creativity, and spunk to the 2021 Network Weaver cohort!


Your Leadership Journey

Who are you? (Beyond the job title!)
I’m a person that believes we can do better, not afraid to try big things, run up against unexpected obstacles, re-adjust and try again.  My general ethos, attitude and grit are a product of my childhood compost, my Hodgkin’s lymphoma journey and most recently, by becoming a mama.

What inspired you to get involved in food systems work?
I hail from very rural Ohio where I grew up a champion pig shower.  I had every intention of sprinting as far and fast away from agriculture as a young adult.  My journey had other plans. It took me to West Virginia – where agriculture and a woman by the name of Kelly Crane – helped cultivate ideal economic transition work.  Here we ran a farmer training program, and since then I’ve gotten deeper and deeper into the food supply chain..

Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader?
My parents are pretty much rockstars.  I’ve always appreciated their endless support. ENDLESS.  Secondly, my co-founder, Daniel Conway, is likely the best question asker and researcher I know.  He is always asking questions to dig deeper into understanding a system.  His ability to connect dots on complex topics is unmatched. 

What does food systems leadership mean to you?
Food systems leadership is about constant learning.  The most you begin to think you know about the food system, the more you realize how much you don’t know.  Understanding the gaps of your knowledge and seeking how partners to help educate, support and challenge you in solving for root problems in the food system are critical. 

What’s your greatest leadership challenge now, and what are you looking for support for?
At Farm Fare, we help food hubs see one another as strategic partners as opposed to competitors or just “folks in the same space.”  This involves many elements that one might not expect when first engaging with the topic, including dynamic price tools, data standards, new forms of governance, giving up growing/selling one crop for another.  I’m always looking for insights on how to manage the journey of change.

What are you most excited about in your work?
I’m inspired by the growth and evolution of the food hub industry. Collectively, we’ve built an incredible industry and business, largely on sheer grit. I think we are at an inflection point about retaining that grit but also morphing it into collective strength.  THAT gets me JAZZED.

What’s something about you (a fun fact!) that not many of your colleagues know or that we wouldn’t expect from you?
I have a signature dance move.  It’s called levels.  It’s …kind of a big deal. 🙂

Similarly, how are you most misunderstood?
I’m not sure I have an answer for this!

Reflections on the Network Weaver Role

What is your network weaving superpower that you’re bringing with you in this role and that you’re excited to share with this network?
Heretical Thinking
Tireless Fight

What is one thing you hope to take with you from your weaving experience?
Meet and connect with folks outside the aggregation and value chain coordination space.

Reflections on 2020

A lot happened in 2020. What is one lesson that you’ll carry with you or a piece of advice you’d like to send forward? 
Crisis moments are moments for change.  We, collectively, I think, still need to leverage this moment in a big way to make the case for regional food systems.

COVID is impacting the food system in a number of ways, and in some cases, one can argue that more attention is being paid to the value and resiliency of local and regional food systems. What is one change you’re hoping to see to the US food system and how do you think we can get there?
I’d like to see how money is invested in the food system. Given that regional food systems were able to nimbly respond and maintain constant growing service, I hope we see investments into slow and stable growth.  Venture capital has caused a significant amount of negative ripple effects throughout the food system based on high growth investments bets in an industry that can’t afford these type of de-stabilizing arrangements.

Discussions around America’s past and present-day systemic racism have caused many to consider how to build anti-racist food systems. How might those involved in the movement for equitable food systems ride this momentum to reach this goal?
Better telling the story of the farm work, small farm owner to the public at-large.

Speaking of… when you imagine an equitable and anti-racist food system, what do you envision?
Placing the person first.  When I imagine an equitable and anti-racist food systems, its because we first solved for “how to support the person,” vs. how to solve for climate change, how to solve markets, how to raise prices, etc.  We will only see change when we ensure farm laborers receive a fair wage, with black farmers aren’t facing discriminatory lending practices, when immigrant farmers gain the tools they need.  Supporting the person is the critical building block to empowering other food system solutions.

Time for some real talk …

Burn out. It’s a thing, and social change is a long game. Have you found ways to balance taking care of yourself with your commitment to creating more equitable food and social systems?
It’s the total long game. On bad days, call a partner, friend, colleague — they’ll talk you through this and remind you. On good days, call a partner, friend, colleague — share the energy about your wins and fighting the good fight. It’s a constant roller coaster, try not to let wins peak too high or obstacles dip too low. Even keel.

What is one change would you like to see that might encourage more folks to enter and stay in this work for the long haul?
I think we need more folks willing to invest/new financing vehicles in application to regional food systems. I’m certainly not the first person to say this – but money is a driving force — and we need funders, outside of philanthropy and the federal government who are willing to bet on slow returns and new frameworks to build an equitable, just and sustainable food system.

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