Marta Zwart, Communications & Events Coordinator
Marta joined us on June 28. She'll be working three days per week to support our communications and community engagement, and to support events on Campus.
About Marta: With diplomas from both the Professional Writing program and the Marketing and Advertising program at Algonquin College, Marta has grown her passion for writing, editing and building brands. She's been an author and editor for the humour magazine Feathertale, but has since transitioned her focus towards non-profit work that highlights sustainable community integrations. From her editorial work with the Canadian Organic Growers to her communications strategy expertise with Rural Routes to Climate Solutions, Marta has been helping grow community engagement across Canada. As a newer resident to Kemptville, she's eager to learn and represent the rich history the Kemptville Campus offers.
In Marta's spare time, you'll find her playing volleyball, exploring hiking trails, writing short stories, or exclaiming her love for em dashes to anyone who will listen! She can be reached at mzwart@kemptvillecampus.ca
Leela Ramachandran, Project Manager (Local Food & Training)
Leela joined the team on July 11 to manage three projects for the Campus: the Agri-Food Youth Entrepreneurship Pilot Program (in partnership with ACND and other schools), apprenticeship training (in partnership with TR Leger and other schools), and the Local Food project through which the Campus intends to develop a local food production, processing and distribution ecosystem.
About Leela: With a background in adult education on sustainability issues, Leela has spent the past decade immersed in local agriculture and food systems in Eastern Ontario. In 2011, Leela and her partner Brad retired from their office jobs and plunged into organic farming. She helped start and run the Just Food Start-Up Farm program in Ottawa's Greenbelt to support and train new and aspiring farmers. Leela and Brad established Bluegrass Farm, a certified organic vegetable farm near Merrickville, in 2014. They built an innovative heated greenhouse system, ran a winter CSA for five years delivering local produce from October through March, and won a Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. Bluegrass Farm also worked closely with the Two Rivers Food Hub in Smiths Falls. In 2019, Leela helped found Farmhouse Food, a farmer-run marketing co-operative for local food in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. As General Manager, she led a team in building a multi-farm CSA program with weekly deliveries to 300 households, and products from over twenty local food producers.
Outside of work, Leela can usually be found growing, cooking and eating food, playing soccer with her kids, or playing the banjo at Bluegrass Farm. Leela can be reached at Lramachandran@kemptvillecampus.ca.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Liz Sutherland
Executive Director
Kemptville Campus
lsutherland@kemptvillecampus.ca