Alexis Yamashita is a community organizer who has been working with seed-based cooperatives and initiatives since 2017. Her recent experiences include being a founding member and co-director of Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (UCFA). UCFA is a BIPOC-led (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) seed farming collective working to increase access to culturally meaningful seed varieties and sustainable seed saving practices. Prior to her work with UCFA, she was a seed racks division co-manager of the organic, heirloom, worker cooperative seed company Southern Exposure Seed Exchange based in Mineral, VA. Her work with collectives was solidified during her time living at the oldest, egalitarian intentional community, Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, VA. During her time at Twin Oaks, she operated in several leadership capacities including being a community planner, member of the economic advisory council and equity council.
For the past three years, Alexis has been a UCFA research lead on a Northeast SARE funded project looking at the opportunities and barriers for integrating culturally meaningful, regionally adapted seeds in Northeast seed systems. As an expression of her work with policy and community-based spaces, Alexis has also been working with an emergent, multi-regional community plant breeding project. Alexis has an MBA and BA in Music Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University and has also studied herbalism foundations with the Richmond Herbalism Guild. As of fall 2024, she will be continuing her seed system-based research as a Food Systems PhD candidate at ¶¶Òõ̽̽.
Advisor: Dan Tobin & David Connor
