Makshya Tolbert
Communications and Community Specialist
(she, they)
Makshya Tolbert (she/they) is a black, queer writer and land worker guided by Mark Anthony Johnson's call for black wellness as the antithesis to state violence. She is currently a member of the DAISA Enterprises team as a Communications and Community Specialist, and is completing her studies as a 2019-2020 U.S-Italy Fulbright Scholar, studying food, slavery and fugitivity at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. She is currently based on Chochenyo land (Berkeley, CA).
Makshya has worked to strengthen neighborhood level community projects with organizers and funders, and has spent the last few years as a chef-in-residence, kitchen manager, gardener, researcher, and more. As a 2015 Tom Ford Fellow, she worked with the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and North Star Fund to strengthen local food supply chains and community-driven economic development.
Makshya received her Certificate in Ecological Horticulture from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) in 2018. In the time since, Makshya has worked with M Smith Consulting, Reem’s Cafe, and Mamacitas Cafe.
In August 2020, Makshya was published in Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. Her piece, "'Checking In with Your People': Food, Mutual Aid, Black Feminism, and COVID-19" is available here.
Communications and Community Specialist
(she, they)
Makshya Tolbert (she/they) is a black, queer writer and land worker guided by Mark Anthony Johnson's call for black wellness as the antithesis to state violence. She is currently a member of the DAISA Enterprises team as a Communications and Community Specialist, and is completing her studies as a 2019-2020 U.S-Italy Fulbright Scholar, studying food, slavery and fugitivity at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. She is currently based on Chochenyo land (Berkeley, CA).
Makshya has worked to strengthen neighborhood level community projects with organizers and funders, and has spent the last few years as a chef-in-residence, kitchen manager, gardener, researcher, and more. As a 2015 Tom Ford Fellow, she worked with the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and North Star Fund to strengthen local food supply chains and community-driven economic development.
Makshya received her Certificate in Ecological Horticulture from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (CASFS) in 2018. In the time since, Makshya has worked with M Smith Consulting, Reem’s Cafe, and Mamacitas Cafe.
In August 2020, Makshya was published in Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies. Her piece, "'Checking In with Your People': Food, Mutual Aid, Black Feminism, and COVID-19" is available here.
