Co-Creators
Staff & Co-Creators
Elizabeth Okero, Executive Director
Elizabeth is a land steward, lover of humanity and Black liberation. She recognizes and honors the intersections between community, food access, and the reclamation of ancestral knowledge and practices are vital to creating more just and equitable environments locally and globally with inclusive, culturally relevant food systems and sustainable growing practices. Elizabeth has spent extensive time in Kenya working with locals in Western Kenya learning ways to grow more nutrient-dense crops for consumption and creating her own humanitarian aid project supporting an orphange home to children born positive in the Nyanza region. Elizabeth’s passions lie with a deep reverence for Mother Earth, believing that healing begins generationally when we reconnect with our roots and reestablish our relationship with the land.
Past work includes interning and working for Rhode Island for Community and Justice, volunteering with Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions, volunteering with Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), volunteering with NCP CDC throughout the pandemic, volunteering with the Philadelphia Housing Justice Task Force, working throughout the pandemic delivering over 1500 meals a week to residents in North Philly, working with Black Girl Environmentalist as one of the Philadelphia hub leads, member of the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners annual conference national planning committee, and a speaker on various panels and at a number of events throughout Philadelphia sharing her knowledge on the importance of land stewardship, access to land for Black and Brown farmers, sustainable growing practices and more.
Nayanka Paul, Lead Community Organizer & Farm Education Manager
Hey y’all:) I am Nayanka, the Lead Community Organizer here at Life Do Grow Farm. When I’m not at the farm, I’m somewhere else in the neighborhood existing as a Creative, Doula, Educator or Founder of Bloody Btches (a Menstrual Health organization).
I love creating ethereal spaces and realities that others deem impossible. My lifelong dream is to continue finding innovative ways to create spheres of healing & pleasure for Black women & queer folks.
if you’re ever ‘round the corner, stop by and say wassup:)
Roosevelt Davis, Community Organizer & Facilities Manager
Roosevelt Davis is a North-Central Philly native, entrepreneur, and community organizer. Roosevelt has spent years advocating on behalf of his community, and working across several different neighborhood organizations to make North Philly a cleaner, safer, and more connected place. On any given day, you might find Roosevelt cleaning the avenue, passing out flyers for community meetings/events, distributing fresh produce, selling merchandise, or mentoring local youth. Roosevelt is a “man of many hats”, and someone who is always trying to make connections for the greater good. Roosevelt has helped to build our Mobile Market and community marketplace and, most recently, has taken it upon himself to use the Urban Creators as a platform to beautify his community, and now leads all of our Neighborhood Beautification projects.
Isabella Higgins,
Farm Volunteer Manager & Apiary Manager
Isabella (Isa) is from Albany, New York and recently graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a dual degree in English literature and Psychology. Her teaching experience extends from being a preschool teacher to teaching ceramics as part of the Clay Studios’ outreach program, the Clay Mobile. At Urban Creators she started as a fellow and Assistant Farmer, cultivating her love for growing and educating young people about their environment. Currently, she is a Farmer and Farm Program Coordinator at Life Do Grow Farm, helping to maintain the land, curate value added products, and develop and facilitate educational curriculum for people on the farm. She is incredibly passionate about food justice and accessibility, and how best to educate and equip young people to be empowered growers and develop positive relationships with food and land. Isa is moved by the power food has to bring people together and strives to create spaces that foster community where people are nourished-mind, body and soul.
Urban Creator Board
Jacqueline Wiggins
Jacqueline (Ms. Jackie) is a long-term resident of North Central Philadelphia and now of Germantown, and currently is a retired educator. She has over 40 years of experience as a classroom teacher of English/language arts and social studies in public, parochial, and charter schools. And, she is a retired adjunct instructor of English for Community College of Philadelphia. She has been an administrator at two HBCUs-Historically Black Universities and Colleges, namely, Florida A& M University and Bennett College in institutional advancement. At the University of Massachusetts and Mt. Holyoke College, she worked in residential housing and education. Jacqueline has resource development experience working with many non-profit organizations. In 2014 and 2018, Jacqueline became an elected committee person for the 32nd Ward-11th Division in North Central Philadelphia. She is active with a group called Stadium Stompers that is focused on preventing a 35,000 seat football stadium from being built in a residential neighborhood by Temple University. As a docent/tour guide, she gives tours of the Johnson House Historic Site and is the founder of her business Wiggins Tours N More.
Bridget Palombo
Bridget is a food system consultant. She assists people across the country with identifying gaps and opportunities in their community to effectively solve inequities that lead to hunger. She has a 16-year background working hands-on in the food industry and has garnered accolades for working to increase food security in Philadelphia. She previously was Senior Associate at The Food Trust leading their Community Food Retail program to help launch or grow community-owned and operated food businesses across the country. Before that she was a Community and Economic Development program manager at Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) where she implemented strategic initiatives to improve quality of life in Lower North Philadelphia including launching APM’s Food Buying Club in 2014. Ms. Palombo obtained her B.A. in Growth and Structure of Cities from Bryn Mawr College. Currently she is an appointed member of Philadelphia’s Food Policy Advisory Council and a board member for Neighborhood Gardens Trust. When she is not working, you can find Bridget spending time with her family, tending to a garden, or cooking food.
Ebony H. Griffin Guerrier
Ebony H. Griffin-Guerrier (she/her) is an environmental justice attorney focused on eradicating environmental health disparities in black and brown communities. Ebony joined Earthjustice in March of 2022 as Senior Legislative Counsel focused on Cumulative Impacts. Prior to joining Earthjustice, Ebony spent 4.5 years at the Public Interest Law Center and focused on projects that support low-income, historically disinvested communities and communities of color in advocating effectively for sustainable and equitable neighborhoods. Her previous work includes advocacy for legislative reforms such as Philadelphia’s Community Health Act and Pennsylvania’s efforts to preserve community gardens as well as the Eastwick Advocacy and Community Development project, the Garden Justice Legal Initiative, and a lawsuit to preserve the La Finquita Community Farm. She also helped launch Philadelphia’s inaugural Environmental Justice Advisory Commission.
Veronica Ayala Florez
Verónica firmly believes in everyone’s ability to participate in a greater conversation; one that affects the way we live, and the pursuit to improve it. For years, in both volunteer and professional capacities, she has been facilitating collaborations, organizing and developing strategies, leading creative initiatives, and building the skills of leaders to advance social transformation.
Co-Founders
Devon and Alex are two of the Urban Creators’ co-founders, who stewarded the organizations growth from 2010 through the 2021/22 season. For more than a decade, they remained committed to collaborative leadership, to upholding our core values, and to our North Philadelphia community. As Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors, they played a central role in building the vision, structure, and expression of the Urban Creators, and laid the foundation upon which we continue to grow today.
Although Devon and Alex have transitioned out of their leadership roles, they remain a part of the Urban Creator family along with so many others who have been a part of building this collective since 2010. As we evolve, so too do our roles and relationships…..we are in motion…..
Devon Bailey
Devon Bailey is a North Philadelphia native, family man, and green developer who works in carpentry, plumbing, landscaping, mechanics, and home remodeling, doing “everything under the sun except for electric”. Devon holds his family legacy as inspiration for the work he does, using the skills he learned from his grandfather ‘Ike’ to revitalize his neighborhood, and wisdom gained from his lived experience to inspire a younger generation of creators. As a resident and leader in his community, and developer by trade, Devon represented and literally laid the foundation of the Urban Creators for more than a decade, building all of Life Do Grow’s physical infrastructure and keeping us rooted in his community.
Alex Epstein
Alex Epstein is an earthling, organizer, artist, farmer, educator, and student of the universe. Since 2005 when he was 15 years old, Alex has been committed to building bridges across differences, organizing radically inclusive communities, and advocating for social & environmental justice. In 2009, Alex moved to North Philadelphia and helped co-found the Urban Creators along with Devon Bailey and 10 other young “Creators”. Since then, Alex has maintained his original commitments to building capacity for Life Do Grow farm’s evolution, honoring the legacy of this community, learning from the ‘medicine of mistakes’, and practicing emergent, adaptive, and collaborative forms of leadership as guiding principles towards building collective liberation.
