Mary Mora, MS, RDN | Executive Director (She/her)

Mary Mora is a Registered Dietitian and has worked with Proviso Partners for Health (PP4H) for the past seven years with a focus on food access and community health and wellness in Maywood, IL, as well as the surrounding communities. Mary graduated with a BS degree from Bradley University and an MS degree from Loyola University Chicago. She completed a Certificate of Professional Cooking from the Illinois Institute of Art, and is a Certified Diabetes Educator. Born and raised in the Proviso Township, Mary has a close connection to this community.

Mary grew up with food at the center of her family.  She grew up with weekly dinners at her grandparents’ homes (Bohemian food on Wednesdays and pasta every Thursday), summers tending gardens and the sweetest peaches and pears from her grandma’s fruit trees.  Now, she hopes to share her love of all things food and cooking with her husband and two sons through meals, gardening and travel.    

email: mary@realfoodscollective.or

Ann Farrell | RFC Communications Director (She, her)

Ann is an award-winning cartoonist who’s work has appeared both nationally and internationally. She has two social media certificates and a BFA in Copywriting/Advertising/Humorous Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and she also completed the year-long Improv Training Program at The Second City in Chicago. Ann’s work experience includes working security overnight at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, teaching cartooning, graphic design, creative thinking and illustration at The Art Institute of Chicago and The American Academy of Art and she carries a serious addiction to continuing ed-wherever she can find it. Thanks to her encounters with a four-variation-cancer soufflé, Ann got to be a past participant of the VeggieRx program where she approached the gift of weekly vegetables, combined with access to Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Interns to transform her diet, score some impressive results on her resulting labs, and find the connection between the creation of art and beautiful food. 

email: ann@realfoodscollective.org

Celene Herrera | RFC Community Outreach Coordinator (She, her, ella)

Celene came to the United States when she was 14 years old. She was the first in her family to go to college. She graduated with an Associates Degree in Business Management with a concentration in Accounting from Robert Morris College with a full scholarship and is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree. She learned the importance of community unity, from struggling to find food and resources. She is passionate about social justice and supports the community through volunteering and using her skills and positive energy to change the world.  She is the mother of two amazing children and through her experiences of working in the community, she is teaching them the importance of family, having healthy habits, volunteering, and the body and soul working together for the greater good. One of her favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King, Jr.,  “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” . Some other quotes that she really likes are, “This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.” “I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.”

Celene sees healthy food as a way of life. Making healthier food choices for herself and her family ensures that her children will have a better life. Seeing her kids eat and enjoy healthy foods makes her heart smile.

email: Celene@realfoodscollective.org

Sarah Lira | RFC Finance Director (she/her)

Sarah has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Geography from the University of Iowa, and she has utilized her interest in economic development in varied professional positions. Sarah is on the Executive Team of Proviso Partners for Health, one of its original members, and the co-lead in their development of an Economic Justice Center, a community development project centered on job creation and business support. For eleven years, Sarah has been the Executive Director of Housing Helpers, Inc, a homeownership advocacy agency, managing a $750,000 line of credit to rehab vacant and distressed foreclosed homes into energy efficient, affordable housing in Maywood. Sarah is also a licensed real estate broker that specializes in the sale of affordable, new construction, zero-energy homes in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. Sarah has lived in Maywood, IL for 17 years, and is an active community resident. She is the Chairwoman of the Village of Maywood Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals, and she is one of the founding members of the newly-formed Maywood Proviso Arts Council. 

As an avid gardener and home cook, she has been excited to be a part of the development of a new and creative food hub for Maywood, and has supported Mary Mora and John Hertenstein Perez in the development of Real Foods Collective.

email: sarah@realfoodscollective.org

Myeshia Owten | RFC Program Coordinator (She, her)

Myeshia was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s degree from Loyola University Chicago in Nutrition and Dietetics. Her love of food started when she was a child-cooking with her grandma for family events. 

One of her earliest memories of cooking with her grandma is eating bell peppers while watching her grandma cook spaghetti. Her passion for nutrition started in high school while taking science and culinary classes.                     

email: myeshia@realfoodscollective.org

John “Jack” Sheble Hertenstein Perez, MPH | Board Member

Jack is passionate about the potential community-owned agriculture has in building local community power and ensuring wholesome foods are accessible. Jack received his Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and previously worked with Proviso Partners for Health as Food Justice Program Manager.

Lena Hatchett, PhD | Board Member

Lena Hatchett, PhD is Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago, Neiswanger Institute for Health policy and co-founder and Principal Investigator for Proviso Partners for Health, a nationally recognized community coalition to promote racial and economic pathways for equity. Her public health experience includes coalition development and community capacity building for national entities including Trinity Health System; Cook County Department of Public Health, Institute for Healthcare Improvement—as well as regional and local governments. Proviso Partners for Health is a SCALE community in the 100 Million Healthier Lives initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook with a PhD in Social and Health Psychology, Lena conducted chronic disease prevention and health promotion research at the community level. She has been selected for numerous leadership awards including the Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, (Jointly hosted by the Loyola University Chicago and Loyola University Health System) and E. Hill De Loney Award for community-based public health. In addition, she has co-authored articles focused on systems change to promote health equity. Her latest Book Chapter features the power dynamics within structural racism and systemic solutions to improve equity.

My favorite childhood food memory is of my mother cutting me sliced apples to eat when I came home from school. She used the knife to cut onions and the sliced apples and I never said the apples tasted like onions because I love the time we had together.