2023 Board of Director – Nominees
Your Local Farmers Market Society (YLFMS, doing business as) Vancouver Farmers Markets (VFM) is a dynamic community-based non-profit social enterprise with a vision of a resilient local food network that values people and the land. We pursue our vision by creating vibrant and welcoming markets that build community, feed people, employ staff and support small farms and producers. We currently operate a network of nine weekly neighbourhood farmers markets throughout Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) people.
Here is a list of our nominees for the Board of Director positions for the year 2023:
Geneviève Blanchet
Geneviève was born and raised in the eastern country side of Québec surrounded by maple trees, apple orchards and vegetable gardens. At an early age, she was introduced to foraging wild plants and harvesting fruits and vegetables from her family’s land. Through this experience, her passion for food was born. In different capacities, much of her life has been spent around food; she is a registered holistic nutritionist, recipe developer and owner of Le Meadow’s Pantry, handcrafted preserves inspired by the season and award winning marmalades. Geneviève has been a vendor at the Vancouver Farmers Market for almost 10 years and chair of the Vendor Advisory Committee; she understands the importance of community and is dedicated to making strong connections between farmers, small business owners and VFM.
Lisa Lam
Lisa is a local Vancouverite who grew up surrounded by fresh fruits and veggies. She is passionate about food, eating and most importantly supporting local communities and small businesses. She lives a mostly plant based lifestyle and enjoys sourcing local ingredients at various VFMs to create simple but delicious meals for friends and family. She is a real estate professional passionate about developing sustainable communities and their connection to food. She believes in providing equal accessibility to food and building and supporting connections between farmers and their consumers. She loves to travel and visit other farmers markets throughout the world and experience the ambiance and local food culture. She is a lifelong learner and is interested in learning more about permaculture and its impacts on local food agriculture.
Beth Shelton
Since moving to Vancouver from the UK last year, VFM has been my predominant food sourcing. I’d love the opportunity to contribute to the features of the market which keep me returning – the accessibility of a passionate community providing and inspiring fresh, local choices for one of our top forms of medicine – food. Food has long been a passion of mine; I find genuine joy in investing my energy and money consciously in this area. In recent years I’ve had a growing appreciation of the significance of food quality and environmental influences – cooking in a health retreat centre and learning more about food-as-medicine through a holistic health certification with Academy of Healing Nutrition. I find myself in conversations dedicated to the topic of nourishment, feeling this comes from more than food, but community, creativity and natural living. I’d love to help expand that offering as wide-a-reach as possible. My main profession is Human Resources. I partner with teams to deliver strategic people plans, helping develop individuals & teams, workplace culture and overall organisational progression. I have experience with governance through my role on the Board of Upper Island Counselling and previous voluntary committee positions. I communicate confidently and am excited to collaborate meaningfully to VFM’s vision.
Thanks to our nominees for their interest.
