Shanelle Donaldson West is the Farm Manager at the University District Food Bank rooftop farm, food preservationist, and food justice advocate focused on healthy relationships to land, power and community. From working with toddlers growing gardens to connecting locally sourced food to people experiencing homelessness, Shanelle has supported more than one thousand King County residents over the last decade. She expanded her nutrition education to include food preservation classes as a method of self-care and extending the harvest. In 2016, she co-founded Percussion Farms to reconnect people of color to the land and their right to healthy lives. Shanelle is a proud alumna of the Black and Latinx Farm Immersion Class at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. When she’s not farming, Shanelle can be found reading, cooking with her husband Mike, playing board games, or most likely smooching her sweet dog, Koda.
