Natalie's path to hunger relief has wound through a college classroom, the streets of Rome, and the coast of Maine. Her passion for an equitable food system began at Boston College, where she earned her BA in Communication and took an immersive course exploring how urban communities persevere through economic hardship by cultivating food and community. She then went on to earn an MA in Food Policy from the American University of Rome, where her thesis focused on women's access to the working waterfront through the seaweed industry in Downeast Maine. Her time in Rome deepened her interest in international food system sustainability, leading her to intern at the International Fund for Agriculture Development.

 

After her time abroad, Natalie spent two years as Digital Marketing Manager at the Greater Boston Food Bank, overseeing the organization's website, social media, and email communications. As a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow through the Congressional Hunger Center, her first placement was with Hunger Free Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, the state's only statewide anti-hunger organization working to ensure every Oklahoman has access to affordable, nutritious food. There, she supported the implementation of HFO's second Lived Experience and Resource Network (LEARN) Workshop, a coalition of lived experts of food insecurity and poverty that transforms personal experience into public advocacy for stronger, more accessible food security solutions.