Lindsay M. Hooper

I'm passionate about local food systems, food policy, and the global food sovereignty movement. I am currently involved in the grassroots food movement via volunteer campaign work, organizational support, and social media outreach/media coordination. I'm committed to promoting and advocating social, environmental, and economic justice in my work and life. An extensive background in customer service, sales, and management has given me strong skills in customer relations, and enhanced my communication skills and comfort in educating others about the products, services, and ideas I represent. Through this combined experience I have mastered skills in relationship building, office admin & operations management, communications (written and verbal), and website admin & online community engagement (social media, web and email outreach). I recently worked in direct support of Laura Carlsen, Program Director at the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy in Mexico City. Laura’s writing on the 2007 ‘Tortilla Crisis’ was instrumental in research for my senior thesis on the impacts of NAFTA on small-scale peasant maize farmers and society in Mexico. My responsibilities included website admin, research and writing, grants and fundraising, online communications and campaigns, volunteer coordination, translations, accounting, calendar management, and general office admin. Much of my daily routine was dedicated to maintaining the program’s website, online presence, and outreach - posting articles (in Wordpress), drafting, proofing, and distributing bi-weekly e-newsletters, article specific promos, action alerts, fundraising campaigns, and digital communications engagement via email and social media tools. I have a Bachelors degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University, where my writing on water privatization was published in the 2009 IR Journal. With an emphasis on Latin America, trade, and society - my academic work is focused on the promises and evident failures of neoliberalism in the region through analysis of the social, political, and financial ramifications of these policies, the response of civil society, and policy alternatives. My analysis has confirmed my commitment to seek out and focus on policy alternatives that offer more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable markets and models, such as those embodied by Food Sovereignty, Fair Trade, and The Rights of Nature.