Toni Zanella is a COVID-displaced corporate travel manager whose first love is food and nutrition. She is a certified functional nutritionist. In the early 2000s, while living in Wichita, KS, she studied under Antonia Demas, PhD, with the Food Studies Institute and taught the Food is Elementary program to local public and homeschool students. She is the property owner of the Vecino Victory Garden, and she sits on the board of directors of the Butte County Local Food Network.
Rhys Pritchett grew up homeschooled, learning about food and plant-based nutrition from their mother. They are passionate about fostering Vecino Victory Garden as a model of regenerative agriculture in the symbiotic ecosystem of life. They are an herbalist, activist, and multimedia artist, who studied for their BFA at California State University, Chico, cultivating skills in painting, drawing, and sculpting. Their favorite medium however is living: fungi, algae, herbs, fruits, and veggies. Their work is a culmination of old and new practices, creating alternatives to unsustainable methods.