Staff

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ashley Schimke, RDN, has more than 15 years of experience working across federal nutrition security programs and collaborating with food system stakeholders to improve access to healthy, equitable food. Her work has included supporting rural Arizona communities through the Center for Rural Leadership and expanding farm-to-school initiatives with the Arizona Department of Education focused on whole foods, scratch cooking, and culturally inclusive meals. Ashley now serves as Interim Executive Director of the Blue Watermelon Project after nearly three years on its board, and she is also a Food Leaders Fellow with the Aspen Institute Food Leaders Fellowship. 

HEAD OF PROGRAMS

Erin Fang serves as Head of Programs for Blue Watermelon Project. She began her career in the classroom teaching 6th grade English, then spent several years working in the nonprofit sector before moving on to work in higher education. Throughout her career, her focus has remained on community empowerment and support, which she is excited to continue with BWP. In this role, Erin supports volunteers, manages program development and evaluation, and is a champion for the amazing mission and work being done in our community! 

PROJECT MANAGER

Kayla LaLone serves as the Project Manager for Blue Watermelon Project. She began her career in school nutrition a decade ago diving into federal programs focused on nutrition education, menu planning, food procurement and operations. School food is where she found her passion for people; they are the heart and soul serving students each day. Scratch cooking, farm-to-school, local purchasing and clean label initiatives became a huge part of her mission. She believes all students deserve nutrient-rich and delicious foods at school to fuel their minds and feed their bodies.

CULINARY CONSULTANT

Tamara Stanger has spent her culinary career connecting modern techniques to ancient traditions, highlighting foraged ingredients, both native and naturalized, and local agriculture from small farms. She was the Executive Chef at Helio Basin Brewery in Phoenix, Cotton & Copper in Tempe, Hells Backbone Grill & farm in Utah and Shift in Flagstaff. She collaborated on Utah’s Farm to Fork where she led bison cooking workshops in Utah schools. Tamara is on the Food & Health Committee Advisory for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA) and has volunteered with Blue Watermelon Project since 2016.

CONTEST COORDINATOR - FEEDING THE FUTURE

Sarah Martinelli is a registered dietitian who started her career working in school kitchens. Sarah now teaches in the nutrition program in the College of Health Solutions at ASU where her work focuses on school nutrition programs. As the contest coordinator for Feeding the Future, Sarah works students and chef mentors to ensure their recipes meet USDA guidelines. Sarah also contributes to the development of the Chef in the Garden curriculum.

VIDEOGRAPHER

Chuck Emmert is the videographer for the Blue Watermelon Project’s Chef in the Garden series and has spent more than 45 years as a visual storyteller in Phoenix. During his career at KPNX and beyond, he earned eight Emmy® Awards, pioneered one of the nation’s first live airborne news camera platforms, and produced documentary and wildlife programming ranging from North Korea to PBS’s Arizona Wildlife Views. Emmert has also mentored the next generation of journalists as an adjunct professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and now serves as principal content creator for the City of Phoenix’s Instagram account, which has grown to more than 100,000 followers.