NOFA/Mass Staff
2025 NOFA/Mass Board & Staff Meeting (Deerfield, MA)
Luz is a mission-driven leader dedicated to strengthening equitable and resilient partnerships and communities that are ultimately nourished by nutritious food from living soil and a shared commitment to caring for one another. Her connection to this work is grounded in a lifelong appreciation for fresh, nourishing food, community and the people who steward the land.
Her professional path has spanned community health, program management and operational strategy where she has led cross functional teams, implemented continuous improvement processes, developed and scaled programs and built strong partnerships across organizations, communities and stakeholders to advance equity, sustainability and collective impact. She has a track record of expanding programs into new markets, designing operational workflows and supporting teams to deliver high quality services while fostering positive collaborative cultures.
As Executive Director of NOFA/Mass, Luz leads with both heart and strategy. She works to support farmers, expand access to nutritious food from living soil, strengthen community connections and ensure that programs and initiatives are sustainable, inclusive and impactful across Massachusetts.
Amanda Iglesias previously worked in the software industry, first helping small and medium-sized businesses grow and later moving into operations to support organizational development behind the scenes. In 2022, she shifted direction, seeking a more grounded and meaningful path that applied her skills to regenerative agriculture. After moving to Western Massachusetts, she began working with NOFA/Mass and consulting with local farms, where her work quickly aligned with her growing interests in farming, herbalism, and community-based food systems.
In recent years, Amanda has supported the growth of Food Access programs at NOFA/Mass alongside Sister Anna Gilbert-Muhammad, helping expand community-centered efforts that connect healthy soil, fresh food, and shared learning in gardens and neighborhoods across Massachusetts. She also helped lead the organization’s annual planning process, working with teams to clarify priorities and identify the people, funding, and tools needed to advance projects in 2026.
She is currently focused on expanding funding opportunities and strengthening support for farmers across the state, helping growers restore soil health and sustain thriving local food systems in Massachusetts.
Hannah made her way into food systems by a series of life events, ultimately finding true that starting with nourishing and regenerating food and farming systems can have amazing impact on the well-being of our Earth and all its People, human and non-human. As the Events Manager, she’s excited to bring the intersectionality of food systems, from technical to spiritual, to the forefront of our practices. She enjoys foraging, dancing & singing, making kitchen creations, and hosting gatherings for family and friends.
Now the President of the Board for NOFA/Mass, as well as the Co-President for the NOFA Interstate Council, Laura has served on the NOFA/Mass Board of Directors since 2011. In 2014, Laura joined the staff assisting farmers with their organic certification questions, and then joined the Soil Technical Assistance team in 2017 doing soil test analysis. Laura has two teenage daughters, runs Long Life Farm in Hopkinton, MA, along with her husband Donald Sutherland, and grows certified organic vegetables. Learning from NOFA workshops has enabled her to grow nutrient dense food in a no-till regenerative system.
In her role as Graphic Designer, Lisa shares the many facets of the organization with the NOFA/Mass audience and the general public through social media and design projects. After earning a BFA in advertising from the School of Visual Arts, she handled marketing for several small farms in addition to working in the fields. Lisa enjoys blending her background in communications with her passion for organic agriculture and sustainability. Originally from Massachusetts, Lisa has now relocated to Port Jervis, NY to co-manage Big Yellow Sun Farm.
In her role as Web Designer, Liz helps design and manage the different components of NOFA/Mass’s online presence. She has spent the last three years training and working as a UX Designer, helping to make informed design decisions through research and analysis. Prior to this she spent the last 20 years working in the food services industry, with experience ranging from growing food, to delivering, preparing and serving it. She has a B.A. from McGill University in Philosophy and Ecological Field Reasearch in partnership with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Outside of work she is painting or spending time by the ocean. She now lives on Wabanaki land (Portland, ME), but has spent most of her life in Central and Western MA (Agawam, Nipmuc, Nonotuck, and Pocumtuc land).
Minata Toure joined NOFA/MASS in December of 2023 as a Climate-Smart technical assistance provider. Minata brings experience in food justice work and sustainable farming to the team, as well as a passion for building food systems where everyone has access to fresh, healthy, affordable food.Â
Minata provides on-site technical support to farmer entrepreneurs. She has always been passionate about agriculture, in the past 8 years she worked with refugees and immigrant farmers to assist them in learning how to farm on their new home land. She has also assisted her parents at their farm in Africa at her early age . She speaks multiple languages, English, French and 3 African dialects ( Moore, Bambara and Mandingo).
Rubén Parrilla is the Soil Technical Coordinator for NOFA/Mass and trained in microscopic soil microbial identification through the Soil Food Web School. He is a Certified Lab Tech and studied Environmental Design at the University of Puerto Rico. Rubén has 15 years’ experience working at different capacities in the environmental laboratory industry. He has been performing soil carbon proxy testing, soil health assessments, soil chemical analysis, and soil microbiological evaluations for NOFA/Mass for over the past year and has extensive experience farming and working with farmers, including beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers. Rubén performs soil health related outreach and education events for NOFA/Mass by leading monthly farmer learning calls, providing hands-on workshops and instruction at soil health education events, and networking with farmers and individuals in the agricultural industry. He is a fluent and native Spanish speaker and fully English/Spanish bilingual.