Scott Steen is the Executive Director of Slow Food in the Tetons and has been involved in this organization for the last 12 years. He has cultivated a lifelong passion for creating a stronger and more resilient food system. Scott first moved to Jackson, WY in 1999 and lives in town with his wife and son. He is passionate about local food as both a celebration of community and culture and as a solution to larger social and environmental issues. He loves music, laughter, good friends, gardens, and dressing up like a yeti. Scott has a BA in Environmental Science and Spanish from Willamette University and is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Sustainable Practices Program. Scott is a certified Zero Waste Business Associate through the US Zero Waste Business Council.
Gretchen moved to Jackson full-time in 2001 after spending summers working for Grand Teton National Park while in college at the University of Georgia. A long-time volunteer and then contract employee of Slow Food in the Tetons, Gretchen came on as the full-time Director of Programs and Partnerships in 2020. Outside of work, Gretchen spends most of her time outdoors with friends, trying out new recipes, finding the best food this valley has to offer, and baking treats for her family and friends.
Ellen found herself in Jackson almost four years ago after graduating from Clemson University during the pandemic. She quickly fell in love with skiing, the access to the outdoors and the beauty of this place. Since that initial move, Ellen has been working as a Landscape Designer with local residential design firm, Agrostis, and has worked with the Art Association, JH Public Art, and Slow Food in the Tetons in various capacities. Her interests can be linked through a web of art, science, community, and continual learning; and have manifested in organic farming, gardening, ceramics and landscape design. She’s excited to continue to explore these intersections with Slow Food in the Tetons. Her favorite food is anything pickled, and one thing she truly misses about her home in South Carolina is her nieces and nephews.
Sara was born here in Jackson, grew up in Cody, and returned to the valley as a teenager to attend Journeys School. She graduated from high school during the pandemic, and spent a gap year working at the Elkhorn Ranch in Arizona. She recently finished a double major in Sociology & Anthropology and Spanish at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. In 2023, Sara had the privilege of studying abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she got to explore her passion for ethnobotany and traditional medicines. She also conducted a couple summers of ethnographic research with folks from the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative (WRTBI), Wind River Food Sovereignty Project (WRFSP), and Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Foods Gathering (RSAFG) about the restoration of ancestral and sovereign foodways on the Wind River Reservation. In her free time, she loves to knit, cook, read, nordic ski, and get distracted looking at plants on trail runs. She’s excited to apply her studies and grow with everyone in the community gardens.
Charlotte grew up in Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire where from a young age her aspirations were to work with good food. In 2016 she graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelors of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics. She worked as a Clinical Dietitian in York, Maine and during that time branched out to create her own community nutrition programs such as after school cooking classes, farm to table camps and wellness workshops. She found that her passion was teaching individuals and groups of all backgrounds about where food comes from and how to create healthful and tasteful meals from simple, clean ingredients.
Charlotte moved to Jackson in 2020 and often finds that this magical place reminds her of home. You can find her playing outdoors, shopping around at the People’s Market and cooking up special dinners for good friends.
Coulter grew up in Washington State, where he developed a deep love for the outdoors, often spending time in the North Cascades. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Economics, and went on to work as part of the Enterprise Strategy team at Clif Bar & Company. In this role, he gained valuable experience in business strategy and sustainability, all while staying connected to his passion for healthy living and the environment.
Since moving to Jackson in 2021, Coulter has found a new home in this community. As the Farm Stand Manager, he is passionate about localizing healthy food and providing alternatives to the industrial food system. In his free time, you can find him backcountry skiing, climbing, and playing music—activities that keep him connected to nature and the outdoors.
Brent moved to Wilson in 2007 where he has worked as a bagel baker, whitewater kayak instructor, lumberjack and ranch hand. In 2015, after years of hobby gardening, he went pro and started a small-scale organic vegetable farm on his wife’s family’s horse ranch. Since then he has been on a mission to show that food can be grown in this valley and to help grow the local food movement here. Brent holds a degree in Physics from Northern Arizona University, loves to cook and bake and eat, and when he’s not too tired from farming, likes to paddle, bike and ski.
Lizzie moved to Jackson from Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016. She quickly extended her love of her Midwest hometown’s local and regional food systems onto the bustling mountain town she hardly knew a thing about. Lizzie started volunteering for Slow Foods at People’s Markets and donor events shortly after her move, and eventually helped with marketing and communications as a part-time employee. While she now spends her days working in private wealth at Wind River Capital Management, her spare time is filled with fly fishing, mountain biking, and enjoying plant-based cooking.
Lina moved to the valley from San Juan, Puerto Rico in May 2013. She made the move to work with the JH Wildlife Film Festival (now Jackson Wild) and Dr. Jane Goodall, who was the featured guest of the 2013 festival and one of Lina’s idols. While living in Puerto Rico, Lina cultivated a passion and her family always encouraged her to start her own garden and growing food. Once in Jackson, she immediately connected with high-altitude gardening experts, and signed up for a Blair Community Garden plot. Today, she and her husband work on their garden plot every year, and are always looking for ways to connect our whole community with accessible and healthy foods, specially the Latinx population. She currently works at Teton Literacy Center as the Director of Outreach, and enjoys spending her free time on walks with her dog and husband, relaxing in a hammock or being out in nature.
Leif Routman is a passionate local food systems advocate, connector and forager. He makes his living in the Teton region primarily as a musician-bandleader and composer; alongside moonlighting in vegetable farming and professional cooking. Leif enjoys traveling through the mountains on both foot and ski, and loves spending time recreating and foraging amidst wild public lands near and far. In his cooking for both community and clients, he works and studies to understand and integrate timeless culinary techniques from his travels around the globe with the terroir and richness of both the cultivated and wild ingredients of the Greater Yellowstone region.
Ariel is a Jackson native who is a certified yoga instructor, yoga therapist and fitness instructor. She teaches private and group classes both online and at various locations in Jackson. Off the mat, Ariel has had a life-long interest in good food and cooking which began in elementary school when she took 4-H cooking classes. Bringing people together and creating community through good food has always been a source of immense joy. So much so, that during her college years, she started a side business cooking and hosting dinner parties for friends. Returning to Jackson after college, that then morphed into a successful private chef and catering business here for over a decade. When not doing yoga or trying new recipes, Ariel and her dog, Oatsie, a therapy dog, can also be found volunteering for Teton County Pet Partners.
Hilary is a recovered junk food junkie who got sick and turned to “food as medicine. On her journey to better health, Hilary became a nutrition health coach and earned her certification in plant-based nutrition and plant-based gut. She is passionate about our food system and has experienced first-hand how impactful eating high quality food is. When she moved to Jackson Hole full time in 2020, she began her own whole-food, plant based baked goods company, as a way to share high quality real food. She was a regular at the Peoples Market and Online Marketplace as well as sold her products at many stores in the Valley. In her spare time, she loves hiking with her friends and family, cooking and sharing meals with members of her community. She is thrilled to be part of the Board of Slow Foods to help make a difference in our food system. Hilary brings over 30 years of experience as a former CPA, management consultant and has held several executive positions in financial services.
Jonah moved to Teton Valley more than a decade ago, drawn by the mountains and ultimately rooted by the community. With a background in environmental science, business, and culinary arts, he combined these passions to start Sweet Hollow Farm in Victor, Idaho. Since then, he’s led Slow Food cooking classes, joined the Silicon Couloir mentorship program, and is launching a kids’ summer camp on the farm. Jonah is especially passionate about sustainable agriculture and remains deeply engaged in his small-scale operation, where he continues research on the links between soil health, food quality, and climate resilience. Outside the fields and kitchen, you’ll find him hiking or fishing with his wife, Hannah, and their dog, Murphy.