I'm in San Francisco because of the energy, the ideas, and the fact that this is a great place for me to land. When I'm traveling and working nationally, I love coming back here.

Within an hour I can be at the ocean, the forest, the mountains in San Francisco...But really, I fell in love with the city the first time I came out here in 2003. In addition to the natural beauty, this is ground zero for the food justice movement.

Given that I'm from the South, I wanted to do something to address that. I have been focusing more energy and resources on addressing those issues.

I think that the agriculture system in general is rooted in racism - consider that historically black labor on plantations was the backbone of the economy. These workers didn't reap the benefit of that system.

In restaurants across America we see Latino workers in the kitchen who are being paid substandard wages. The saddest thing to me is that if we think about these workers, these are the people with the least access to good food. Yet they're often suffering from the highest rates of obesity and diet-related illnesses.

What makes the farmers market such a special place is that you are actually creating community around food.

I think that if everyone did at least embrace a more plant-centered diet, it would improve public health.