FS6 Team

Our Team

The Food System 6 team is a passionate group of food-industry change-agents working together to support the FS6 mission and entrepreneurs. You can learn more about what we're working on and where we came from by navigating to the Linkedin profiles connected to each team member.

Caesaré Assad
Chief Executive Officer

Caesare's 20+ years of food work as a restaurant cook, chef, entrepreneur, and business executive spans entity types and functions - all centered around healing connections through food and building community. Some of her work includes developing innovative culinary, nutrition, and wellness initiatives for corporate clients that include Whole Foods Market, Tesla, SpaceX, and Clif Bar.

She grew up in rural Oklahoma and that experience has made her especially passionate about surfacing and supporting food and agriculture issues that impact rural, oppressed, and marginalized communities.

In her role at FS6, she is able to combine her professional and personal experiences with her wonderful community, and creativity - all in support of incredible entrepreneurs who are creating a better food system every day. She believes that collaboration is the key to success and is eager to share our learnings with other advocates for change.

Perri Kramer
Program Director

Perri has led Marketing and Operation teams, as well as product launches, in the organic food industry for over a decade. Prior to joining Food System 6, Perri worked for Whole Foods Market, Revolution Foods, and for restaurant and food marketing consultancies. An early passion for cooking led her to study food equity and farming and ultimately to build a career working with ethical businesses that support sustainable food systems. Still a deeply invested home cook and avid dinner party host, Perri brings communities together by celebrating good food and, in her free time, develops recipes for a local community supported fishery. Perri holds B.A. degrees from The Colorado College in History & Political Science as well as a concentration in Agro-Ecology.

Melissa Rouse
Communications Director

Melissa is a writer and editor with a passion for food system change. She is dedicated to supporting small and mid-sized organizations with big-picture plans for the betterment of local and global food communities.

Growing up in a beekeeping family on the Big Island of Hawaii, Melissa has been immersed in the food and agriculture world since day one - and has been captivated by the challenges and opportunities that this industry creates. By turning her editorial background towards the FoodAg space, Melissa has been able to combine her skill and passion; she is excited to be partnering with Food System 6 as they work to transform the traditional structures of this age-old industry.

Melissa has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Critical Social Thought from Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Meredith Fenton
Storytelling

Meredith Fenton has been working in and with social change organizations her entire career. As an independent consultant based in Oakland, she provides coaching, training, and strategy to progressive organizations and leaders so our movements can better leverage tools of communication, storytelling, and culture for social change.

In addition to her work as the Storytelling Coach for FS6, she partners change makers around the country including Latino Community Foundation, Define American, The Hood Incubator, Perinatal Equity Initiative, Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, and the Trust Based Philanthropy Project. Outside of her business, Meredith serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Californians for Justice and volunteers with groups such as Seed the Vote and the Wellesley College Board of Admissions.

Julianne Kennedy
Project Manager

Julianne received her B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She applied her training in empathy-based intervention methods as an AmeriCorps teacher in Chicago, providing one-on-one instruction and behavioral support in 5th-8th grade classrooms.

She managed multiple virtual learning programs as a conference planner, and enjoyed coaching speakers in preparation for their presentations.

She believes in the healing power of food, and the possibility for conflict to be an incredible agent of change when navigated thoughtfully.

Rajal Patel
Head of Growth and Partnerships

Rajal supports management teams to drive growth through partnerships and investments. She has served leaders across diverse sectors as a Chief of Staff and commercial attorney, in both her adopted US and native UK/Europe.

Through supporting the rapid growth of a global professional services firm, advising a leading financial institution on investments into the tech space, and positioning growth-stage initiatives for investment, Rajal has advised startups, corporate innovation teams, and PE/VC funds on growth opportunities and brokered the relationships required for expansion.

Her passion for food system change is inspired by a series of formative experiences: a family heritage of farming, studying agricultural systems while majoring in Economic History at LSE, advising food conglomerates, and educating marginalized communities on the varying nutritional value/sourcing/sustainability of their food options.

In her spare time, you'll find her exploring California's trails and farmers markets or kitesurfing at local hideouts.

Andrew FAlcon
Entrepreneur In Residence

Andrew brings extensive commercial, operations, and entrepreneurial expertise to his role as Entrepreneur in Residence at Food System 6. Andrew’s work in biomaterials, packaging, organic waste valorization, and international development, together with his roots in Midwestern family-farming, combine to give him a unique perspective on the intersection of food/agriculture and adjacent sectors at the systems level.

Andrew is passionate in his belief that circular, regenerative solutions are essential for the long-term health of the planet, and that entrepreneurs, innovation and markets have the best chance to catalyze system-level change. Andrew lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children, often can be found behind a grill at home or at the family farm in Iowa, and holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Learn more about Andrew on his LinkedIn.

Christine Su
Entrepreneur in residence

Christine is the former CEO and co-founder of PastureMap, a grazing management software company used on over 6 million acres globally, to help ranchers increase profitability while building healthy grasslands. Christine built the company from zero to profitability, and a successful exit to SoilWorks Natural Capital. She serves on the board of Kitchen Table Advisors, a California nonprofit serving 80%+ women farmers and farmers of color.

Learn more about Christine on her LinkedIn.

Ethan Rublee
ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE

Ethan is a serial entrepreneur, technologist, aspiring farmer and, is passionate about applying computer vision, machine learning and robotics to empower farmers and local food systems to heal people and the planet. Ethan has worked in Silicon Valley for the past decade, developing open source computer vision software Willow Garage, making robots unload trucks and move pallets around a warehouse at Google, and providing machine learning based tools for artists in Hollywood. In 2020, Ethan moved his family to an 11 acre upstart farm in Watsonville, CA- just an hour and a world away from Silicon Valley. Ethan is currently running an online farmers market on the Central Coast, and founding his next company on the farm- farm-ng inc. with a focus of bringing low-cost robotics to farmers everywhere.

Learn more about Ethan on his LinkedIn.