Staff & Board

Staff:

The Worker/Owners of Three Stone Hearth are blessed to work with a wonderful staff.

Joined our staff in 2007:

Phillip Lewis — Dishwashing & Kitchen Support

Phillip graduated in the Spring of 2009 from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a BA and an emphasis in 3-D Animation.  He enjoys editing sound clips together, designing T-shirts, and creating digital artwork.  While he enjoys working at Three Stone, he is actively seeking work in his field of animation.

Otto Thorsen — Beverage Preparation & Dishwashing Trainer

Otto Thorsen is a conceptual artist who recently earned his MFA from J.F. Kennedy University.  He also writes and performs music, recently producing his 7th CD: “On and On.”  Otto came to Berkeley by way of Tucson, Arizona (“Berkeley’s sister city in the desert”) and has devoted his life to creative living and creative thinking, surrounding himself with artists and musicians.

Joined our staff in 2008:

Mary Dee — Administration & Cashier

When Mary began volunteering in 2008 she connected immediately with TSH’s learn-by-doing approach to building community one person, one recipe, one meal at a time. When not ringing up sales or editing recipes for TSH, Mary, a longtime home educator, curriculum developer, and practitioner of hands-on, experiential learning, continues to counsel/mentor prospective and established homeschoolers, studies nutrition and holistic healing modalities, edits college term papers, tests and tweaks recipes, trains her rescue dog, and volunteers for causes dear to her heart.

 

Joined our staff in 2009:

Charlie Sellers — Dishwashing & Maintenance

Charlie has a background in hard science, which evolved into the manufacturing of modern things like magnets and medical devices, and he washed up in Berkeley after spending 3 years in Asia.  After almost too much roaming he conceived of the idea of “travel with a purpose”, looking to apply his skills in more socially relevant ways – particularly improving the simple wood-burning cookstoves used by half of the world’s population, and implementing them in the field whenever possible.  Always in search of community, he stumbled upon TSH while looking for a Western Union outlet and has spent a day a week there ever since.

Caroline Taymor — Kitchen Supervisor & Inventory

Caroline started volunteering at Three Stone Hearth in early 2009, and has been one of our kitchen supervisors since the summer of 2009.  She particularly loves teaching our new volunteers and apprentices, and working with our younger volunteers. Outside of Three Stone Hearth, she is exploring her love of traditional Irish music and dance, spinning wool, and exploring Jewish ritual. She plans to become a Nurse-Midwife someday, and incorporate her love of delicious, nutrient dense food into her work with women in the childbearing cycle.

Joined our staff in 2010:

Vicente Montoya — Jarring Captain

Vicente started volunteering at Three Stone in April of 2010, and has been our jarring captain since the fall of 2010. He enjoys working and learning from everyone who steps into the kitchen. He plans to get his graduate degree and teach in the future, and hopefully open his family restaurant in the bay, which would incorporate all he has learned about nutrient dense food into it.

Carlos Gonzalez — Dishwashing

Rogelio Gonzalez — Dishwashing & Kitchen Prep

Lloyd Minick — Dishwashing

Welcoming On-board:

Seth Peterson — Kitchen Supervisor

Seth Peterson is a Berkeley native and second generation urban farmer.  He received most of his culinary training in Mexico and Brazil, but has returned to the Bay Area to delve more deeply into food and farming.  After stints at local restaurants Eccolo, Corso, and Adagia, he came to Three Stone Hearth to learn about real, good food!

Aster Tezare — Kitchen Prep Assistant

Megan Phinaih — Kitchen Prep Assistant

Joanie Maro — Dishwashing

 

Business Advisory Board:

The Worker/Owners of Three Stone Hearth recently formed a Business Advisory Board to help us create a long-range business plan.  We are very blessed to be helped by the following experienced experts in charting our course for the future:

Zenobia Barlow — Executive Director and co-founder of the Center for Ecoliteracy

Emmanuel Briand – Co-founder of iParadigms and regular customer of TSH

Dayle Cosway – Food and gardening entrepreneur, experienced business consultant, former apprentice at TSH

Ari Derfel — Co-founder of Back to Earth Catering and Gather Restaurant, Executive Director of Slow Money

Robert (Bob) Gerner — Co-founder of Westbrae Natural Foods and the Natural Grocery Company, business ally and customer of TSH

Roderick (Rod) Kiracofe – Author, long-term customer, initial investor in TSH

Janelle Orsi – Author, lawyer, co-director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center, legal advisor to TSH

Kristina Sepetys – Retired economist, writer specializing in food and sustainability issues, business planning advisor to TSH

Dana Towsey – Experienced business analyst and financial advisor to TSH

** Complete bios coming soon! **