Announcing 31st Class of Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellows

Nyami Aghedo
31st Class (2024-2025)

Nyami Adesuwa Aghedo is from Charlotte, North Carolina, and recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Public Policy and English and Comparative Literature. Nyami is deeply passionate about public health and food justice, believing that unhealthy systems are the root cause of unhealthy communities. Through her work with disaster relief organizations, farms, medical centers, and community empowerment initiatives, she has witnessed firsthand the suffering caused by dysfunctional systems, fueling her commitment to finding solutions. As an Emerson Fellow, Nyami is eager to explore how policy initiatives and community service are driving meaningful progress.

Inshira Bediako
31st Class (2024-2025)

Inshira Bediako is from Knoxville, Tennessee, and recently graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor's in Global Studies and a minor in Africana Studies. Growing up in the heavily segregated area of East Tennesse, Inshira saw first-hand how poverty and hunger were manufactured conditions to maintain racial and class subjugation. This was further made clear to her in her role as a refugee case manager, where obtaining basic necessities for newly arrived refugees proved to be a constant hardship. These life experiences fuel Inshira's passion for advocating for and advancing housing, food and economic justice. As an Emerson Fellow, Inshira hopes to learn from experts in the field of anti-hunger and poverty and use this knowledge to organize more effectively for better health and economic outcomes for marginalized groups.

Theodore Clayton
31st Class (2024-2025)

Theo was raised in McMinnville, Oregon, a small agricultural town in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, by a community that taught him that everyone deserves to eat with joy and dignity. He has just graduated from the University of Oregon with an honors B.A. in Planning, Public Policy, and Management and successfully defended his thesis, which discussed how municipalities can utilize food systems planning to support community-owned and operated grocery stores, while striving for an ultimate goal of food and economic sovereignty at the community-level. His interests lie in utilizing his research and his own lived experiences with food insecurity to discover how to develop practical solutions to the immediate hunger needs of communities in tandem with work to eliminate the systemic causes of hunger. He is thankful to have served a number of Oregon cities on projects relating to hunger and housing insecurity while completing his undergraduate degree, and looks forward to serving new communities as an Emerson Hunger Fellow.

Jonathan Dabel
31st Class, 2024-2025, and 4th Class, 2021

Born in Boston, Jonathan spent his formative years in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, before returning to the U.S. in 2016. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Mississippi, where he served as a student body senator and actively advocated for student needs. During his freshman year, Jonathan interned at the Congressional Hunger Center and later served as a Legacy Leader. His internships and projects have taken him to Washington D.C., Jackson, MS, and Miami, Florida, where he contributed to initiatives focused on community and economic development. Most recently, he presented his research on how food insecurity negatively impacts the upward mobility of undergraduate students at the University of Maryland and the University of Washington. Jonathan is passionate about creating transformative socioeconomic changes that contribute to making the world a more equitable place.

Joshua Greene
31st Class, 2024-2025 and 4th Class, 2021

Joshua Greene is originally from Brooklyn, New York but now resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. He graduated from UNC Chapel-Hill in 2023 with a dual degree in Public Policy and Political Science. He spent four years as a Bonner Leader at UNC working with the Communiversity Youth Program serving k-8 students teaching reading and life skills. His Capstone Project with NCPRO analyzed North Carolina's food insecurity policies.

Ranen Miao
31st Class, 2024-2025

Ranen is from Edison, New Jersey, and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with majors in political science, sociology, and women, gender, and sexuality studies. In college, he worked on issues of hunger, socioeconomic equity, and racial justice as student body president by founding a Food Security Fund, securing university investments in menstrual products and mental health resources, and hosting annual food drives for mutual aid networks in St. Louis. He's also done research with the Social Policy Institute on universal school meals, the Child Tax Credit, and evictions during COVID-19. Prior to joining Emerson, Ranen worked as a public interest paralegal; interned on the Hill, at the EEOC, and for the ACLU; and co-founded OutVote, an organization building a culture of civic engagement in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Bryan Molina
31st Class, 2024-2025

Bryan Molina was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and recently graduated from Chapman University with a major in Peace & Justice Studies and a minor in Psychology. Bryan's passion for addressing food insecurity stems from personal experiences as the son of Salvadoran immigrants, growing up in a low-income Latino household, and witnessing the impacts of food insecurity on those in his community. Among Bryan's most proud experiences is his time working at his university’s food pantry in which he led a group of students and supported the pantry’s growth as a vital resource on campus. Bryan’s studies and experiences allowed for opportunities to research and understand more deeply the impact and root causes of these challenges within our society, something he is eager to continue learning more about throughout his fellowship.

Alex Ochoa
31st Class, 2024-2025

Alex is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a B.S. in Public Health with a specialization in Environmental Public Health. He has dedicated himself to studying public health and pursuing research-driven solutions to address health inequities, working as a research assistant at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and as an intern at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. His journey has been shaped by the morals instilled by his parents, who immigrated from Mexico, his lived experiences growing up in Back of the Yards, Chicago, and his desire to become a physician dedicated to shaping national policy through research.

Marquelle Ogletree
31st Class, 2024-2025

Marquelle Ogletree is from Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Spanish. She served as a student director for Changemakers' Dialogue, facilitating intergroup dialogue to foster empathy for social action. Marquelle also interned with the Florida legislature advocating for constituents and was involved in multiple community initiatives. Her experiences growing up in Tallahassee amid disparities fueled by residential segregation and economic inequality have fueled her passion for ensuring equitable access to resources like healthcare, public transportation, and housing for people to thrive, while recognizing the critical role public policy, community organizations, and dialogue play in propelling progress for change.

Shanella Palmer
31st Class, 2024-2025

As a first-generation American, Shanella is no stranger to understanding the complexities of local and global food apartheid and how communities organize themselves in the face of injustice. As a result of these experiences, Shanella was inspired to work with people living with mental illness where she developed nutrition and life-skill courses. She then pursued an MPH in community health, learning to translate the theory of the classroom to real life as she engaged impacted populations during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivated to plan seeds of change in her own life, Shanella recently started a mini garden to grow her own food.

Emily Rodriguez
31st Class, 2024-2025

Emily Rodriguez is from Provo, Utah, and a recent graduate of Brigham Young University, where she majored in Sociology and minored in Political Science. As the daughter of an immigrant mother, she has witnessed the societal barriers that frequently impact BIPOC communities. During her undergraduate studies, Emily's research focused on analyzing the systemic barriers impacting the Latinx community. Her lived experiences with such obstacles are the driving force that motivates her to work towards research-driven policies that can contribute towards a more equitable society.

William Teasley
31st Class, 2024-2025

Originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, William Teasley graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Instilled with a passion of hunger relief, emergency resource management, and philanthropy, he intends to utilize his experience in logistics to remain impactful in the humanitarian atmosphere. During his collegiate career, his experiences with Second Harvest Food Bank of NW NC, The City of Winston-Salem, and independent research deepened his understanding of large-scale food distribution operations, grassroots farmer’s market curation, and qualitative analysis in underserved communities. Postgrad, his role as a Volunteer Coordinator allowed him to lead a team of drivers to deliver over a million meals to seriously ill individuals and their family members in the D.C. area. Teasley aims to further his impact as a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow by focusing on emergency resource management in crisis areas, utilizing his background to enhance food security and support those in need.

Lauren Walcott
31st Class, 2024-2025

Lauren Walcott is from Lawrenceville, Georgia, and recently graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Social Policy, a second major in American Studies, and a minor in Environmental Policy and Culture. Lauren's passion for food justice began in high school and grew in university where she was the co-chair of the Associated Student Government’s newest subcommittee, Food Sustainability. As part of the subcommittee, she made Northwestern more sustainable and inclusive for students with religious and alternative diets. This work inspired Lauren to continue to explore and contribute to food access and food policy. As a fellow, Lauren wants to reimagine a sustainable and equitable food system.

James Ziegeweid
31st Class, 2024-2025 and 5th Class, 2022

James Ziegeweid is a native of Arcadia, Wisconsin and graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with a degree in management in May of 2023. While studying at MNSU, served as the Meal Planner for the MNSU Campus Kitchen, helping spearhead the fight against food insecurity in the Mankato community and after graduation volunteered with South Central Minnesota Food Recovery. As an Emerson Fellow, James is excited to learn from his supervisors, other fellows, and the Hunger Center staff as we continue the fight against hunger and poverty.