Meet Our Small, But Mighty Team!
We are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful group of individuals helping to carry out the mission of All Together Now PA. Everyone you see here brings a unique set of skills, knowledge and expertise to the organization, making it possible for us to do the work we do! Read on to learn more about each team member.
Judy Wicks, Founder and Board Chair
Judy Wicks is founder and board chair of All Together Now Pennsylvania and an internationally known leader in the local economy movement. A life-long Pennsylvanian, Judy was born in Pittsburgh in 1947, grew up in a small western PA town, and has resided in Philadelphia for 50 years where she is known as an environmentalist, activist entrepreneur, and social justice advocate.
In 1983, Judy founded the White Dog Cafe, a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement, which she ran for almost 30 years. She is the author of Good Morning, Beautiful Business, winner of a gold medal for business leadership in 2013. Judy is founder of several other nonprofit organizations including Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN), Fair Food Philly, and the Circle of Aunts & Uncles, a micro loan fund. She is also co-founder of the nation-wide Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (now called Common Future). In 1970, she co-founded Urban Outfitters, then called The Free People’s Store.
When Judy isn’t volunteering her time with ATN-PA, you can find her working on her next book, walking her beagle Jojo, and throwing wild parties.
Fun Fact: I lived with Alaska Natives for a year
Q: What does local self reliance mean to you?
A: I started All Together Now PA because I believe that building local self-reliance is of great importance in preparing for the climate crisis. Local self-reliance means that we build local economies to produce our basic needs – food, clothing, building materials, plant medicine and energy – close to home rather than depending on global supply chains that are already beginning to crumble. Local self-reliance builds community wealth because it circulates capital within the region rather than sending it into the coffers of distant corporations. Local production also mitigates climate change by lowering the carbon emissions of long distant shipping. Local self-reliance may well determine the survival of future generations.
Q: How did you first get started in this field?
A: I became interested in local self-reliance while running the White Dog Cafe, where I gained an understanding of how important it is to produce our food locally. Building a local food system became my passion, and that led me to see that building local energy and textile systems were also important to the well-being of our communities.
Q: Why do you love what you do?
A: I love building local economies because it is a way to address the two most important challenges of our time: economic equality and environmental sustainability. Decentralizing the economy into regional economies, decentralizes wealth and power, creating many more opportunities for business ownership and meaningful green jobs. I am passionate about providing ownership opportunities to entrepreneurs from communities that have been excluded from prosperity in the corporate controlled global economy. In local economies, we also have the opportunity to produce our basic needs in harmony with our local eco-systems, through regenerative agriculture, reducing waste, eliminating chemical toxins and treating other species with respect.
Monica Medina-McCurdy, Executive Director
Monica Medina-McCurdy started as ATN-PA’s first Executive Director in March 2022. Originally from Montana, she now resides in Havertown, PA with her husband Steve, daughter, Magnolia and dog, Buddy. When Monica isn’t working with ATN-PA, you can find her catching up on the latest innovations in sustainable agriculture or serving as Ward Leader for the Haverford Democrats.
Fun Fact: I grew up in Butte, Montana
Q: Why do you love what you do?
A: My work allows me to use my creativity in combination with my strategic planning interests and skills. I love the comprehensive-ness of our mission, which encourages out of the box thinking, and broad coalition- and community-building.
Q: What does local self reliance mean to you?
A: Local self-reliance means that the places where we live and work, the places we call “home” are able to find, produce, and supply the basic necessities to sustain life and happiness.
Q: What do you like to do after a long day of work?
A: I love to walk my dog, walk upstairs to where my spouse works to see how he is doing (since the pandemic, we both have been working from home mostly), and try to engage my teenager in a conversation beyond the standard one word response lol 🙂
Cherron Perry-Thomas, Plant Medicine Coalition Advisor
Cherron Perry-Thomas has been a dedicated volunteer with ATN-PA since we started in 2019 and has been serving as the organization’s Plant Medicine Coalition Advisor since 2021, helping to co-create our Pot Profits for Pennsylvanians campaign. She originally moved from Memphis, TN to Germantown, Philadelphia in 1989 to work with the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom. Cherron is a social justice advocate and leader who currently serves as the Director of Social Impact for The Diasporic Alliance for Cannabis Opportunities (DACO), Founder and President of Green Dandelion Marketing and Sales, Inc. and Co-owner of Plant and People, a plant shop offering workshops, education, events, consultations, services and plant based good in West Philadelphia.
Fun Fact: I started running full marathons at 40
Q: What does sustainability mean to you?
A: Sustainability means tapping into all the ways I saw my life from growing food to using plants for medicine, recycling newspapers, catching rainwater and more. Before I heard of sustainability, there was my family. Conscious or not, there was this connection with people and the land around you. Sustainability is that connection of all your relations, including people, animals, and land.
Q: What is a sustainable life hack you couldn’t live without?
A: Catching rainwater and using it to water my plants
Q: What do you like to do after a long day of work?
A: After work I enjoy spending time caring for my plants.
Leslie Davidson, Director of Operations
Leslie Davidson began working with ATN-PA as the organization’s part-time Administrative Coordinator in March 2021, and transitioned to a full-time role as Director of Operations in early 2022. Originally from Maple Glen, PA, she currently resides in the Rittenhouse neighborhood of Philadelphia with her three cats, Ms. Pie, Cash Pawkits and Novi Lox. When Leslie isn’t working with ATN-PA, you can find her brushing up on her CAD skills, at her sewing machine giving new life to old materials, or providing helpful tricks and tools to small business owners on how to maximize efficiency of their operations.
Fun Fact: I was a ballet teacher for 9 years
Q: What is your favorite part about working with ATN?
A: My favorite part about working with ATN-PA is getting to meet, connect and help so many different types of people from different backgrounds. I love finding the common thread that links people and/or industries together, regardless of their field or expertise. In our work, so many things overlap and we sometime don’t find out what the overlap is until we are working on projects for weeks or months, but when it happens, it’s always an exciting moment! It puts into perspective just how small the world truly is, and is a reminder that when we prioritize the health of our planet and our communities, everyone and everything is connected.
Q: What does sustainability mean to you?
A: To me, sustainability means living in a way in which you are always making decisions based on how how your actions, lifestyle and consumer habits will affect our environment. Continuously asking yourself questions like, “Am I contributing to the problem or helping to solve it?” “Do I really need this?” “How many people had to work on this before I could buy it and does the price reflect fair wages for those workers?” “What will happen to this when I no longer need it? Can it be up-cycled or will it end up in the landfill?
Q: What is a sustainable life hack you couldn’t live without?
A: A sustainable life hack I could not live without is reusing glass jars from jams and sauces for storing food and items in instead of purchasing plastic Tupperware.
Rachel Higgins, Clothing & Textile Coalition Leader
Rachel Higgins has been serving as ATN-PA’s Clothing & Textile Coalition Leader for almost 2 years! Originally from New York, she now calls the Fishtown section of Philadelphia her home. When Rachel isn’t working with ATN-PA, you can find her on Drexel’s campus, where she teaches Design & Merchandising, or out advocating for sustainable fashion with one of the many organizations she either sits on the board of or volunteers her time with.
Fun Fact: When I was in middle school and high school I was a mannequin model. My job was to stand in store windows and model clothes for brands like Deliah’s, Jessica McClintock and many others. It was one of my first experiences in the fashion industry.
Q: How did you first get started in this field?
A: I went to school for Fashion Design and Merchandising and when I graduated I had bins of leftover scrap fabric that I had no use for. I didn’t want to throw them away because I knew they were destined for the landfill, so I started a baby clothing line to utilize scraps, support fair wages and promote sustainable materials.
Q: Why do you love what you do?
A: I love what I do because I get to meet amazing people who are all doing incredible things and working toward creating a better future for our planet. I constantly leave meetings inspired and excited to connect new people!
Q: What does sustainability mean to you?
A: To me, sustainability means that when something is created, it is made using the least amount of resources possible, the people who made it are paid fairly and the product’s end of life is considered in the initial design.
Meredith Jones, Project Coordinator
Meredith Jones has been working with ATN-PA since November 2021. She began as the Personal Assistant to our Founder, Judy Wicks, then moved into the role of part-time Project Coordinator shortly after! Meredith is a West Coast native who has embraced Philadelphia as her home for the past 27 years, and currently resides in Manyanuk with her husband Aaron and their 2 free-roam house rabbits
. When she isn’t working with ATN-PA, you can find her helping small businesses through her work with The Circle of Aunts and Uncles or acting as Judy’s right hand woman!
Fund Fact: I co-founded and managed a specialty beer store for 8 years, and remain a giant beer nerd to this day.
Q: How did you first get started in this field?
A: I first started working in the Philadelphia sustainability community as office manager for Clean Water Action’s Philadelphia branch.
Q: Why do you love what you do?
A: Working in a values-aligned environment is one of my top priorities for my work, and what I love about working with All Together Now is getting to work on priorities that I feel deeply passionate about, and the ability to share these values and ideas with our wonderful team and community.
Q: How did you first connect with ATN?
A: I first connected to ATN through my role as assistant to Judy Wicks, which grew into dividing my time between work directly with Judy and project coordinator work with ATN.
Tara Zrinski, P3 Campaign Director
Tara Zrinski, Philosophy Professor, Northampton County Commissioner, published author and former 2020 PA State House Democratic candidate, joined ATN-PA in August 2022 as our Pot Profits for Pennsylvanians (P3) Campaign Director. She currently lives in her hometown of Bethlehem, PA with her son Brammel. When Tara isn’t working with ATN-PA, you can find her on campus at DeSales University, out advocating for environmental and social justice or on the sidelines at her son’s soccer games!
Fun Fact: I traveled through Europe, living in various countries and, when in München, Germany, I worked at the Octoberfest in the Spaten Tent as a Gläserspüler.
Q: How did you first get started in this field?
A: As a Northampton County Commissioner, I was interested in Industrial Hemp as a replacement for plastic. I started an Ad Hoc Industrial Hemp Committee that worked with PennState Ag and other partners to educate the public about the uses, farming and marketing of Industrial Hemp. I felt that planting and creating a supply chain around Industrial Hemp could offer economic development while helping struggling farmers with a cash crop and helping to mitigate climate change. I met Judy Wicks at the Hemp Summit in 2019, and I was impressed with the mission and vision of All Together Now PA. As someone who has experience working on multiple political campaigns, engaging the community in environmental activism and promoting social equity policy, I was thrilled to join ATNPA as a campaign director that unites many of passions.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I worked at Camp Woodhaven as a prep cook when I was 14.
Q: What does local self reliance mean to you?
A: Local self-reliance is equivalent to sustainable communities and smart economic development. It means that small local businesses are prioritized in government support and effort to create a thriving economy. It means that we are closer to the source of where products are made and sold, which means the manufacturers have deep roots in the local economy as partners in both environmental and economic sustainability because the people they serve are their family and neighbors.
Thomas Ludin, Social Media, Marketing and Events Intern
Thomas Ludin is ATN-PA’s Social Media, Events & Marketing intern through Drexel’s co-op program. He is currently in his 3rd year at Drexel University where he is studying game development and marketing. When Thomas isn’t interning with us, you can usually find him in the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS) working on game development or organizing Drexel’s Game Development Group.
Fun Fact: I am distantly related to Madonna
Q: What was your first job?
A: Before I came to college I worked as a cashier at ACME. I worked through the summers and after school some days. I really enjoyed this job, and sometimes miss the simplicity of it! A funny part about working at a grocery store is that you get produce numbers stuck in your head, so instead of thinking of a banana as a banana, I now immediately think of it as a number, in this example 4011. 🍌
Q: How did you first connect with ATN?
A: Working for All Together Now PA is my second internship or “CO-OP” through Drexel! The Coop system has been an amazing experience so far and I have really enjoyed working with ATN.
Q: What do you like to do after a long day of work?
A: I love playing video games! I love jumping into a game or project and completing it front to back, whether it’s a game on my phone or a 30 hour narrative based game!