Cultivating the
Educational LandscapeCUESA
Boss Lisa Capozzi Fires up Farmers’ Market Educational
Programs
![](Lisa%20Capossi.jpg) |
Lisa
Capozzi, Executive Director of CUESA, producers
of San Francisco’s Farmers’ Market at the Ferry
Building |
How do you make the move from corporate
America to running a regional farmers’ market organization
in the Bay Area, the cultural hub of California cuisine and
all things organic? Lisa Capozzi is no stranger to
overcoming the odds, something she first accomplished while
a student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park,
NY.
“My classmates and I used to call it
‘Paris Island’,” Ms. Capozzi says, a tongue-in-cheek
reference to the rigorous discipline instilled there in the
young chefs-to-be. The similarities between the South
Carolina boot camp for the U.S. Marines did not end there,
either. “And I was one of only three women in my class,”
says Ms. Capozzi.
After graduating from the CIA, Ms. Capozzi
went on to open the Blue Goose catering company in
Pittsburgh, PA, her home state. From there, her next job was
in corporate America. After several years in Chicago, she
landed in California with the Bon Appétit Management
Company, as Director of Recruiting. But after five years in
this demanding position, Ms. Capozzi was worn out from being
on the road all the time, and was looking for a more
self-fulfilling career. When she interviewed for the
position of executive director at CUESA: the Center for
Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, she knew what
she wanted. “I was drawn to CUESA because of its mission,”
she says, which is the promotion of regional sustainable
agriculture through the operation of farmers’ markets and
educational programs.
And now Ms. Capozzi lives with the dual
satisfaction of connecting urban dwellers with the sources
of the food they eat and giving small, family-run farms the
opportunity to make a livable wage.