About the Founder
LaShauna Austria is the owner and principal operator of Seeds of Change Consulting and Kindred Seedlings Farm. She possesses a demonstrated record of collaborating with rural communities, both faith-based and secular, to address race, food justice, land ownership, and equity issues. Building on her substantial experience in leadership, management, and administrative roles with for-profit and nonprofit organizations, she has devoted her current professional life to promoting racial equity and building better food systems locally and beyond.
LaShauna is the co-founder of the Saxapahaw Social Justice Exchange, a community group formed to offer deep conversations about race and equity. She is also a founding member of Alamance Racial Equity Alliance, with whom she helps organize local workshops delivered by the Racial Equity Institute. She has also served as a team member focused on bringing racial equity issues to the table with Community Food Strategies, which works to support local food councils and networks for equitable policy change at the local, state, and national level.
As the founder and principal of Seeds of Change Consulting, LaShauna provides racial equity consulting with a focus on the food system, strategies for supporting the growth of farmers of color, organizational and leadership development, research, evaluation, feasibility studies, facilitation, and a range of services to individuals and organizations seeking to deepen and apply a racial equity analysis to their work and missions. Born and raised in rural Alamance County, LaShauna is passionate about rural life, preserving farmland and natural resources, and Southern foodways.

Founder of Seeds of Change Consulting
Collective Partners
Abbey Piner
Abbey is based at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS). Her focus is increasingly on supporting coalitions to become effective multi-racial teams.
Jean Theron Willoughby
Jean is a trainer with the Racial Equity Institute and a consultant with Seeds of Change Consulting. She draws on over fifteen years of experience in public health, food and agriculture, economic development.
Hetal Patel
Hetal is a Program Manager for MDC’s Rural Forward program where she works to support local leaders to amplify their work in the community.
Linden Thayer
Linden co-founded Food Insight Group (FIG) as a way to continue her passion for community-led, food-as-social-justice work.
Min Jae Kim
Min Jae is a pastor and a member of the Seeds of Change Consulting team. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Divinity from Duke University.
Alice Sarti
Alice is a poet, educator, and facilitator with a Master’s degree in African literatures. She is the co-founder of Listening Sessions, in collaboration with the phenomenal Lavinia Jackson.
Beverly Scurry
Beverly has a BS degree in Public Health Education with a concentration in Community Health and a dual Master’s degree in Business Administration / Health Administration.
Crystal Cavalier-Keck
Crystal is the co-founder of Seven Directions of Service with her husband. She is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in Burlington, NC.
Jenn Grimmett
Jenn is the founder of Justice for All Education. She holds a Master’s Degree in Peace & Conflict Studies, with research focusing on the correlation between lived experiences and identity formation.
Kim Pevia
Kim is the Founder and Principal of K.A.P. Inner Prizes, an experienced life strategist, an engaging keynote speaker, and a skilled workshop facilitator.
Marcus Hill
Marcus serves as co-catalyst of the Island CultureZ project in East Winston (Winston-Salem, NC): a sovereignty-building and placekeeping food and land reclamation effort.