Team Bios
Terri Unger
VEGOUT & Food Access Coordinator
Terri moved to the North Shore 20 years ago and immediately fell in love with the landscape and people. Deep community connections developed through her work as a professional photographer, newspaper correspondent, Chair of the Ipswich Arts & Cultural Council and three years at The Trustees of Reservations on the statewide AG team and as CSA Distribution & Communications Coordinator at Appleton Farms.
Food has been the core of Terri’s work and personal life from a young age, working in the restaurant industry for many years and immersed in the greater Boston and north shore culinary scene with her family of chefs.
As the pandemic hit, illuminating the need for greater access to local food, Terri’s focus shifted to strengthening local food systems. Fortunately she was already familiar with NNS and inspired by their mission. She is so excited to now be a part of the team, working collaboratively with the incredible network of farms and food relief organizations in the area who provide access to healthy food choices for everyone in our community.
Her two grown sons are the light of her life, with some of their most cherished times spent together in the kitchen - laughing, cooking and dancing to their favorite songs.
Tany Blasko
Executive Director
Tany is a native of the North Shore. As an undergrad at UMASS Amherst, she focused her studies in Community Food Systems and later received an MBA. During her career she has had the opportunity to design and teach enrichment programming for individuals ranging from school age to senior citizens. While living in California, she led an educational non-profit focused on expanding access to affordable child care. Tany comes to this work with a focus on equity and a passion for organizational development. In her free time, Tany loves to explore local hiking trails with her family and experiment with new recipes in her kitchen.
Giuliana Cappucci
Food Access Program Manager
Giuliana is excited to continue her work with Nourishing the North Shore to increase connections to local farmers, support people in gaining affordable local produce, and shorten the number of miles food travels to reach people’s plates. She is committed to eliminating the presence of food apartheid in our communities and to working with stakeholders for a more just food system that prioritizes affordable nutritious food, education, and housing. Giuliana loves to learn and educate people regarding everything about food - where it comes from, how it grows, and all the different ways to prepare it. She wants the food on people’s plates to make them happy and healthy. Giuliana loves being outdoors and enjoys spending time with animals, especially her dog Benny!
Board Bios
Erika Gorgenyi
Landing in the North Shore after college, Erika spent many years as an Outdoor Adventure Educator before getting into farming. She worked on several farms over the course of a decade and became connected with NNS through the local farming community. With a Graduate Degree from Antioch University in Environmental Studies, she now serves as the Director of Education at a small, historic farm outside of Boston. Erika loves to be outdoors, exploring, and immersed in nature, so when not farming or running education programs, she can be found hiking or climbing. "I love how Nourishing the North Shore serves as a vital and supportive connector between farmers and food pantries, building relationships and providing access to healthy, local food for all in our community."
Louisa Simboli
Louisa’s extensive career in the healthcare and education industries led her to NNS 5 years ago. She coordinates the VEGOUT Mobile Markets for local seniors in the greater Newburyport area. This experience has given her a deep appreciation for how nonprofits seek to improve the quality of life by providing healthy food options. Throughout the years, she has invested much of her charitable efforts as an active volunteer for the American Red Cross, Newbury Elementary School Shared Inquiry Leaders, IMADA, and the Boston Ballet. Helping a community grow and thrive is always one of her goals when joining a program or project. She enjoys reading, hiking, traveling, and caring for her vegetable garden at her home in Newbury.
Michael Hoffman
Michael believes that everyone deserves access to plenty of fresh healthy food. Nourishing the North Shore works tirelessly towards that end so he’s honored to be part of the cause. Michael has never successfully grown a vegetable but he’s really good at eating them. He also prides himself on his ability to stack boxes and he’s pretty good at deciphering spreadsheets and asking for donations. Skills that he believes can help NNS in the short and long term. Michael loves his wife, kids, friends and dog. He’s lived in the Newburyport area since 1987 and now works as little as possible in the retail industry. He enjoys skiing, sitting and tinkering with things that don’t contain a microchip.
Alex Matthews
After living in the area for the past seven years, Alex found himself connected to NNS in so many ways! He used to work with Kailey at Heron Pond Farm, which donates tons of produce to support NNS programming. He is also engaged to Mac Scanlon of High Road Farm, another of the farms that supports NNS’ work (and vice versa!). And now He finds himself self on the board of NNS and living a short walk from the Community Garden. Ales is very excited to spend time out there this summer, tending to peppers in his plot and helping out with mowing on the tractor. Otherwise, you will likely find him running or leading services for Congregation Ahavas Achim here in Newburyport.
Karen Kuhlthau
Karen came to NNS with an interest in food justice, sustainable farming, and time spent weeding for the NNS gardens. She also volunteers with local climate action groups and volunteers for Our Neighbors Table. On the professional side, she conducts Public Health and health services research and is a Professor of Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In her free time, she also enjoys time with her family, knitting, hiking, walking her dog Larry, and growing veggies in her Newburyport south end garden!
Gini Mazman
Gini, our Board President, is the founder of The Haven Project, a successful non-profit which helps homeless adults achieve stability. Gini has an MBA and years of business leadership experience in nonprofit agencies as both an employee and as a board member. She is currently an independent consultant to state and national non-profits. In her free time, she enjoys gardening at her home in West Newbury, tennis, pickleball, kayaking, cross country skiing and cooking. She also likes to travel as much as possible, especially when she can take her dog Charlie on the travel adventures.
“There are so many individuals and families in our communities that cannot afford and cannot access healthy, local food. There are also many farms that are struggling financially. Nourishing the North Shore is a grassroots organization that is filling these gaps in our local food system. As a community, we must ensure that local farms thrive and that there is equitable access to local produce. It’s an innovative, growing organization and I am thrilled to be part of it!”
Dr. Tammy Bottner
Dr. Tammy Bottner is the co-founder of Riverside Pediatrics in Newburyport. She has been practicing medicine since 1989. She now practices part-time, specializing in adolescent and young adult medicine, and using her training in integrative medicine to provide holistic care. In 2016 she published the Amazon best-seller Among the Reeds: the true story of how a family survived the Holocaust, which has won several awards. Her passions include art (she launched TammyBottnerArt.com in 2021), travel, tennis, yoga, photography, and spending time with friends and family. She and her husband have two young adult children, and are involved in preserving open space in West Newbury and the North Shore.
Jack Pattie
Jack has lived in Newburyport for the past 30 years raising three children with his wife.
On the professional side, Jack has founded and run several international distribution companies. Traveling the world opened his eyes to the social inequities throughout the globe. Closer to home, Jack became involved in Nourishing the North Shore to address the needs of food insecurity in the local area.
An avid runner, Jack has been involved with Project Purple and Team in Training raising funds and awareness for cancer. Other interests include golf, biking, hiking in the White Mountains, and all of the Boston sports teams.
DeAnna Tashjian
DeAnna is excited to join the Nourishing the North Shore Board. She’s been associated with NNS since 2015, both as a volunteer and as an extension of her job. Her work as the Community Coordinator for the WIC program involves community building, nutrition education, food demos, and SNAP/HIP education. This year, thanks to a grant from ECCF, DeAnna worked very closely with NNS to help families grow veggies for the first time, and to produce 80 curated shares each week for eight weeks over the summer. DeAnna has been active in organizing food drives and CSA Fairs where families meet local farmers and learn about CSAs’ shares, and in coordinating Haverhill’s Winter Farmers Market.
DeAnna has a life long passion for eating healthy and eating local. “Food equity is my passion as I believe no one should have to fight for the right to eat local, high quality food,” says DeAnna. She also admits she’s a certifiable beach bum!
Marsha Blythe-Brown
Growing up in an era when social justice issues profoundly influenced her life, Marsha believes in equal access to healthy, nourishing food, affordable housing, health care, education, and job opportunities for ALL people.
A recent transplant to Newburyport within the last five years, Marsha has been appointed to numerous non-profit boards along the North Shore over the past 35 years primarily in the areas of affordable housing, education, and recreation. A lawyer by profession, Marsha was the Director of Real Estate for a private Boston company and an affordable housing consultant for a CDC in Chelsea.
Now retired, she can be found most days playing pickle ball or Mahjongg, taking dance classes, tending to her gardens in season, reading a good book, traveling, or taking in a good performing arts performance.
Marsha is honored and thrilled to be appointed to Nourishing the North Shore because of its meaningful mission, worthy cause, and decisive impact across the North Shore communities.
Rosemary Turgeon
Development Director
Rosemary has lived in Newburyport for 25 years and has been actively involved in a variety of local, community-based non-profits. Most recently, she worked as the Development Director at Community Giving Tree, an organization that provides low-income families with basic necessities, and she now serves on their Board. She also serves as an Executive Board member for the Newburyport Education Foundation. Rosemary believes that community engagement is integral to tackling local problems, and that individuals working together can make a big impact for those in need. When not asking for money, Rosemary loves to stay busy playing tennis, running, and baking. She and her husband have three children, and a black lab, Shirley.