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Finalist
Dianna Rose
Creating a healthy and sustainable food ecosystem in Southeast Queens
- Year
- 2022
- Organization
- Essential Kitchen Co.
- Sector
- Environment & Sustainability
- Borough
- Queens
Dianna Rose is a Community Cultivator from Southeast Queens with a deep commitment to redesigning the Circular Economy within her community and its overall health. Over the past 15 years, she has launched companies that reconnect people to the planet — from a M/WBE certified zero-waste catering company, to a platform for sustainability content, to the first community farmers market in the Laurelton area.
The Sovereign Markets, launched during the height of the 2020 Pandemic at the Laurelton Long Island Railroad Station, supports local food businesses and artisans. While some concessionaires were able to successfully scale their businesses to brick-and-mortar stores, kitchen space remained too distant and expensive for most local food entrepreneurs. So, in 2021 Dianna opened the Essential Kitchen Co — the first of its kind, as a solution to the opportunity gap historically disinvested communities face due to lack of infrastructure, and today she’s on a mission to establish Southeast Queens as a food oasis and high-end concessionaire market.
Dianna is working towards a more robust food ecosystem and increased economic success for local food entrepreneurs.