Austin Adds Two More Staffers!

Bethany Dawson was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas. She graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio with a B.S. in Biology in 2012. She went on to serve a year as an AmeriCorps member with City Year San Antonio, where she worked as a full-time math tutor in a low-income middle school. This past May, Bethany graduated from the UT Health Science Center School of Public Health in Houston with a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. Bethany is passionate about childhood obesity prevention through nutrition and physical activity, and she developed an adaptation of the CATCH Middle School curriculum for use in faith-based communities for her Master’s thesis. During her second year at the UTSPH, Bethany found out about Brighter Bites and joined the Houston team as a part-time Graduate Assistant on the research end. After graduating in May, she moved to Austin but just couldn’t say goodbye to Brighter Bites and is very excited to join the new Austin team full-time! Bethany enjoys running, photography, traveling, and trying to replicate her mom’s cooking. Ellen Orabone is originally from the Chicagoland area. She has a BS in Food Science from North Carolina State University, an MA in International Affairs from American University, and an MA in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development from the United Nations-mandated University for Peace. Ellen started her career in the food world with a scientist’s eye, but has incorporated social and environmental threads into her passion for food. She has realized that what is most important for a sustainable food system is the balance between nourishing our growing population with healthy, affordable food and maintaining a healthy, thriving planet. Ellen has lived, worked and attended schools in multiple cities. In Costa Rica, she worked on sustainable agricultural practices and studied neglected and underutilized crop species. In California she was a Garden Programs Coordinator with Bronco Urban Gardens where she constructed school gardens and implemented garden-based education programs in low-income communities. And, most recently, in Austin, Ellen built and managed the Sustainable Food Center’s Teaching Garden, where she was also the Teaching Garden Coordinator. In that role, she created and taught food gardening classes, led food-system youth field trips, coordinated free seed and plant giveaways, and composted anything she could get her hands on. In her free time, Ellen enjoys participating in Camp Gladiator bootcamp-style workouts, kayaking on Lady Bird Johnson Lake, and watching the latest sci-fi and comic book superhero movies at the Alamo Drafthouse with her boyfriend.