Tosha Phonix

Tosha is a foods and nature enthusiast, and entrepreneur working to make healthy, fresh foods accessible and affordable for children and adults. She works with urban growers to strengthen their businesses through improved capacity and access to the resources needed to build thriving agricultural operations in urban areas. 

Tosha’s background in social service further enables her to understand the vital role food quality and its access play in society. Therefore, her objective is to help to improve urban populations through healthy food access and production.

During the past seven years, Tosha has grown sustainable produce throughout St. Louis. She started growing in 2011 as a farm volunteer at Your’s Market, and, in 2014, she collaborated with New Roots Urban Farm to help teach children who suffered from chronic homelessness how to grow their own food. Moreover, in 2015, Tosha started her own agriculture organization to connect local black growers with rural farmers throughout Missouri to help provide areas in St. Louis, MO that are considered a “food apartheid” with sustainable food production. Additionally, Tosha has worked with local growers throughout St. Louis to help create a support system for completing growing seasons in order to offer healthy food access.

In 2017, Tosha became a board member of City Greens Market, a local grocery store that buys directly from local farmers who grow responsibly. She also has collaborated with City Greens on other garden projects. And, in 2018, Tosha was appointed the Co-Director of the Urban Farm at Muhammad Mosque. That same year, Tosha became the Food Justice Organizer for Missouri Coalition for the Environment to work with local communities around food access. Tosha founded a Food Equity Advisory Board consisting of community members who fight on behalf of food access within Urban Areas.