Shazia Choudri
CEO/CO-FOUNDER
Shazia is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is a Jamie Oliver Food Ambassador and has a mission to positively impact the pre-school environment in its approach to food. She has spent many years working with pre-schools in New York to deliver a "Food Science" program that provides children with a seed-to-table understanding of food. She has also introduced edible "Learning Gardens" to schools and provides training to school staff and parents on children's nutrition. Through beetbox, she wants to change the connection children have with food, to make beetbox accessible to children in all types of communities and locations (including food deserts) and ultimately to bring change at the family and community level.
Rebecca Karr
CO-FOUNDER
Rebecca is a seasoned Early Childhood professional with a wealth of experience teaching in the preschool setting. Her passion is creating powerful ways to improve the interactions between teachers and their students. By creating and delivering seed-to-table curricula to NYC preschools, Rebecca has been championing the beetbox mission from the outset. Having grown up in a small town in upstate New York, Rebecca values a fresh and natural approach to learning. She is fervently committed to providing employment opportunities to adults with Autism and Downs Syndrome.
Rob Code
Corporate Strategy
Rob has been working in both early and late stage startups for the past 10 years. He has a particular interest in promoting healthy food and has deep experience supporting and leading growing organizations. Rob ran all operations at Plated from 2013 to 2015, and then worked with the co-founders of Ollie Pets to develop their human grade pet food and to establish their production and fulfillment operation. Rob has an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.
Dr. Carley Fisher-Maltese
Curriculum Advisor
Carley is an assistant professor at George Mason University. She teaches the early childhood education math and science methods and policy courses in the College of Education and Human Development. She completed her Ph.D. at Rutgers, Her research focuses on science learning and the link between learning in informal and formal settings. She is particularly interested in outdoor learning spaces, such as school gardens, and health and wellness in children. Carley also has her Masters in Elementary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and Elementary I & II credential from the American Montessori Society. She has written garden-, as well as standards-based, curriculum and trained teachers how to integrate nature into their teaching practice. She is a strong advocate of experiential learning opportunities and making nutritious, local food more accessible and prevalent in schools.