INFRA Blogs

Hello! I am beyond excited to be joining the INFRA team as a Marketing and Communications Specialist. I recently graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and I cannot wait to make the move up to St. Paul. I’m bringing experience in copywriting, brand storytelling, content creation, and community outreach to this role and I’m eager to apply these skills to INFRA’s current projects!

Throughout my time in college, I worked in a women-operated and locally owned coffee shop where I had the privilege of meeting other small business owners, local grocers, and environmental activists who worked together to help make the food scene of Lincoln bigger and brighter. In thinking about what my life would look like post-grad, I knew I wanted to keep working with local communities and businesses to cultivate sustainable and natural food systems. When INFRA came across my radar, we seemed like a match made in heaven! 

This new role also sings to my foodie heart. When I’m not drafting a newsletter or working on social media copy, you can find me breaking in my new stand mixer (best Christmas present ever) or perfecting my brownie recipe. I’m big on running, reading anything under the sun, knitting, and supporting Husker Volleyball!

Hello! I am so excited to be joining INFRA as a BI Analyst on the Technology and Data team.  With a background in retail supply chain and data analytics, I can’t wait to support our members with meaningful insights and enable data-driven decision-making. I’m eager to help build a robust reporting toolset for our staff and tackle challenges with creative, data-centered solutions.

Health challenges have taught me the importance of food as medicine, and growing up surrounded by small family farms and businesses instilled a deep appreciation for supporting hardworking independents. I’ve been seeking a mission-aligned organization where I can pair my technical experience with a passion for nourishing communities—and I’m thrilled to have found that at INFRA.

In my free time, you’ll likely find me exploring local restaurants and breweries with my partner, running around lakes and rivers in the Twin Cities, frequenting local climbing gyms with my friends, or visiting my family in rural northwestern Wisconsin.  As a former competitive gymnast and pole vaulter, I also love coaching and staying connected to the athletic community! I enjoy crafting nourishing meals, experimenting with new recipes, hanging out with my cat Autumn, and more recently, learning to knit.

Hello! I'm Jacob Nachel, the newest Member Business Advisor for INFRA, and I'm so excited to be here supporting independent grocers across the Pacific Northwest! With ten years of grocery retail experience, I look forward to helping a wide range independent stores thrive in their unique communities.

Despite being a wildly picky eater as a child, I fell wholeheartedly into a lifelong love affair with food and feeding people when I started volunteering on a farm with my future wife on a tiny goat dairy in Oregon. That led to farm internships in Colorado, managing a farm in Reno, then stepping into the retail food system at a downtown cooperative, where I learned the many intricate steps it takes to get healthy food out of the ground and into a community. I've worked every role you can find in an independent store, and I'm excited to help further the small-scale food system that INFRA supports. 

I still love to grow my own food and share it with my community (200lbs of potatoes in one garden bed last year!) and also spend long days exploring the wonderful natural beauty of the Olympic Peninsula, where I am lucky to have found my home.