Our Team
Founder & CEO
JoVonna Johnson Cooke is a vegan chef and food justice activist working in Atlanta. She is the co-founder of MaituFoods, which is a vegan food delivery service and vegan lunch program developer. She is working to develop culturally appropriate and accessible educational materials that highlight the benefits of healthy nutrition through a vegan diet. She is credited with establishing MaituFoods' Plant Based Pregnancy Meal service - the first of its kind owned and operated by a BIPOC woman in Metro Atlanta.
JoVonna co-founded Grow Where You Are, a grower-led collective committed to increasing local food sover-eignty by assisting individuals and communities in creating sustainable, plant-based local food systems.
In 2015, she was awarded most innovative business by The Center for Civic Innovation, Atlanta. In 2016, Slow Food Atlanta selected JoVonna as a US delegate to Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, in Turin, Italy, the biggest international event dedicated to food, the environment, agriculture, and food politics. In 2020, Community Farmer’s Market awarded her with the Lady Locavore Award as an outstanding local chef and woman business owner. The Lady Locavore Award celebrates women in the Atlanta local food movement.
Recently she received certificates of completion from the Herbal Immersion Program from Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and Rouxbe Culinary for completion of their Professional Plant Based Certification Course.
JoVonna Johnson
Eugene Cooke
President
Eugene Cooke is an American-born father of four descended from Indigenous farmers and African refugees. His unique perspective is based on 20 years of growing food in urban areas, as well as work-study abroad in Africa, Jamaica, and Haiti.
Eugene is a founding member of Grow Where You Are (GWYA), a dynamic full-service social enterprise developing local food systems in urban areas. GWYA partners with organizations and individuals to bring food abundance to communities that value real food. They design, install, and maintain multiple public and private spaces where food is produced using natural principles. As a consultant, Eugene works with institutions and individuals to plant fruit orchards, develop farms and assist in ecological restoration,
Neo Raphoto
Secretary
Neo Raphoto studied film and television production at The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, launching a career that spans international media, education, and holistic health. Her early work includes
serving as a Producer’s Assistant on the feature film Hotel Rwanda and as an Associate Producer on Sesame Street productions in Bangladesh and India. She has also been involved in producing international film festival programming that bridged Harlem and South Africa, supporting cross-cultural storytelling and creative exchange. Building on her interest in health and the body, she later trained at ASHA in Neuromuscular Therapy and is currently the owner of Zen Zulu TC. In Botswana, she served as both a school principal and an instructor of anatomy and physiology, further grounding her work in education and leadership.
Neo Raphoto brings to Awali a rare combination of global production experience, educational leadership, and wellness expertise. As a board member, her skill set supports the planning and execution of immersive events, the production of high-quality digital and educational content, and the integration of wellness-centered programming into Awali’s offerings. Her background strengthens Awali’s capacity to produce culturally relevant programming that is both professionally executed and deeply aligned with community education and healing.
Renay Trammell
Treasurer
Renay Trammell was raised in a family of artists, she were developed a strong creative foundation that has influenced every stage of her professional journey. She earned a B.A. in Mass Media Arts with a concentration in Film from Clark Atlanta University and went on to build a multifaceted career spanning design, photography, film production, and craftsmanship.
For more than a decade, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and videographer, helping businesses and music artists throughout Atlanta develop and strengthen their brand identities through visual storytelling and creative direction.
For the past 15 years, she has worked alongside photographer Jim Alexander in his studio, serving as an in-house photo printer while further refining her photography skills under his mentorship. She also designed his book, S.O.S. Signs of Struggle, as well as the website for The Jim Alexander Collection.
At the same time, she cultivated a 20-year career in Atlanta’s film and television production industry, developing extensive expertise in location scouting and management, film permitting, account management, and budget oversight. Her experience includes managing department expenditures, reconciling the department’s production credit cards, and creating detailed weekly cost-tracking reports to help the department monitor spending and anticipate overages.
Today, she continues to expand her creative practice by combining her passion for art, textiles, and design with furniture restoration and woodworking.
