Meet The Team
Our incredible team delivers a big impact with the support of our board of
directors, volunteers, donors, community partners - all in partnership with our farmers and local producers.
Venice Williams
Executive Director
​Venice comes from an extensive family legacy of working with food and soil. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Venice's mother made her living managing a large grocery store, part of the Giant Eagle family of stores. Her father was a chef, caterer, baker, and a regional manager for the same grocery store chain. Almost everyone in her extended family has always had gardens or farms. She often says, "I come from a family whose grounding ethics are food, family, and faith." She continues, "Growing up, we fed everyone." Venice is passionate about growing food and cultivating community. She is also the Executive Director of Alice's Garden Urban Farm. Venice has been living in Milwaukee for 35 years. She is excited about guiding the transitions at Fondy and helping to strengthen the organization.
Stephen Petro Farm
Director & Chief Op. Officer
spetro@fondymarket.org​​
Nyob zoo! Food is a universal experience; an act that unites everyone. This realization profoundly influenced Stephen’s decision to farm. He spent five years learning about soil in glaciated Wisconsin loam, Maine silt loam, and Georgia clay. Participating in these ecosystems instilled a strong sense of community, respect for the land and its inhabitants, and the knowledge needed to steward a farm. Stephen continued his farm odyssey by joining Fondy in 2010. Since then, he has spent much of his time humbled by the depth and breadth of knowledge that Fondy Farmers, the land, and the Fondy community at large have shared with him; it is staggering. Stephen loves puzzles, learning language, reading land, and ensuring that farming is a viable and accessible vocation and avocation. Walking with his multi-species family is the honor of a lifetime.
Glenna Holstein
Director of Development
development@fondymarket.org​​
Glenna works at the intersection of community and nature, putting her energy toward efforts that will nurture connections between people and place, help us live more lightly on the earth, and build the kind of world that she wants her daughter to grow up in. She has two decades of experience of community work in Milwaukee, including at the Urban Ecology Center, Alice's Garden, and The Table. Her work and studies have taken her to many remarkable places, from California to New Mexico to Russia to Ecuador, but she has always felt the deepest sense of belonging right here in Milwaukee, preferably with her hands in the soil or her feet in Lake Michigan.
Abdual Hassan
Market Manager
Jazmin Wong
Market Manager
Raphael Leazer Business Manager
​
Abdul is a well rounded individual who takes pride in what he does. He has some background in music and engineer designing. In addition he is developing his skills in agriculture as a Young Farmer in the Alice's Garden Urban Farm Farmers Training Project. His favorite food is a well-made Sombusa, preferably from his mother.
​
​Jazmin has a deep-rooted passion for making healthy and affordable foods accessible as she believes everyone has a right to purchase farm fresh foods. She has spent the last three years at Fondy managing the Milwaukee Market Match program. Previously she has spent time working in Duluth, Minnesota, supporting BIPOC entrepreneurs, farmers, and artists through the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO). At AICHO, she helped partner with farmers to provide culturally specific foods to community members through emergency food distributions, CSA shares, and farmer market events.
