Meet Our Team
Umi Jenkins
Executive Director | Umi@mississippifarmtoschool.orgUmi Jenkins is a passionate food literacy educator and advocate for sustainable agriculture serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast. As Executive Director, she collaborates with local food producers and families to promote farming, economic empowerment, and racial equity.
With a deep-rooted connection to agrarian culture and over a decade of community organizing experience, Umi provides agriculture-based education to children across Mississippi through early childcare, homeschool and after-school programs.
She is a proud member of the Mississippi Food Systems Fellowship and the Resilient East Biloxi Cohort. Her past roles include community organizer for 34th Street Community Garden & Education Center, Gulf Coast Sustainable Growers Alliance, and Galloway Family Farm & Education Center.
Sydney Bush Turnipseed
Associate Director | sydney@mississippifarmtoschool.orgSydney is a Mississippi Gulf Coast Native. Her passion for food justice took off after interning with the Mississippi Farm to School Network and the Mississippi State Data Center, The University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies during undergrad at the University of Mississippi studying Economics and Environmental Studies. She was a Freeman Foundation Grantee, spending a summer during college interning in Shanghai, China and worked with WWOOF in France.
She thrives on community coalition building, bringing folks together working towards social change. Combining her technical knowledge in economics with her passions of food security and public health, she focuses her efforts on fundraising, event planning, and programming with the Mississippi Farm to School Network. She enjoys gardening, traveling, and being outdoors.
MaryJo Wilson
Marketing & Outreach Lead | maryjo@mississippifarmtoschool.orgMaryJo is a recent first-generation graduate from the University of Mississippi, where she studied Integrated Marketing Communications, Environmental Studies, and General Business during her undergraduate studies. She is devoted to enriching communities across Mississippi and has developed a strong passion for philanthropy after beginning as an intern with the Mississippi Farm to School Network.
In her current role, her goal is to cultivate and establish positive relationships that provide enriching opportunities for food sovereignty and inspire Mississippi communities and children. She also aims to combat the challenges of food insecurity throughout the state by strengthening the local economy and food systems through education, local procurement, and empowerment. MaryJo also enjoys spending her time in nature, cooking, and exploring.
Edy Dingus
Programs Coordinator: Farm to Early Childcare Specialist | edy@mississippifarmtoschool.orgEdy Dingus (she/they) is devoted to her belief in empowering all children and their families, especially those living in her home state of Mississippi. Before proudly joining MSF2SN, Edy served as the executive director of Magnolia Montessori School for nearly seven years, working to improve access to quality care and child-led education in Lafayette County and surrounding areas. She’s also served as both an English teacher abroad and a national service member at home. As an AmeriCorps VISTA, Edy was proud to support local educators, families, and children as part of the ongoing anti-poverty work of the early childhood education coalitions housed at the United Way of Oxford and Lafayette County and the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement.
Edy sustains her passion for providing holistic educational opportunities in Mississippi by maintaining an active presence in North Mississippi non-profits including Oxford Community Market, Iris Arts Community, and UUCO’s Our Whole Lives project.