Our Staff
Elizabeth Louie
Executive Director
Liz’s journey began when she immigrated to the United States at the age of five with her parents. Both were professionals—her father, a CPA, and her mother, a secretary—but despite speaking English, their strong accents often led to misunderstandings. Her father, however, never saw this as a barrier. He joined Toastmasters to improve his public speaking and became actively involved in the Lions Club and Rotary Club to connect with professionals, seek mentorship, and give back to the community. These organizations became vital to his success, and he, in turn, mentored and uplifted other immigrants throughout his career.
He also played a pivotal role in the Filipino Chamber of Commerce, advocating for immigrant entrepreneurs and creating space for connection, education, and empowerment. Watching him lead with humility and purpose profoundly influenced her own values and commitment to inclusion.
With over 25 years of experience in operations management across various industries, she has honed her skills and expertise in navigating the complexities of business. In her recent role as a Program Development Manager, she had the privilege of collaborating with numerous nonprofits to launch and enhance their social enterprise and job training programs. She also worked with Future of Diversity to relaunch programs serving chefs and businesses owned and operated by people of color—giving them opportunities and access to resources that elevate their brands and offerings.
Outside of her professional endeavors, she is deeply committed to giving back to her community. She has volunteered for several organizations and spearheaded initiatives such as a district-wide mentorship program and after-school enrichment programs. Most recently, she had the opportunity to share her knowledge and passion for business by teaching Business 101 classes to aspiring entrepreneurs.
In 2023, she joined the Board of Directors at Project Feast and now serves as Executive Director—finding a home where her lived experience and professional expertise are aligned. Driven by a deep belief in equity and opportunity for all, she is committed to leveling the playing field and ensuring that immigrants and people of color have access to the resources and support they need to realize their full potential and thrive.
Danny Rice
Program Director
Danny has lived in over 13 locations, taught thousands of students of varying ages and backgrounds, and immersed herself in the food and gardening cultures of each place she has been fortunate to reside in or visit. While her professional background centers around environmental education and justice, she has also supported herself with part time work in the service industry for over 14 years and is ready to help others navigate this profession through a supportive and hands-on learning environment.
Danny is committed to providing a safe and respectful space for learning together, cultivated through cultural humility and inclusion, and building a sense of belonging and community through curiosity and honest exchange—all centered around the shared experience of nourishment through food.
Josef Bonneville
Culinary Director
Born in Vancouver, Canada, Josef has dedicated his entire working life to culinary pursuits. Working his way up from dishwasher to executive chef, he has a strong appreciation for the intrinsic value of every position in a restaurant. With twenty five years of kitchen experience, Josef has developed an encouragement based leadership philosophy that he feels is conducive to developing the soft skills needed to succeed in a kitchen work environment. Project Feast’s core values and mission align strongly with Josef’s own beliefs and desire to be an asset to immigrant communities. Josef believes that food is one of the great unifiers and is integral to the development of familial and communal bonds.
Nancy Gonzalez
Kitchen Assistant
Nancy started her food career at a fast food chain, but dreamed about one day opening her own catering company. She started at Project Feast as an apprentice in early 2023, graduated in May 2023, and joined our staff in August 2023! Needless to say, we love Nancy and are so happy to have her in our kitchen. Not only does she cook amazing Mexican food, she is also curious about other cuisines and loves meeting and learning from the apprentices that come through our program.
Board of Directors
Radhika Makhija
Radhika Makhija is an accomplished analytics and insights professional with over 20 years’ experience in consumer retail and consulting sector. Radhika has spent her career leading organizations in growth strategy development, brand equity and customer experience measurement and advancement of business objectives through analytics and insights. Radhika believes that food is a powerful catalyst for change and a medium that connects people in a unique way. Her passion for helping refugees and immigrants get the valuable education and experience they need, brought her to serve on the Board of Project Feast in 2021.
Radhika holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration focusing in general management and marketing. She has volunteered for non-profits through her entire career focusing on organizations that help provide sustainment in life skills, housing and education. She grew up in India and has been a Seattle resident since 2013. Radhika currently lives in West Seattle with her husband and 2 daughters.
Pranee Halvorsen
Chef Pranee first learned to cook as a child in Phuket, Thailand where her mom was a village chef famous for her Hua Mok (fish cake). By age 12, she had become the substitute cook for the family. After completing school, she worked for the Public Health Department and and became a certified midwife, but continued to help on the weekends with her family’s food business.
Then Pranee met and married Robert Halvorsen, an economics professor at the University of Washington on sabbatical in Thailand. She moved with him to Seattle, leaving her family and homeland behind—but not her mortar and pestle. Filling her kitchen with Thai herbs, spices and cooking equipment helped her to feel at home in Seattle, and soon her new American friends were asking her for Thai cooking lessons.
Today, Pranee is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and Women Chefs & Restauranteurs (WCR), a caterer, tour guide and cooking instructor whose popular classes in Thai cuisine are sellouts throughout the Northwest.
Meryn Shetye
Bio
Meryn is a strategic support professional who excels in planning and leading comprehensive programs in support of business goals and objectives. She currently works at BECU as their Senior Technology Business Operations Manager. An immigrant twice over (born in India, lived in England, before moving to the US), Meryn has been a customer of Project Feast since 2019, eating at the cafe (pre-COVID) and regularly coming for the Family Meals. She loves the values, mission, and philosophy of Project Feast as they closely aligns with her personal values.
Cynthia Kim
Secretary
Originally from California, Cynthia earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University. She joined Orion Industries in 2009 as a Vocational Counselor, working one-on-one with participants in the transitional employment program. Three years later, she transitioned into her current role as the Training Program Manager where she oversees the different training programs Orion offers, including developing curriculum, managing vocational and clerical instructors, and overseeing Orion’s internal mentorship program. In 2019, Cynthia and her husband welcomed their first child!
Justin Smith
Co-President
Justin Smith is currently the executive director of Catalyst Kitchens, an organization that works with clients and members across the country to build sustainable job training programs and social enterprise operations in the food service realm.
Before moving into a consultant role, Justin worked as a chef trainer and job developer with multiple programs, including Farestart in Seattle and Inspiration Corporation in Chicago, IL. He also has experience as a special education teacher with Chicago Public Schools, and designing and running after school cooking programs for a Chicago nonprofit called Common Threads.
His largest motivators in wanting to serve on the board of Project Feast is to help build a strong and lasting program that will impact the lives of immigrants and refugees. He believes in the ultimate power of food to build community.
Annie Tran
Annie is currently the Economic Development Manager for the Port of Seattle. She grew up in Shoreline, Washington and has spent her entire life in the Pacific Northwest. Her parents emigrated from Vietnam after the Vietnam War and were part of the “Boat People” era. As a beneficiary of many of the sacrifices her parents endured, she is actively seeking different ways to give back to the community and hopes to help support and uplift newly arrive refugees and immigrant communities in the region.
In her current role at the Port of Seattle, she manages a $2 million grant program that supports economic development initiatives with city partners across King County. In addition, she has helped design and implement a new Community Business Connector program that is set to launch in early 2023 that is focused on serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color businesses to help them access business resources. Primarily, this program is set to reduce the linguistic and cultural barriers that some immigrant and refugee-owned businesses face when seeking resources to help start or maintain their businesses. The intention is to partner with community-based organizations who have language skills and cultural understandings to best serve these communities.
Abby Woods
Bio
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Abby started cooking and baking with her mom at the age of 6. In 2022, she started Trini Plate, a Caribbean food business featuring dishes from her culture and heavily inspired by the street vendors in her birth country. She found further inspiration after joining Project Feast in early 2023 as an apprentice. PF helped expand her skills and gave her a sense of direction for her business. She also made lifelong friendships with other apprentices, which even influenced her cooking (Trini Jjajang!). She’s excited to sit on the board of PF to help support future apprentices.
Karolin Dygas
Treasurer
Karoline is Nordstrom’s Vice President and CPO leading Strategic Sourcing and Procurement for all non-merchandise spend. Prior to joining Nordstrom, she was Starbucks Corp Vice President leading Global Sourcing, Store Development, and Siren Retail Supply Chains. Karoline was born in Poland and came to the U.S. as part of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. She understands the hardships and the opportunities of starting a new life in a foreign country. As Karoline has been able to overcome many obstacles in her journey as a refugee, she is finally in a position to give back to those in early stages. She looks forward to working with PF, and to sharing her experience, support, and encouragement.
Currently, Karoline lives in Issaquah with her husband Josh, two children Morgan and Max, and their Samoyed-Husky rescue dog, Yeti.
Giselle Leung
Giselle Leung is a senior purpose-driven professional with more than two decades of experience and leadership in impact investing, global development, and consulting. She is passionate about harnessing the power of finance and philanthropy for sustainable impact and creating the enabling conditions for all people to thrive. From 2010 to 2023, she held a variety of roles – most recently as Chief Partnership Officer – at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), an organization dedicated to shaping finance as a force for good and mobilizing capital to social and environmental solutions. As a founding team member, Giselle helped build the GIIN from a start-up in a nascent industry to a recognized leader in impact investing.
A firm believer that talent is universal but opportunity is not, Giselle is excited to support Project Feast’s work in empowering refugees and immigrants by creating pathways to opportunities in the food industry and celebrating our shared humanity across diverse cultures.
A New Yorker at heart, Giselle moved to Seattle in 2019 with her partner to be closer to the great outdoors.
