Our Team

MEET THE TEAM

Leadership Team

D'Loveantae Allen- CEO

D'Loveantae Allen is the CEO of GGB. D'Loveantae is 17 years old, and has lived with his mom and two younger siblings in Heritage Park since 2006. He was the youngest member of GGB's team to attend Urban Strategies' (GGB's parent company) Choice Means Choice Conference in 2019, but his age has never defined his leadership. Although D'Loveantae worries that it's less impressive because he is "so old now," everyone is still shocked to find out he is still in high school. He excels at engaging with customers, bringing wit and humor to GGB, and spearheading networking meetings and investor pitches. D'Loveantae is also GGB's grammar king and helps manage the business email account and proofread materials. D'Loveantae takes pride in dressing to impress (he will take any chance he can get to wear a suit and nice shoes) and everyone is always blown away at how many impressive business cards from networking that he has stashed in his wallet. A highlight from this past year was getting to meet Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with Urban Strategies, Inc. Executive Vice President Donovan Duncan. Besides his involvement in GGB, D'Loveantae spends a lot of time babysitting his baby brother and sister. When D'Loveantae gets older he wants to continue to be an entrepreneur, pursuing real estate and more. D'Loveantae says "working at GGB has been life changing. I truly enjoy the place I work and the people I spend my time around."

Nimet Abubaker- EVP

Nimet Abubaker is the Executive Vice President of GGB. Nimet is 16 years old, and has lived with her mom and siblings in Heritage Park since 2009. Nimet in addition to being a full time high school student, takes classes at Normandale community college. Nimet's apartment is the closest one to Heritage Park's community space so she was always the first to know about community events. She was four years old when she first participated in a literacy program with Urban Strategies, Inc. that taught her how to read, Nimet was hooked from then on, and has been involved in all sorts of youth programming including Girl Scouts, 4-H and youth cooking classes. Nimet became involved with GGB after participating in Entrepreneurship Club, an opportunity to work in teams to design new products for the social enterprise. During Fall 2019 her team's body care product won the competition and led to a new line of GGB products called Garden Spa. During the pandemic, Garden Spa flourished because of Nimet's leadership and ability to organize the crew to work on the products remotely. For a period of time during the pandemic, Nimet even had to relocate to Memphis, and she was still dedicated to work on the product line with the team of other youth leaders from afar. Nimet is grateful to be back in Heritage Park and has taken on more leadership in the past year. Her peers (especially her faithful sidekick D'Loveantae) are grateful for her determination, organization, and big dreams for GGB. She isn't quite sure how she is going to "give it up" and pass it on to her younger siblings Isahk and Aisha when she graduates and heads to college. We often remind her that her older brother was here first.

Johnny Jones- CFO

Johnny Jones is the CFO of GGB. Johnny is 18 years old and just recently graduated in June 2022 , and will be starting college in January 2023. Johnny has lived in Heritage Park for the past 8 years with his mom and three younger siblings. Johnny completed GGB's workforce training in 2018 and officially began with GGB in early 2019. Johnny first started off on the bake crew as a dishwasher (the most important position in the eyes of GGB leaders,) but was quickly promoted to lead prep and then onto the sales and executive teams. It was only after joining the executive team that his amazing math skills and interest in GGB's finances emerged. As CFO, Johnny does. a lot of financial, administrative, and "behind the scenes" tasks, like tracking and reporting sales, keeping on top of GGB crew hours and supervising many of GGB's crew meetings. Now known by the group as the "GGB Dad," his reliable, steady and calm leadership has created important balance for the group. He also has been able to recruit both of his younger brothers to work for GGB , as well as his younger sister, who participates in the Active Chefs program. His leadership skills have not gone unnoticed by community stakeholders leading to him being recruited for a position through Hennepin County Library in 2021 where he still works today. Johnny believes that "GGB's success can be attributed to its community roots, tight knit relationships between members and the unique spin it places on vegan and vegetable based desserts." Johnny can't wait for GGB's commercial kitchen to open (especially because of the new state of the art dishwasher) and looks forward to GGB's goal of creating a storefront and expanding to other locations around the Twin Cities.

Ariana Merrick- COO

Ariana Merrick is is the COO of GGB. Ariana is 16 years old, and has lived with her mom and siblings in Heritage Park since 2010. Ariana became involved in GGB through older sister, and GGB founder, Autumn. She first participated in the cooking and gardening programs in elementary school. Over the past year she has joined the leadership team and is practically involved in all aspects of GGB from baking and selling to gardening, art, and design. It's hard to imagine a time before Ariana was on GGB's leadership team because she is involved almost every day of the week. In addition to her dedication to GGB she is able to juggle helping pick up her younger brothers, Junior and Jo'el, from daycare every day. Although she is involved in all aspects of GGB, Ariana's favorite component of GGB is the garden. She finds it super satisfying to pull out all of the weeds and explore new plants. On a recent field trip she discovered cucamelons (a mini watermelon that tastes like cucumber and originates from Mexico) and that she can win all bets in a hot pepper eating contest. Ariana loves that GGB is community based and that she gets to collaborate with her best friend, siblings, and next door neighbors (Nimet and Isahk). Ariana says she is "proud to be a part of Heritage Park and an active leader contributing to making her environment a better place for her and her siblings."

Junior Executive Team

Lamia Fisher- Office Manager, Lead Seller & MC

Lamia Fisher is the Office Manager, Lead Seller and MC of GGB. Lamia is 17 years old, and has lived with her mom, younger siblings, and the neighborhood's famous dog, Hershey, in Heritage Park since 2008. Lamia did not formally join GGB until recently because she was busy with school sports and other activities but was always involved in the community and GGB from afar; however, she couldn't resist becoming involved after the new GGB kitchen was being built next to her house. Lamia first joined the sales team and due to a series of unfortunate events, was tasked with leading sales at the farmer's market alone . She did an amazing job interacting with customers and was excited to show everyone she was capable of handling it on her own. After that experience, she has continued to show her leadership and community advocacy in many ways. In addition to her customer service skills, Lamia has assisted with MCing a number of community events. She combines her organizational skills, enthusiastic personality, and dance abilities to really put on a show. Lamia is "grateful for GGB and Heritage Park for being such a special neighborhood and she isn't sure what she would do without it."

Sarod Williams- Community Crew Lead

Sarod Williams is the Community Crew Lead of GGB. Sarod is 13 years old and has lived with his mom and siblings in Heritage Park since 2005. Sarod was basically born into GGB with both of his older sisters as founding members of GGB and his older brother as a member of the production crew. Sarod participated in youth cooking and garden classes and first joined a GGB workforce crew that was started during the pandemic called 'Community Crew.' Community Crew installed 40 little pantries into all of the apartment buildings in the community and kept them stocked with PPE, cleaning supplies, and food. A proud moment for Sarod was that after only a few short moths into his role in Green Garden Bakery, he was invited to be on the local news to showcase Community Crew, and GGB's "Soul Box" promotion during Black History Month. Sarod loves bing a part of GGB because he has already done so much for the community and has so many skills as a middle schooler. Sarod has big plans to make GGB skyrocket and his goal is by the time he graduates high school, is for GGB to be an iconic Minnesota destination.

Isahk Abubaker- Executive Assistant

Isahk Abubaker is GGB's Executive Assistant. Isahk is 15 years old and has lived in Heritage Park for 14 years with his four siblings and parents. Isahk thinks that Heritage Park is a pretty special place with all of the programs and spaces that are available to the community. Some of his favorite places in Heritage Park, besides GGB's own youth space (a converted market rate apartment) and community room include the Basketball Courts, the Library, and the Teen Tech Center. Isahk has had his sights set on joining GGB for a long time, but was unable to work due to his age. Isahk wanted to prove his worth to the GGB team, and as an eight year old, began baking and selling cookies around the neighborhood and at school. Eventually, when Isahk turned fourteen, he officially joined GGB as Executive Assistant, and a member of various teams. Isahk, as executive assistant and lead gardener, is responsible for explaining the processes and procedures of the Garden Crew, and having extensive knowledge of the plants in the garden and how to care for the, as well as shadowing D'Loveantae and Nimet. Isahk says that "GGB is one of a kind and that part of what makes it so special is the fact that it is youth led. The hardworking individuals of GGB are organized and motivated." Isahk has learned leadership and teamwork skills in his time with GGB and has big dreams for GGB, one of which is that all youth have the opportunity to work in a similar program. Isahk also thinks it would be cool to win a Nickelodeon Choice Award and to appear on Shark Tank.

Jaden Scott- Lead Baker

Jaden Scott is the Lead Baker of GGB. Jaden is 16 years old and has been living in Heritage Park for 5 years, though he's gotten involved in GGB more recently through the City of Minneapolis's StepUp Summer Employment Program in 2021. Jaden came into GGB with a passion for cooking and skills from another cooking class he takes. Despite his short time spent with the GGB team, his enjoyment of cooking and proven leadership skills are reflected in his position as Lead Baker, in which he oversees bake shifts including bake prep, baking for farmers markets, and catering orders. One thing that being a part of the GGB has taught Jaden is that "vegan desserts are actually pretty good!" As lead baker, Jaden is looking forward to trying out new recipes and seeing how they do at farmers markets, but his favorite memories with GGB have been with the friends he's made, many of whom he says he probably wouldn't have met if not for GGB. Field trips to other bakeries, business tour, and team building are his favorite. In the future, Jaden's one hope for GGB is that it continues to grow, but that it doesn't lose vision of its mission or values it's had from day one.

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