Asher Landau is Director of Development for Hollywood Food Coalition. He helps guide HoFoCo’s strategy for sustainable growth to meet challenges related to food insecurity, homelessness, and resource inequality. He builds and maintains relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including board members, philanthropic individuals, elected officials, government agencies, foundations, fellow nonprofits and business leaders. Previously, he served as Vice President for HoFoCo’s board of directors and an Associate Director of Development at UCLA.

Bryan has been working with startups since he was old enough to move a lawn mower around his neighborhood. From his early days of convincing adults to trust him with their lawn care to his work in production, fantasy sports, and nonprofits, his work has always reflected a passion for building and growing operations. He’s grateful for the opportunity to bring that same focus to The Community Exchange and The Hollywood Food Coalition, the best 34-year-old startup around. The most exciting part of his work is helping to centralize, organize, and grow food rescue efforts across LA County and create equitable solutions for all Angelenos.

Linda Pianigiani is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer as well as an organ builder and woodworker. She hails from Italy, and after more than a decade in film development and production, working on all kinds of films, from blockbusters to Emmy Award-nominated documentaries, she transitioned to managing programs and partnerships in the nonprofit sector. Her introduction to the Hollywood Food Coalition started back in 2015, when she began as a volunteer on the line and eventually moved to the kitchen shifts, putting her love for food to work for a great cause. She joined the board of directors in 2017 and, in 2022, stepped down to enthusiastically join HoFoCo’s development staff, concentrating her efforts on communication, corporate partnerships, and events.

Sherry began volunteering with the Coalition over 20 years ago. Over this time, Sherry has worn nearly every hat possible with HoFoCo, from cooking meals to taking clients to doctor appointments to serving multiple terms as Board President.  Sherry brings to HoFoCo a profound concern for the welfare of those struggling, along with the tools needed to help make improvements in their lives.

Sherry has always believed that the strength of HoFoCo lies in its ability to function as a coalition, where everyone feels welcome and accepted. She has a BS and MA in Occupational Therapy from USC and over 40 years of experience working with people struggling with significant life changes due to physical and mental health challenges.  As HoFoCo’s first-ever salaried Executive Director, she envisioned HoFoCo creating a community hub where service providers can work together efficiently and effectively to help people in crisis access services and support for their immediate needs as well as for their personal growth. She is excited to continue contributing to HoFoCo as its Special Projects Advisor.

Collin Leaver is the Head Chef for Hollywood Food Coalition. In this capacity, Collin works to ensure that HoFoCo meets its standards to provide healthy and nutritious meals for food-insecure and low-income persons. Before joining HoFoCo, Collin worked as a Chef de Cuisine for a hotel in San Diego and a Corporate Chef for a restaurant group in Los Angeles. Before moving to L.A., Collin spent most of his culinary career in San Francisco starting from a line cook to a Chef de Cuisine for several award-winning and Michelin-starred restaurants. Collin was born in Los Angeles, grew up in San Diego, and attended college in New York.

Patrick Hudnut returned to the Hollywood Food Coalition in August 2020, having been the HoFoCo Summer Intern for the summer of 2019. As Executive Associate, he wears many hats for the organization, working primarily with the development, marketing, and executive teams. If you have any questions about the Hollywood Food Coalition, he invites you to reach out to him at . A native of Los Angeles, Patrick is a graduate of Kenyon College, where he studied philosophy and played on the men’s tennis team.

Douglas has been a resident and stakeholder in the Hollywood area for the last 10 years since moving here from Chicago. For many years, he worked for The Center in Hollywood, one of Hollywood Food Coalition’s most important partners. As part of the Wellness program, CES and the E6 Outreach program there, he built a reputation for himself as a committed advocate for our unhoused neighbors and someone who would never hesitate to go above and beyond for the most vulnerable members of our community.
After moving to a position with the County nearly a year ago (we won’t hold that against him!), he felt called back to the community he knows best and is excited to have found a role with HoFoCo.

Erin Lovelace is an actor and works as the Kitchen Supervisor at Hollywood Food Coalition. Erin’s job works directly with the volunteers, greeting and instructing them on the tasks of the day: preparing the evening’s dinner, serving clients nightly meals and non-food essentials, and maintaining a clean kitchen. Before working for the Coalition, Erin worked in the restaurant industry as a bartender and server. She performed weekly on the Chicago stages of iO and other theatres around the city.

Marike started volunteering at the Hollywood Food Coalition in August 2020 and recently started working as a kitchen assistant, helping with meal preparation and nightly services. Marike is currently studying sports nutrition at UCLA extension and used to be a flight attendant based in Montreal, Canada.

Dougald was born, raised, and educated in Oregon.  He has lived and worked throughout the west, spending years in San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, and Seattle, before landing in Los Angeles 25 years ago. He is so happy to be part of Hollywood Food Coalition, where he started as a volunteer with his friends. Dougald lives in Glassell Park with his daughter, Ruby.

As HoFoCo’s Volunteer Coordinator, Jill focuses on volunteer coordination for the Community Dinner and office management, including reminding volunteers that it’s their day to help, thanking donors for their generous donations, picking up mail, maintaining stats (meals, clients, donations, etc.), and coordinating projects. Jill began with HoFoCo as a Food Runner and has been with the organization ever since. With a background in theater and the performing arts, copy editing, teaching and tutoring, Jill has done it all – you name it, she’s done it. She could also be found, before the pandemic, leading visits at the Getty Villa as an Arts Education Docent.

Krys Grant-Ray relocated from New York, leaving the medical field shortly after making a decision to focus her efforts on building strong community ties. She was eager to build a bridge between organizations, to meet different organizational goals and participants’ needs. By 2014, Krys found herself working in the space of community engagement and food security. In 2019, Krys shifted her efforts from solely food-focused engagement to include volunteers.

Krys recently joined the Hollywood Food Coalition team in a role of Community Exchange Program Coordinator.  As a New York native, Krys brings her ability to hustle, catch the vision, and connect others to it in an authentic way. With over a decade of experience, she continues to strive to meet the food needs of communities.

Miles Daniels graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2013 with a degree in History. After moving to Los Angeles later that same year, he worked in the retail industry before entering the non-profit workforce with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in 2020. After two years of Market Research and Data Analysis, he jumped at the opportunity to join the team at Hollywood Food Coalition in June 2022. As Community Exchange Program Supervisor, Miles balances growing and managing his team and learning as much as possible about the food recovery space. Having lived in the Hollywood area for the last ten years, Miles has seen firsthand the incredible work Hollywood Food Coalition has done and continues to do day after day. He’s excited to be a HoFoCo team member and to continue helping those in need.

Lucy is a recent UCLA graduate, where she studied Geography and Environmental Studies, with minors in GIS and Urban and Regional Studies. As a southern California native who has lived in city environments her whole life, she is interested in finding ways to create a more equitable food system, with an emphasis on accessibility and environmental impact. Lucy believes that food is a powerful tool to enact tangible change, as well as one of her favorite love languages. She has worked in non-profit environments, for UCLA Dining Services, and on a regenerative, organic farm. She also loves to stay active and spend time exercising or exploring outdoors. In her free time Lucy can be found at the gym, reading, writing poetry, spending time with loved ones, or visiting a local farmer’s market.

A native of Detroit, graduate of the Los Angeles Film School, and huge baseball fan, Jeff joined HoFoCo’s Community Exchange in the summer of 2021, where he is excited to work with wonderful people on one common goal: serving the community! Before HoFoCo, Jeff worked for the LA Dodgers and on various films and TV shows. Jeff is very proud of his two kids, Danielle (18) and Travis (6). When not working, you can find Jeff hanging out with his son at the park, catching a move, going to a baseball game, enjoying college football (GO BLUE!), catching a Morrissey show, or taking a nap! 

Nick has been working with HoFoCo since 2018 and helps plan the routes to the donors and vendors all over Los Angeles County, as well as physically transporting/loading in and out thousands of pounds of food everyday.

After delivering them for redistribution to the HoFoCo kitchen and other organizations, he works within the Exchange program, helping with inventory, as well as communicating to volunteers and organizing the kitchen throughout the day.

Nick is originally from Minneapolis, MN and is also a working recording/touring musician.

Born and raised in Cameroon, Sam has been with the Hollywood Food Coalition for more than 15 years. He first came to the US to attend the University of Oklahoma. Upon graduation, Sam made his way to LA to be a musician and worked as a French-English translator. Sam currently anchors our weekend Meal Service and is part of our transportation team at the Community Exchange. You can find his music under the name Pi Life in Hell.