Jamese Kwele

Jamese Kwele is an ecosystem builder, constellation weaver, and a mama of two with over 20 years of experience facilitating impact in communities. As Ecotrust’s Vice President, Community Resource Mobilization, she provides strategic leadership for programmatic efforts that focus on advancing the wisdom of Black and brown land and water stewards, fostering leadership pathways in green economies, and building collective power to promote justice with and for frontline communities. Jamese is a founding member of the Black Ag Ecosystem (BAE); a board member for the Black Oregon Land Trust, the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, and the National Farm to School Network; and a co-founder of the Black Food Fund, which redistributes financial capital to Black farmers and land stewards across the Pacific Northwest. She is also an alumna of the Just Economy Institute, a network of 200+ financial activists working to shift capital and power in service of a more just economy. She finds inspiration in the liberatory power of Black people healing through cultural somatic praxis, ecological land stewardship, and rest. Jamese holds deep gratitude for the love, wisdom, and fortitude of ancestors, comrades, and communities who make her work both joyful and possible. She is fueled by authentic connection, subversive humor, radical candor, and expansive joy.