Jan Alford, Director
Jan Alford is the Co-Founder and President of ProTronics Inc, an Electronics Contract Manufacturing firm Incorporated in 1993 in Knightdale, NC. He attended East Carolina University, North Carolina Wesleyan College, Nash Technical College, and has a degree in Electronics Engineering. Managing a business now for nearly 17 years has given him many opportunities to be an organizer, planner, and facilitator. Jan spends much of his spare time as a volunteer in various community, school, and church activities. He is a member of Pilot Baptist Church (PBC) where he serves as a Deacon and choir member. Additionally he served PBCas a Royal Ambassador counselor, youth and men’s basketball coach, and other numerous committees. In the summer of 2009 Jan helped with the distribution of food at PBCfor Grow and Share and served as coordinator for the church. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Franklin County Parks and Recreation Advisory board, a former President of the Bunn High School Booster Club, and former member ofthe Bunn Elementary and High School Advisory councils. He enjoys working with people of all ages.

Mitch Amiano, Director
Mitch is an independent consultant and president of Agile Markup Corporation, a company headquartered in Rolesville, NC. Agile Markup Corporation helps repair existing Web-based IT infrastructure and incorporate new content-driven application technologies. Clients include small businesses, universities, and manufacturers.

Mitch holds a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from North Carolina State University. He is also a published IT author and conference speaker, and organizes the Raleigh-Durham Web Design Meetup. With his wife and son, Mitch lives in Rolesville, the smallest and (after the City of Raleigh) oldest village in Wake County, and serves on the Rolesville NC Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. In 2005 he served as chair of the board when the town undertook the PARTF grant funded Main Street Park project, a 37 acre passive facility with extensive trails located in the center of the town. An avid practitioner of edible landscaping, Mitch also grows chestnuts, hazlenuts, blueberries, and figs. His vision is to see permaculture practices and community gardening adopted as a facet of local open space and greenway trail planning.

Nicole Banks, Director
Experienced with non-profit work, Mrs. Banks has a college degree geared toward working with public agencies and at-risk families. Her insight into families in need is important to focusing our project efforts. She coordinates our organization’s food distribution, helping communities learn to help themselves.

Kim Beaver, Treasurer
Ms. Beaver has years of accounting experience, including managing multiple company accounts. Her experience includes working with non-profit agencies aimed at helping women and children in need. She is expert at managing paperwork and keeping donations and expenses organized. In addition to serving on our board, she provides accounting and money management assistance, and volunteer coordination assistance. She also volunteers at fundraisers and serves as a gardening advisor, having several decades of family garden knowledge to share.

Leslie Flowers, Secretary
Ms. Flowers has extensive marketing and grant-writer management experience. She has experience speaking to crowds on topics including life change and is a Founder of 180 Enterprises, a life and style makeover corporation and national television show premiering Spring 2010. As a professional and a mother, she has experience fundraising and arranging donations for worthy causes.  Leslie serves as secretary of the board and provides marketing materials review and assistance.

Ernestine High, Director
Mrs. High brings to our board 18 years of Business Management as well as Business Administration experience.  She has spent the past 8 years working in the entertainment industry and is highly skilled in organizing public dance as well as fundraising events. She is adept at working with people of all ages and levels and has several years of experience in volunteer support and coordination.  Mrs. High also assists with donation drives and with Spring plant growing and food distribution.

Azuka Molokwu, Director
 Azuka Jebose Molokwu is the most popular entertainment journalist to ever come out of Nigeria. He lives and breathes music journalism and its associated virtues. He is a glorious alumnus of the most demanding journalistic schedule ever known in Nigeria. He was in the league of young journalists that pioneered the brand of entertainment reporting called celebrity journalism in the country. With many years on the beat, Azuka Jebose Molokwu played major role in the career of most Nigerian star musicians and others in the entertainment industry. Contemporary entertainment journalists owe Azuka for taking the bold step and paving the way for them to thrive. He is widely credited with bringing a fresh perspective to entertainment journalism in Nigeria, his scholarly , acerbic observations were sometimes challenged but his firm guiding philosophy of firmness to all were never faulted. Three memorable times, he was inducted into Journalism’s Hall of Fame: 1989, 1990 and 1991: voted by Music Radio as the Entertainment Journalist of the year. No
journalist has won this back to back in Nigeria.

Before he left for the United States in 1989, Azuka was the Crown Prince of entertainment journalism and music business expert. He was the anchor of Saturday Highlife, the breezy center spread entertainment column that made Saturday Punch, one of the hottest and sizzling newspapers in the country. Azuka SOLD out Saturday Punch and most vendors made brisk business of the situation. His gossip column WHISPERS blasted and praised both friends and foes. You were not ‘recognized ‘ until your name was whispered. WHISPERS was the hottest gossip column to emerge from entertainment journalism. It provided story leads for other entertainment reporters to pursue. In the United States, Azuka has functioned in music, artiste and media management, promotions and finance. He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Instant Media Communications, a music promotions and management/ public relations company before joining WSHA 88.9 FM, a public radio station in Raleigh, where he currently works as the director of music and community relations. Azuka has three daughters.
Azuka recently authored his first book, Days Of Sorrow: Waiting For My Husband To Die, now available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Kay Whatley, Creative Director
Mrs. Whatley brings to Grow And Share twelve years of business management experience. In addition to her experience with day-to-day operations of a corporation, she has decades of family gardening experience. Her duties include assisting with fundraising activities, managing volunteers, greenhouse and plant management, and assisting in food distribution channel management.

Kay is an experienced writer and author of XML Weekend Crash Course, Advanced FrameMaker, XML and FrameMaker, and XML: Problem-Design-Solution. For more information on Kay’s books, or to order a book, visit our BOOKS page. Kay frequently writes articles for industry magazines and Web sites, including IBM’s DeveloperWorks. She also oversaw production of a book and CD set, Learning Korean: Martial Arts Terminology, and the related poster products.

 She is also an experienced marketing planner and materials designer.  While working in a variety of industries, Kay has designed marketing materials for many events and purposes.  She has composited books for publishing companies.  Currently Kay designs all books and materials distributed by Grow And Share with feedback from the rest of the Board.