Our Team
Holly Martin
Executive Director and Founder
Holly has been working in the field of food and nutrition her entire career. She has worked in a variety of clinical and community nutrition settings including working in hospitals, a food bank, children’s nutrition programming and managing a farmers market. The complex and challenging work in the food system and the devastating health effects that lack of access to healthy food has on communities allowed her to see the true need for an improved local food system. The real need was to bring the entire community back to understanding their connections to food.
Outside of work, Holly enjoys adventures with her family and working on her children’s school gardens installing native plants and promoting outdoor learning though ecological landscaping.
Reach out to Holly:
hmartin@chattfoodcenter.org
Cori Tinkham Cruz
Program Manager
Cori is the Program Manager at the Chattanooga Food Center and currently operates multiple programs under the state-funded grant, Project Diabetes: a monthly active lifestyle initiative, a choose water campaign, cooking demonstrations at various marketplaces/community hubs and cooking classes at various schools/community centers, and a SNAP-doubling program at six participating marketplaces that incentivizes purchasing fresh, local fruits, vegetables, herbs, and seeds/plant starts.
Cori graduated from UTC in 2021 with a BA in Anthropology and is continuing her studies in the field of food policy through a remote Master's program at Boston University's Metropolitan College.
Reach out to Cori:
(423) 900-2247
Callie Bennett
Grocery Manager
Callie grew up in West Tennessee and came to Chattanooga to attend UTC and never left! Her love for cooking blossomed during Covid, which soon led her into gardening and learning how to live closely connected to her food sources. While volunteering at local farms, she developed a deep appreciation for fresh, locally grown food. That search for the best organic, local produce brought her to Gaining Ground as a customer—and for years, she was a devoted shopper before stepping into her current role.
Now, she’s even more passionate about our mission to make healthy, delicious food affordable and accessible to our community.
When she’s not at the store, you can usually find her covered in clay whether that be at the pottery studio, digging in her garden, or building her off-grid cob home. She strives to live an organic, sustainable lifestyle and loves sharing that journey—and tips—with our customers.
Emma Clarey
Grocery Assistant
Emma, originally from Athens, TN, has always loved the kind of work that brings people together in a meaningful way. She was drawn to Gaining Ground because she cares about supporting local food systems and making good food accessible to everyone. When she’s not at the shop, she’s probably hanging out with her cat, crafting, or thrifting! Emma is really happy to be part of a mission that feels so grounded and community-focused.
Board of Directors
President: Chloe Krueger
Vice President: Nicole Stenberg
Secretary: Stephanie Lamar
Treasurer: Dan Hekman
Ashley Valencia, Virginia Koebley, Kayleigh Reeves, Murphy Sauceman, Michael Kohn, Lisa LaRaia, Eric Stocking, and Amanda Makhijani
