The National Mobile Market is committed to supporting the development of innovative solutions to food insecurity by providing fiscal, logistical, and structural support to community organizations interested in creating urban mobile markets to address the growth of urban food insecurity. We actively seek partnerships with existing mobile markets to facilitate knowledge sharing by developing lists of accepted best practices and refined methods for operations, community outreach, and evaluation protocols. We encourage the development of preventative strategies for tackling the epidemics of obesity and diet-related diseases.
About us
Mission
Concept
Leadership Team
Kelsey Creel is a current senior at Vanderbilt double majoring in Medicine, Health, and Society and Studio Art. She joined the National Mobile Market team because of her interest in the societal context of health. Through this organization she has been able to combine her love of service with her academic interests in a rewarding and beneficial way.
Kelsey Creel
Technology Manager/Webmaster
Michael Rausher is a Marketing & Strategy MBA student at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. He is passionate about solving societal problems through innovation and responsible business. Prior to business school, Michael founded a digital marketing company and social enterprise that connected businesses with nonprofits in order to raise money for a wide array of causes including Habitat for Humanity, The Humane Society, and The American Red Cross.
Michael Rausher
Director of Public Relations
Margaret Goldberg
Joey Starnes is a current senior at Vanderbilt majoring in Biology and Spanish. After graduating he will be attending medical school at Vanderbilt as well. His passion for global and public health led him to look for a way to get involved in these areas here in Nashville. Through his involvement with the Nashville Mobile Market he has realized the effectiveness of this model in combatting food deserts and is excited to help spread it throughout the country.
Executive Director
Joey Starnes
Margaret Goldberg is a Health Care MBA student at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. She is passionate about finding new ways to integrate nutrition access and education into the health care system to ultimately lower costs and improve individual wellbeing. Making nutritious food delicious is also a priority for Margaret; in her free time she enjoys experimenting with new recipes that show how eating healthy and eating well are by no means mutually exclusive!
Originally implemented in Nashville, The National Mobile Market model provides a foundation for continuing improvement and innovation. Through a mobile grocery store route, The Nashville Mobile Market provides food desert communities with fresh produce, lean meats, dairy, and select non-perishable items. Community residents enter through the back of the 28-foot trailer lined with shelves of produce. Goods can be purchased with credit card, cash, or EBT. In addition, recipes and cooking demonstrations occur alongside the trailer to educate customers about the simple, nutritious options available.
Building on this successful social enterprise in Nashville, The National Mobile Market seeks to grow the mobile market sector and fight food access inequity by facilitating the creation of mobile markets in other cities. By providing concrete tools and full operational support, The National Mobile Market streamlines the mobile market creation process in the hopes of battling food deserts on a national scale.
Additionally, the social enterprise approach provides an investigative opportunity for students and community volunteers alike. Through study and participation, students and volunteers are learning more about the interdisciplinary nature of preventative medicine. Currently, The National Mobile Market team is researching the program's effectiveness with regard to influencing the eating habits of community members living in food deserts. This research will hopefully produce a valid, novel method of employing existing community and economic development tools to address the issue of food inequality throughout the United States.
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Rachel is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University in Boston. She began her professional career in New York City working in corporate communications and education reform for the New York City Department of Education. Her experience spans grant writing and management as well as opening over 60 new public schools across NYC. She is currently a second-year MBA student at Vanderbilt, concentrating in sustainability. She leads a student organization focused on multi-dimensional poverty elimination and works to facilitate class-driven community empowerment projects in developing countries.
Grants Manager
Rachel Taplinger
Nabiha Mallick
Logistics & Operations Manager
Nabiha Mallick is a current junior at Vanderbilt majoring in Economics & Medicine, Health, & Society. She is originally from Northern Virginia. As Logistics & Operations Manager, she has appreciated the opportunity to work with different cities interested in creating Mobile Markets. After Vanderbilt, she plans on working in healthcare consulting in D.C.
Megan Anderson
Director of Research
Megan Anderson, a Dallas, Texas native, is a current senior at Vanderbilt majoring in Psychology, French, and Medicine, Health and Society (MHS). She was originally drawn to National Mobile Market because of her interests in the sociological dimensions of health and community-based research. In her role as Director of Research, she is able to assist partner cities in evaluating the need for a mobile market as well as assessing the effectiveness of the mobile market after implementation.
Christina Petrovich
Research Assistant
Cristina is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University from Dallas, Texas majoring in Medicine, Health, and Society (MHS), Religious Studies, and Financial Economics. She joined National Mobile Market because it is a perfect blend of her interest in the social implications of health and health access as well as her passion for food.
Hannah Berke
Director of Communications
Hannah Berke is a senior at Vanderbilt University studying Molecular & Cellular Biology and History of Art. She is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah and has spent time abroad, sparking her interest in public health concerns locally and globally. Her role as Director of Communications puts her in the center of the dialogue of effectively combatting food deserts around the country and she plans on continuing working on public health-related issues after graduating.
