Shortly after graduating with a degree in architecture from Barnard College (Columbia University), Alison lost her father to cancer. A life-changing escape to the island of Grenada allowed her to grieve, grow, and learn about the healing impact of real food on one’s health.

Upon returning to San Francisco after a year abroad, work at Feldman Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, and The San Francisco Foundation, involved experiences that, along with a role as a post producer at TBWA\Chiat Day, laid the groundwork for creating Boxcar Grocer in 2011, a radical concept to bridge urban agriculture with a new type of healthy corner store to increase food access in cities. After closing the store in 2015, a chance encounter during a personal health crisis exposed her to the work of Emma Kunz, an event that forever changed the way Alison looks at the urban environment, human potential, and the healthy possibilities available when the right conditions are created.

Alison has been featured in Grist, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Good Magazine. She transitioned off the Georgia Advisory Board for The Trust for Public Land and Propel Atlanta (formerly Atlanta Bicycle Coalition) but continues to advocate for cyclists and Downtown Atlanta. She lives in Midtown where you can find her zipping through town on her bicycle, jogging through Piedmont Park, or playing with dogs in Winn Park.