REBECCA REIS-MILLER
Food Systems, Operations, and Logistics
Rebecca Reis-Miller is a Local Food Systems Consultant to Sustainable Synergy / Seed2Source. She has been a champion of the local food movement in Central Florida since 2003. The catalyst for her interest in the movement was inspired by the work of Tia Silvasy at Simple Living Institute, an organization formed in efforts to research and develop working organic farms. Further, the work of the late Beth Hollenbeck of Eco-Action whom offered the ‘first’ all-organic farmers market in the College Park area of Orlando, FL. She volunteered her time with both of these organizations.
In 2007, an Orlando restaurateur introduced her to Slow Food and she fell in love with the philosophy. Soon after, she co-founded Slow Food Orlando, which was one of the first chapters in the State of Florida, at a time when there were less than a handful of restaurants in Central Florida utilizing local ingredients coupled with a lack of farmers. She led the organization for 4 years and hosted the first ‘Eat Local Week’ program which connected farmers with area restaurants throughout Orlando. During her tenure, she was fortunate to participate in Slow Food Nation in San Francisco in 2008 and Terra Madre in Turin, Italy in 2010. Mrs. Miller was a member of Georgia Organics, an Advisor to both Osceola Grown and the Florida Food Policy Council, and was a stakeholder for the first annual Florida Small Farms and Alternative Enterprises Conference hosted by University of Florida/IFAS. She would later become a speaker for the Livestock Marketing Tour. She, along with Jennifer Waxman-Loyd, were published in local blogs and publications; featured on podcasts and television programming; interviewed on a regular basis for area news outlets for the local food movement; and served on the editorial advisory board for Edible Orlando. Further, both Mrs. Miller and Waxman-Loyd produced the 2008 Green Earth Expo at the Orange County Convention Center.
In April 2011, she founded Growing Synergy, a Local Food Distribution company that worked with farmers and food artisans throughout Florida. Growing Synergy offered their local produce, meats, and artisan foods to restaurants in the Miami, Orlando and Tampa markets. Later in 2011, she purchased Lake Nona Deli and Market in the Lake Nona community of Orlando and ran this deli and pizzeria with her husband for 5 years. They sold the company in 2016 and moved to Las Vegas where she currently resides with her husband and two children.
Mrs. Miller has an extensive background in public relations and community building. She has consulted and served in several Executive Management positions with health and wellness companies as a former Managing Partner for Sustainable Synergy (Seed2Source). Her specialized services included: Business Planning, Proposal Writing, Grant Writing, Research and Development, Marketing, Public Relations, and Brand Development.
Mrs. Miller believes in the importance of preserving food culture and traditions, defending biological diversity of food, and the overall impact that food ultimately has on the health of the planet. Mrs. Miller graduated from University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2002 and Master of Public Administration in 2006.
EMAIL REBECCA
