Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, Kari Hodges & Ethan Frisch

Teaches at Be Social Change

Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli is a green business entrepreneur with a Masters in Urban Policy Analysis and Sustainability Management from the New School, New York. In 2012, she concepted, co-founded, and managed FERN [Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients], a sustainable waste management organization in Beirut, Lebanon which presented a model for green job creation in the Middle East drawing attention from the United Nations and international aid organizations.

After returning from Beirut, Meredith worked at the Lower East Side Ecology Center as a Marketing Director and Program Developer for the Gowanus eWaste Warehouse. Meredith was lucky enough to audit the 2015 Master Composter class during that time, deepening her knowledge of compost science. Meredith joined Common Ground Compost in October 2015, and her dog Franklin was adopted into the team one month later. Meredith volunteers and works with organizations across the Northeast, including CitySoil in Boston and Talk Trash City in New York City. A lover of cities and maker of things, Meredith builds furniture from trash and finds nothing more satisfying than seeing well-sorted waste stations.


Kari Hodges is the founder of Womxn Rank, a platform for college women to speak openly and honestly about sexism, harassment, and assault on their campuses. Part activism tool and part social network, Womxn Rank uses technology to amplify women’s voices, force institutional change, and create greater accountability in the fight for gender equity.

An MBA, business strategist, and former policy wonk, Kari has worked extensively in business design, organizational strategy, program design, and leveraging business practices for social change.


Ethan Frisch is a chef, entrepreneur, activist and native New Yorker. As the founder of Burlap & Barrel, he is building new, direct supply chains for unique & beautiful spices from small farms around the world, connecting smallholder farmers with international markets. He was also the co-founder and Executive Chef of the activist ice cream cart Guerrilla Ice Cream and the Pastry Chef at Allen & Delancey, as well as a cook at several other highly regarded restaurants including Danny Meyer’s Tabla. As a humanitarian aid worker, he worked with NGOs including the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan, Doctors Without Borders on the Syrian/Jordanian border and Marie Stopes in Sierra Leone.  

He has been an Adjunct Lecturer at the City College of New York and an instructor with the Experiment in International Living’s Leadership Institute. He is honored to serve as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bond Street Theatre, which uses theater to teach techniques of resilience around the world, on the Chef’s Council of Emma’s Torch, a culinary job skills organization for refugees, on the Advisory Board of the student-led racial literacy organization CHOOSE, an Associate Producer with Fragments Theater, a youth theater company in Palestine, and a member of the Organizing Committee of the Queens International Night Market. He is the Co-Host of the show Why Food? on Heritage Radio Network, and has been a columnist at Serious Eats and a contributor to the academic journal Peace & Conflict Review.

He holds a dual Bachelor Degrees from the City University of New York and a Masters Degree from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies).