I lived in Chicago until 2011 and, after 8 years away, moved back and into Uptown in August of 2019. In my years away, while in New York and London, I always had Chicago in the back of my mind.  When I moved back, I felt it was important to find ways to give back to the city and started volunteering wherever I could - including the Chicago Humanities Festival and the Greater Chicago Food Depository. I’m committed to my community at-large and feel that Chicago Market would be an incredible addition to Uptown and Chicago and am committed to seeing it to fruition.

While living in the UK prior to coming back to Chicago, I was able to shop and confidently know where almost all of my produce, meat, eggs, cheese, bread (and even gin) was sourced – and sometimes even knew the farmer. These shops were all usually within walking distance of my home, too. Shopping local is much more difficult here, without putting in a lot of effort and miles. I think it’s important for both our health and our environment to focus on locally sourced buying and Chicago Market could be a place to make this possible in our city.