GREG ASBED
CO-FOUNDER, COALITION OF IMMOKALEE WORKERS, IMMOKALEE
The CIW is a human rights organization based in the farmworker community of Immokalee that’s recognized nationally and internationally for its work fighting human trafficking, sexual harassment and assault, and human rights abuses in corporate supply chains. Its Fair Food Program received a Presidential Medal and a MacArthur Genius grant for its innovative, worker-driven, market-enforced model of social responsibility backed by 14 of the world’s largest food corporations. Its approach to corporate social responsibility is in operation in multiple industries on three continents.
| EDUCATION | Brown University (BS), Johns Hopkins (MA) |
| PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION | I studied neuroscience in college and was on track for a career in research when I traveled to Haiti, where I volunteered in community development work for three years. My time in Haiti changed my trajectory from science to social change. |
| SOMETHING SURPRISING | I harvested watermelons, from Florida to Georgia to Missouri (and sometimes North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia) every season for 18 years. I learned everything I need to know about life in melons. |
| WORRIES ABOUT | The fact that so much of our country can be so easily taken in by something as absurd as QAnon. We’ve lost our rudder and are at the mercy of the most base, simple, narcissistic conmen and women I’ve ever seen play a serious role in our political world in my life. |
| READING | Dangerous Charisma, by Jerrold M. Post and Stephanie Doucette |