Biography

Brahm Ahmadi the Founder and CEO of People’s Community Market (PCM) in Oakland, CA. Brahm is an advocate and social entrepreneur working to build healthier and more equitable inner city communities through solutions shaped by the history, knowledge and cultures of those diverse communities. With a background in the environmental justice movement, Brahm has, for the last ten years, focused his work on creating meaningful change and innovation to critical facets of the food system that directly impact low-income urban communities. In 2003, Brahm co-founded People’s Grocery, a nonprofit organization that has attracted local and national attention for its effort to transform inner city food systems. As Executive Director, Brahm led People’s Grocery in developing a suite of projects in food enterprise, urban agriculture, nutrition education and youth development. Seeking to create new solutions to creating access to fresh food in “food desert” communities, People’s Grocery launched the nation’s first Mobile Market - a traveling food store that sold healthy foods at affordable prices. Some of People’s Grocery’s other notable projects include: the Grub Box CSA, the Peer-to-Peer Nutrition Education Program, the Community Health and Nutrition Demonstrators (HANDS) Project, the Get Cooking class, the Growing Justice Leadership Institute, numerous urban gardens and a 3-acre farm. In 2010, Brahm transitioned from the leadership of People’s Grocery in order to shift his focus more fully on social entrepreneurship and creating a food retail business model specifically designed for and dedicated to serving low-income communities. Brahm founded PCM to develop a food retail store that provides programs, tools and settings for engaging residents in improving their health. Through this social venture Brahm hopes to redefine the values and practices of food retailers to better engage, serve and support the wellbeing of low-income communities. Brahm has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California and a M.B.A. in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School. He has spoken at many universities and conferences and has been featured in media such as Newsweek, People Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News. Brahm sits on boards and committees of numerous food and community organizations. Brahm was born is Tehran, Iran and grew up in Los Angeles, CA. He now lives in Oakland, CA, with his wife.