Our Core Team and Network

Estelle Carol (Co-Executive Director, DRP) is an artist and healthy food enthusiast in equal parts. She views food gardening as a creative expression of her interest in (and obsession with) wellness. She is an accomplished graphic designer and business owner (www.webtraxstudio.com) with a long history of non-profit involvement in the community. Over the 10 years that she has been passionately exploring organic food gardening, she has read extensively about soil health and is proud of the Deep Root’s Method - she is always improving it with the help of soil engineers and DRP customer feedback. Estelle enjoys researching the most economical and efficient products and the latest science-based methods for urban farmers. She continues to learn edible gardening from other gardeners, academicians, environmentalists, friends, books, videos and the internet and when she is not gardening, she still finds time to support social justice organizations. View Video Interview with Estelle. Estelle is the founder of HerStory – a non-profit dedicated to women’s issues.


Will Schreiber (Co-Executive Director, DRP) is originally from New York - but grew up in the Chicago area. Will spent most of his summers back in New York where he worked on his family’s 75-acre farm upstate. He was immersed in organic farming long before the word “organic” became fashionable. He learned the importance of nutrient rich soil, preparing it with cow compost and leaf mulch, and rotating crops from year to year. At the same time, “Big Ag” was industrializing farming across the great plains in the middle of the country, immersing the soil with toxic pesticides and fertilizers. He built his first house at the age of 20 and went on to build a controls engineering company shortly thereafter. He has spent a lifetime building things, and after many years as an entrepreneur, he met Estelle Carol.  When he discovered their common interests in soil health, personal well-being, and environmental health- he was convinced that he had found the perfect partner for launching Deep Roots Project. Will’s practical, hands-on business skills help grow the organization while Estelle’s creativity makes the educational content user-friendly and beautiful too. Will’s training as an electrical and computer engineer prepared him for his role as DRP’s product development specialist. The organization’s unique raised beds are custom designed and built by him too (special irrigation systems are coming soon). He transformed half of Estelle’s 4-car garage into the Deep Roots carpentry workshop and is actively searching for carpenters and talented builders to help him keep up with the explosion in demand!


Rafaela A. Crevoshay - aka “Raffa” (Soil Health Guru) was introduced to food gardening as a volunteer on her brother’s homesteading project in Vermont’s North East Kingdom in the transformative ’60s. Rafa’s Vermont adventure led her to obtain a degree in Horticulture from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It resulted in finding a career far from New England with sojourns at mushroom farms in Oregon and California, international agri-sourcing for a west coast avocado cooperative, a leading sustainable farming certification firm in Berkeley, and ultimately with a producer of organically grown Heirloom Tomatoes in Baja California, Mexico. Along the way Rafa completed certifications in Compost Management, Turf Management, and International Agriculture. She has earned the elite Certified Crop Adviser title from the American Society of Agronomy. Raised not on a farm but in suburban Boston, her story represents the rewards of gardening as a life-long journey of discovery.


Rosita Rodriguez, our new customer support person, has been a volunteer for the Deep Roots Project for over four years. She has been involved in many aspects of holistic gardening (e.g, preparing soil, planting, fertilizing, harvesting, preparing the soil for the winter). She has a deep desire to learn and is always updating her skill set. She has a background in volunteer coordination from working for a non-profit organization.In addition, Ms. Rodriguez has also been a volunteer for Sarah's Inn for over 20 years. Sarah's Inn is a non-profit Domestic Violence organization.


Ludovica Cavalieri (Social Media Manager) a resident of Rome, Italy, was introduced to food gardening through her friend and DRP Marketing Manager, Lesley Pritikin, who works in Italy part of the year. She started out as a social media volunteer, writing FB and IG posts in exchange for taking courses on organic food growing. As DRP became more virtual and their online community flourished, she was asked to join the team as Social Media/Digital Outreach Manager. If you currently get our Newsletter - it’s thanks to her hard work. Ludovica’s vegan lifestyle and love for all things involving nature (she’s a Scout Leader) fed her desire to learn more about growing her own food and taking care of the planet. She is excited about contributing to a new and evolving Deep Roots Project. This January, she suggested a launch of a Vegan Grow Your Own movement – to take advantage of Veganuary, a worldwide promotion of veganism. So, be on the lookout for DRP’s social posts! Ludovica is is looking for Social Media Volunteers to help her write and share our posts. If you’d like to give her a hand, you can write her at drp.ludo1@gmail.drp.ludo1[at]gmail.com.(Photo on Blog Post Bio Page).


Deep Roots project has developed a network of local Oak Park/River Forest founding partners and collaborating organizations:

Founding Partners:

  • Sugar Beet Schoolhouse (has 501c3 status)

  • Oak Park Area Edible Gardening Co-op

  • KaliKalé, Urban Farms and Learning Gardens

  • DigRightIn, Earth-Friendly Landscaping

Collaborating organizations:

  • River Forest Sustainability Committee and Green Block Party

  • Seven Generations Ahead

  • PlanItGreen - Green Guides project

  • GoGreen Oak Park – anti-pesticide policy advocacy

  • Green Community Connections

  • Cook County Wild Ones

  • Midwest Pesticide Action Center

More organizations and businesses will be invited to join our network:

Would your organization or group like to join our network?