Indiana Grown Hires Manager

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The Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s Indiana Grown initiative has named Heather Tallman (pictured) member development program manager. She founded her own food media company, Kitchen Sink Media Inc., which helped brands and businesses with content creation, social media, product placement and promotion. Through creating her own food-centric network, Tallman has gained experience in blogging, broadcast appearances and cooking demonstrations as Basilmomma. With a combined following of more than 46,000 readers per month, her knowledge of the food industry has helped her become a prominent figure in the local community and surrounding areas. In her new role, she will be responsible for providing member development, project leadership and implementation of multiple strategies to drive economic development and marketing. Additionally, Tallman will handle general statewide outreach, economic development and speaking engagements on topics pertaining to local food development, food hubs and Indiana Grown. Also, Julie Golliher and Jen Desormier have joined the Indiana Grown team as representatives. Golliher and Desormier will be providing members with educational resources, information about the initiative and insight into the many benefits of being a member. Golliher previously co-managed her family farm in Cambridge City. She is also a physical therapist at Henry County Hospital. Desormier’s background includes sales and customer relationship management. She brings more than 10 years of experience in business-to-business sales.

Since its launch in July 2015, the initiative has grown to more than 650 members statewide, including roughly 40 business partners consisting of distributors, farmers markets and retailers, such as Marsh, Kroger and Market District. Indiana Grown hopes to continue to generate additional consumer awareness in retail locations using store wide marketing materials and regional events.