Quinlan Carttar

Quinlan currently serves as one of KSRE's two Food Systems Entrepreneurial Resource Navigators, whose work supports the USDA's Heartland Regional Food Business Center. As Resource Navigator, they support food and farm entrepreneurs in growing their businesses by providing technical assistance on grant applications and more.

After graduating with a BA in Spanish Language, Literature, and Cultures from the University of Kansas, they moved to Brooklyn, NY to pursue a career in academic publishing and food media. Years later, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Quinlan was radicalized by the resulting sudden and acute food insecurity in their community and joined the team at a food justice social enterprise. Quinlan received intensive culinary training in this role while also serving as the company's Communications and Culinary Operations Lead, which helped them develop a holistic operational food business acumen. They then went on to cook in fine dining restaurants in NYC’s East Village, in addition to volunteering with Gods Love We Deliver preparing nutritionally-tailored meals for community members living with AIDS, Covid-19, and other illnesses.

Since returning to Lawrence in the fall of 2023, they worked in outreach at The Merc Co+op and cooked at Culinaria Mediterranean Kitchen before arriving at K-State Extension. They have served as a City Appointee on the Douglas County Food Policy Council since early 2024. When they're not at work, Quinlan enjoys singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, biking the Lawrence Loop, and sitting with friends (or a great book) on the patio at the Bourgeois Pig.