Our Team
Kym Barboza-Owens
Kym serves as a visionary leader guiding the organization’s mission, culture, and daily operations. As a founding leader, she translates lived community insight and hands-on experience in food recovery into systems that rescue nutritious surplus food and deliver it where it can do the most good.
Her work shaped by 30+ years of social service programming for women, hospitality, and food recovery. She blends entrepreneurship and service—building partnerships, programs, and infrastructure from the ground up while remaining deeply connected to the communities Fresh Start serves. She leads with a focus on equity, access, and environmental responsibility, ensuring that food distribution is both efficient and rooted in dignity.
At Fresh Start Food Network Kym drives innovation in community-based food access, helping to shape a model that meets people where they are and responds to the realities of food insecurity with creativity and care.
President & Co-Founder
Linda Karpeichik
Executive Vice President & Co-Founder
Linda helps guide the organization’s mission, partnerships, and program growth. As a founding leader, she brings a deep commitment to building systems that ensure nutritious food reaches communities in ways that are accessible, consistent, and rooted in dignity.
Her work is shaped by more than 40 years in public education, where she served as a special education teacher, administrator, grant writer, and consultant. Throughout her career, she focused on supporting children and families with diverse needs—developing inclusive programs and strengthening the connection between schools, educational services, and community.
At Fresh Start Food Network, Linda translates that experience into community-centered food access solutions, helping design and implement programs that meet people where they are. Her leadership reflects a belief that strong, responsive systems—whether in education or food access—can create meaningful, lasting impact.