Meet Our Staff
Alexis Luckey – Executive Director
Alexis joins Toxic Free NC as Executive Director after five years at Eastern Carolina Organics, working in partnership with organic farmers committed to building a more sustainable food system that is free from toxic pesticides and pollutants. As COO of ECO, she led the company’s efforts to join a national movement of Certified B Corporation businesses that prioritize people and planet above profit. She has worked to promote organic agriculture and strengthen community access to safe and healthy food through local and national non-profits and as an environmental project manager and educational facilitator for the U.S. Peace Corps in Malawi. Alexis has undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia. She is committed to advocating for a precautionary approach to regulation of chemicals in our fragile ecosystem and advancing environmental health and justice in North Carolina.
Phoebe Gooding – Program and Organizing Director
Phoebe Gooding is the Program and Organizing Director for Toxic Free NC, and leads the Just and Sustainable Agriculture program. She has a Master of Science in Environmental Studies, but her love for nature started in her youth. Over the past couple of years, Phoebe has been working to support Environmental Justice communities in their fight against the toxic chemicals that plague them, whether from polluting facilities or inequitable food systems. In this holistic work towards justice she has brought together her love for the Earth and her love for the people. Phoebe also has a small farm, Hawk’s Nest Healing Gardens, in Durham, NC where she is growing organic veggies and herbs “to heal the soil, our bodies, and our communities.” As a biracial, Black woman and mother of two, she holds racial justice and equity at the forefront of all that she does for our collective liberation now and for future generations.
Eduardo Páez – Health & Justice Organizer
Eduardo Páez joins Toxic Free NC as Health and Justice Organizer after working as a Writing and Research Assistant in television development at the Los Angeles based American Dream Studios for two years. Eduardo recently completed his MA in English Literature at Wake Forest University and seeks to utilize his professional narrative, writing, and communication skills on behalf of underprivileged farmworker and minority communities. Born and raised in an under-resourced suburb of Los Angeles, Eduardo traces his roots to Mexico, where his family hails from rural Sinaloa and the rural mountainous Zapotec regions of Oaxaca, working as poor and subsistence farmers. In his free time, Eduardo is involved in local Research Triangle Catholic and Latin dance communities. Eduardo loves global literature and film too. Eduardo is committed to racial and communal equity, the arts, social democracy, and environmental justice.
Kendall Wimberley – Policy Manager
Kendall joined Toxic Free NC in 2023 as the Policy Advocate following years of environmental advocacy and student organizing in the region. Kendall’s previous work has held utilities and representatives accountable on a range of environmental and climate issues in Tennessee and North Carolina. They served an AmeriCorps term with Appalachian Voices on the Energy Democracy team and as an intern with the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters. Kendall received their Bachelors in Environmental & Soil Science at the University of Tennessee and their Masters in Environmental Management focused on Environmental Economics and Policy at Duke. Kendall’s commitment to environmental justice, health, and agriculture stems from their upbringing in rural Tennessee with an active history of farming in their family and from their continual interest around how we all impact and are impacted by our environment.