Announcing a New DISHES Co-Director: Annalena Davis!

One dinner ago, Annalena Davis joined the DISHES team as Volunteer Coordinator. Her role was one of many created to make the events more sustainable. She was so well organized and dedicated, she was remembered later on as we started looking for someone to help co-direct the effort, filling the position vacated by co-founder Rachel Somerstein who left to concentrate on school and writing. 

With that, we'd like to introduce you all to Annalena - the third co-director of Dine In. Support Happenings. Enliven Syracuse. (DISHES)! Annalena rounds out the co-directing team with her talents for organization and finance. Above all, she is excited to be part of the planning for the next dinner “and help continue to make DISHES a success.” Here are some fun facts about the newest DISHES co-director:

• Her background is in community development working at different times for Cornell Cooperative Extension, Northside Urban Partnership, and Thoma Development Consultants: “DISHES is a good combination of [community development] and creativity.”
• Annalena went to school for Landscape Architecture, a passion that has translated in to her artwork: her graphic art prints are actually maps of cities that she sells through her business, Salty Lyon Prints & Photography. “They’re designs inspired by place. I love to travel, love to explore. I make prints so people can show their love for their homes or past homes.”

• Salty Lyon is named after two cities: “It’s the two places I’ve called home the longest,” she says. The “Salty” is for Syracuse and its heritage as the Salt City and “Lyon” is for State College, the town where she grew up and went to college. The “y” in “Lyon” is a reference to Lyons Hall at Penn State, where Annalena dormed for two years. Check out her work at SaltyLyon.etsy.com. 
• Annalena loves her current home: “I love Central New York for all of its outdoor activities. I enjoy all of the different events and things happening in Syracuse right now, arts-related or otherwise. There’s just a lot of energy here.”
• Her favorite hiking spot is the Adirondack mountains : “My husband and I try to go every year for camping, hiking, canoeing. I’m definitely a ‘mountain’ person.”

• Annalena’s favorite travel destination: “New Zealand and Montana. See, it’s so hard to choose! Okay, the Andes Mountains in Peru. They’re just beautiful.”
• Annalena’s favorite thing about joining the DISHES team: “I’m in charge of getting desserts—so that’s really fun! But, what I’m most excited about is going through the proposals and seeing the ideas that are floating around.”

And we are so excited to have her!