LEILANI RUSSELL
she/her
Seasonal Market Assistant, she/her
Leilani works within the Grown in Detroit Program to set up market spaces, coordinate with growers, and keep fresh produce moving into the hands of residents as a Seasonal Market Assistant, here with Keep Growing Detroit. She joined KGD through the Garden Resource Program and began selling through Grown in Detroit, where she gained market experience and was recently recognized as a New Grower of the Year.
Leilani, the co-founder and lead grower of KIJANIPRINT MICROFARM, a family-owned indoor farm, produces year-round microgreens. The farm’s main goal is to provide fresh produce to schools, markets, and local corner stores that often lack these items but would benefit from their availability. Her path began through photography; documenting wildlife sharpened an attention to detail that carried into a GSI apprenticeship with Friends of the Rouge. She now seeds native perennials at KGD and is part of the MSU Organic Farmer Training Program. With fond childhood memories of Belle Isle, her work reflects a long standing connection to the city’s green spaces.