In honor of Black History Month, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. recently recognized African Americans who have worked tirelessly during the pandemic.
On Feb. 17, Diaz awarded citations to FreshDirect employees Larry Scott Blackmon, Kisha Brown-Anderson and Raymond Talovera for their courage and service throughout COVID-19.
“Each year, Black History Month offers us an opportunity to celebrate both the African-American heroes of the past and those who are building on their good work and legacy today,” Diaz said. “While we were not able to physically join together as a community like we have in the past, I am thrilled we had the opportunity to recognize these outstanding individuals who have showed up every day for our borough when we needed it the most, and made efforts to tackle food insecurity in The Bronx a priority. I want to thank them and the entire FreshDirect team for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic and over the years.”
About the honorees:
Kisha Brown-Anderson, a native New Yorker, is a senior operations manager who supports FreshDirect’s Transportation and Customer Service Departments. Brown-Anderson has been with FreshDirect for 15 years and has held multiple roles, most notably running the Operations Center.
She believes all FreshDirect customers should have the perfect shopper experience and embodies that in all the work she does each, and every day. Additionally, Brown-Anderson helps coordinate the company’s special events including “Relay for life,” “Operation 5-Borough Food Drive” and the annual turkey donations.
She prides herself on helping nurture her team and colleagues and has become a mentor to many. Brown-Anderson has worked with numerous employees on development, establishing the next level of leaders at FreshDirect.
Raymond Talovera is a Mobile Operations Team (M.O.T.) driver for the Transportation Operations Center at FreshDirect and provides support to the department. M.O.T drivers’ duties span from supporting routes that need assistance to handling deliveries that don’t fit into the normal delivery process.
No matter how big or small the task, Talovera is always willing to go above and beyond to assist his colleagues and get the job done. He has been the lead driver on several special projects. Talovera enjoys working with the Operations Center as there is always an event to attend and he gets to do what he loves being the Face of FreshDirect and spending that face-to-face time with the company’s customers.
Talovera was FreshDirect’s lead driver on the “Operation 5-Borough Food Drive” project. He helped open and run the company’s N.J pickup service over the summer and also does their annual F.D.N.Y block party. A U.S. Airforce veteran, he served the country for several years with tours in the U.S and overseas. He has been FreshDirect since November of 2013.
Born and raised in Harlem, Larry Scott Blackmon is the vice president of public affairs at Fresh Direct. In this role, Blackmon leads the company’s community and governmental interactions, expanding current partnerships and cultivating new relationships. For years he has worked to build meaningful and impactful relationships in the Bronx and he has continued this during COVID-19, working tirelessly with different organizations and elected officials to distribute food to New Yorkers in need. He is one of the lead architects of the successful “Operation 5-Borough Food Drive” in partnership with the five Borough Presidents and the Mayor’s Office.
He also launched FreshDirect’s annual GiveEmber Thanksgiving turkey drive and is responsible for many of the company’s various charitable and community partnerships across a variety of issues including fighting hunger, nutrition education and career development. Previous to joining FreshDirect, Blackmon held various New York City government positions including deputy commissioner for community outreach for the NYC Department of Parks and deputy commissioner for intergovernmental affairs at New York City Department of Small Business Services.
