LGBTQ+ Owned Bay Area Businesses to Celebrate at the Farmers Market
June 27, 2025
Yesterday, June 26, marked 10 years since the landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, when the Supreme Court decided that same-sex couples have the right to be married. Though most LGBTQ+ adults say there is more acceptance today than there was 10 years ago, there is still a long way to go to ensure safety for all people. As LGBTQ+ rights remain under threat and large corporations pull back their support, it’s important to celebrate the contributions of LGBTQ+ members of our community. Read on to meet three business owners that you can celebrate and support at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and the Mission Community Market.
Kim Leonard, En Vie Naturals
Kim Leonard founded En Vie Naturals in 2009, five years after she first became a vegetarian. She developed an interest in using healthy cosmetic products and being more intentional about what she used on her skin. Her first homemade beauty product was an apricot kernel and primrose oil-based makeup remover. Then, she made a facial cleanser from black-eyed peas, red kidney beans, and chamomile. After that came her first aromatherapy sprays made with lavender rose, royal rose, and gardenia. “It was very small,” Kim recalls, “and my biggest cheerleader at the time was my mom.”
Foodwise: How have you grown into your identity over time?
Kim: I identify as a Black bisexual woman. In my twenties, I came out to my friends, not so much my family. I thought that I would be judged. I knew friends whose family members had disowned them. Then, when I turned 32, my mother had been dropping hints about grandchildren. I remember we were having our weekly Sunday call and I just finally told her, I said, “You know, I don’t think I’m going to have children.” And then she asked me, “Are you a lesbian? Are you gay?” And I said, “No, but I’m bisexual. I’m an equal opportunity lover.” She laughed, and then she understood. And she said, “I love you regardless.”
Foodwise: What does Pride mean to you? In your opinion, why is Pride important?
Kim: To me, Pride is a reflection of the struggle that the LGBTQ community has faced, especially now with non-acceptance, really having to fight for the right to love who you want. Love is a big part of my life, and I’ve always believed that people should be able to love whoever they choose to love in regards to relationships and marriage. I think it’s really detrimental to mental health for people when there’s this constant negativity. And I think it’s really important this year, more than any other year, that the community stands together and we just say “no more.”
Foodwise: What advice do you have for other LGBTQ+ business owners?
Kim: I think the only thing I can say is to walk in your truth. There’s always going to be potential customers who will maybe not want to patronize your business because of your identity and because of who you are. But just hold confident that there are so many other people and potential business opportunities out there for you where you won’t have to come in contact with the hate or the negativity.
Visit En Vie Naturals at the Mission Community Market on Thursdays.
Xan DeVoss, Fox & Lion Bread Company
Xan DeVoss founded Fox & Lion Bread Company to build a community in her neighborhood. Fox & Lion bakes with organic ingredients and whole-milled grains to create nutrient-dense breads. “I feel really strongly about the quality of the ingredients that I use. I’m unwilling to cut corners,” Xan says.
Foodwise: How have you grown into your identity over time?
Xan: I identify as a lesbian. I think that the way that shows up in the business is just being a role model for people. I see that with employees, a lot of people will reply to ads because they want a place to work where they feel safe. When I was growing up, there weren’t any kind of queer identities that you could relate to at all. It was just some very stereotypical type things that I didn’t really identify with.
Foodwise: What does Pride mean to you? In your opinion, why is Pride important?
Xan: I didn’t really grow up with any Pride marches or anything like that. When I first started seeing that, I was grateful. That really gave me the courage to just be myself. I think when you go to the parade, or you see all the people coming from small towns very close to here, who don’t enjoy the sort of freedom that we do here. That’s the most important part… those people can see and can show people where they’re from that they’re just a normal person.
Foodwise: What advice do you have for other LGBTQ+ business owners?
Xan: You have to just stick to your vision, and you have to trust your intuition on things. When you have a business, everybody is always telling you, “You should do this. You should put a sign here. You should have this kind of sandwich.” Everybody has ideas, but you have to just trust yourself and keep going. And you have to step back every once in a while to make sure that you’re not too much in the daily motions of the business, to see how to creatively move the business forward. I think sticking to your guns is pretty important.
Visit Fox & Lion Bread Company at the Mission Community Market.
Dede Boies, Root Down Farm
At the Root Down Farm booth in the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, shoppers can find pasture-raised pigs, turkeys, ducks, and chickens. For Dede, learning more about the meat industry motivated her to open her own humane and regenerative ranch in 2014. Now, she runs the farm with her wife, Melissa, who joined the operation in 2016. “[Learning about the meat industry] motivated me to want to give these animals a better life,” Dede says, “The health of their life contributes to the health of the soil, and then they get raised in a way that is then healthier for the people that are consuming them.”
Foodwise: How have you grown into your identity over time?
Dede: I identify as myself. I don’t adhere to a lot of labels, and I think there’s probably some privilege in that. And I think it’s also just my age and growing up in a world where labels didn’t exist as much. I identify more as a parent, a steward of the land, and a business owner.
Foodwise: What does Pride mean to you? In your opinion, why is Pride important?
Dede: It feels like a time to celebrate who we are and really come together. Even though there are more and more threats against our community, it’s even more so a time where not only the LGBTQ community but also allies and friends need to come together and celebrate each other. Also, as parents of two little kids, it’s really important for us to share with them all the different ways people can be.
Foodwise: What advice do you have for other LGBTQ+ business owners?
Dede: I think that farming and ranching are one of the hardest, most challenging ways to build a business, regardless of who you are. I think that for LGBTQ folks who are on that path, it’s not necessarily any different. One of the wonderful, positive parts about being in the LGBTQ community is that you are almost always looking through a lens of creativity and of uniqueness that is against the norm. And I think that, in this line of work, that can really be advantageous. You’re constantly problem-solving. You’re constantly trying to look at things in a different way. And when you are already doing that all the time, anyway, it feels like an advantage.
Visit Root Down Farm at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays.