“Our entire team enjoyed working with Alexandra. She managed to keep the momentum and energy going through two very long days of photoshoots at our different grower locations. Her bright and bubbly personality brought smiles to everyone’s faces, and the pictures of our farmers and groves couldn’t have turned out better.”
About Harvest Joy
If you’re like most people, you’re probably curious about where your food comes from but may not know where to find the answers. Enter Alexandra Rae, owner and creator of Harvest Joy - a space where farming stories, farm fashion, and fresh produce tips take center stage. Harvest Joy takes you behind the scenes to learn more about how food is grown and the people dedicated to growing it.
Alexandra has been connected to farming and agriculture her entire life. In fact, her great grandfather sailed to the US from Ireland when he was only seven years old and took his first job selling vegetables in New York City. You could say fresh produce runs in her blood, and you’d be right. Her passion for agriculture earned her a degree in Agricultural Business Management from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where she recognized a massive opportunity to more effectively educate and advocate for fresh food through visual storytelling.
Farming
Passion
With an energy and commitment to see her vision come to life, and thanks to a friend’s borrowed camera, Alexandra created the Harvest Joy brand. The Instagram page went live with beautiful field photography and helpful produce tips from Alexandra’s local farmers who were willing to share their experiences with her. From there it grew into a full online presence where followers now look to Alexandra for real facts from real farmers, seasonal fresh produce ideas, and brand recommendations. Harvest Joy has also been a resource for people looking to better understand what product recalls mean and how to navigate food concerns and quality questions. And if you’re looking for a little fashion inspiration, Alexandra delivers that as well. Her #FarmFashionFriday has become one of her most engaging series where followers look to her for modern farm fashion recommendations.
Alexandra’s energy and passion for agriculture has landed her on local television and Google’s “Where There’s Help, There’s Hope” on behalf of fresh produce brands as well as in several fresh produce industry publications. Her field and product photography has also been featured on dozens of fresh produce brands’ marketing materials, including Bako Sweet where she is currently the marketing manager. Alexandra’s propensity to capture the beauty and vastness of American farming through photography and interview-style videos has won the hearts of over 18,000 people on Instagram and TikTok - most of whom are Millennials seeking to understand where their food comes from.
My Story
Hi I’m Alexandra Rae. I am an agriculture expert and marketer sharing food and farm stories from the ground up through photography. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of our food. It’s important to me that I capture the hard work and JOY that companies put into harvest from the ground up.
I grew up in a small farming town on the Central Coast where the only traffic was from driving behind a tractor. My family lived 30 minutes away from town (lucky to find cell phone reception) which I didn’t mind it one bit until I would forget to grab butter from the store. Horse back riding was my life and I spent every moment I could outside. When it came to picking a major at Cal Poly SLO, the only thing I wanted to study was Agriculture.
I focused on marketing in the fresh produce industry and got my first job with a carrot farm in San Diego. As I gained experience, I saw a need for marketing the importance of agriculture to consumers and started Harvest Joy!
I chose the name Harvest Joy because I get a joyful reaction from farmers whenever I ask them questions. I’m blessed to work with such humble, hardworking people.