• HERE TO SERVE

    let's work together

  • Send a note:

  • BACKGROUND

    “Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive”
    - Howard Thurman

    broken image

     

    INTERVIEWS:

    Bold Journey

    Article Published May 7, 2024

     

    Rural Assembly - Drawing Resilience

    Article published Feb 1, 2024

     

    Wisconsin Women in Conservation Podcast

    Episode Aired Jan 22, 2024

     

    Voyage Minnesota

    Article published May 4, 2023

     

    Homemade for Sale; Second Edition

    Book published Dec 13, 2022

     

    In Her Boots Podcast

    Episode Aired July 2020

    broken image

    Grounded Vitality

    opened for business in 2011...

     

    Committed from the start to meeting people where they are, I built my business delivering in-home massage therapy

     

    Grounded Vitality is now the name of my Podcast about farming and health, launching November 2023

    broken image

    ...then in 2016,

    farming took over my life

    and I started

    Vital Ground Farm

     

    I couldn't get over the fact that healing the earth

    and healing ourselves is interconnected - and urgent

     

    Seeing my fellow farmers struggling with mental and physical health, I couldn't look away

     

    Vital Ground is about cultivating a nourished landscape

    from within - for farmers, for everyone

    broken image

    Now I

    farm,

    massage,

    speak,

    write,

    consult,

    organize...

     

    ...do all I can toward creating a more just future;

    one where we all have enough food, comfort, and dignity.

    It's past time.

    broken image

    National Board Certified

    Massage Therapist, 2011

    Trained in Chicago, IL at The SOMA Institute for Clinical Massage and The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab), Graduated 2010

     

    Board Certified in 2011 by the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and went on to start my practice

    broken image

    Bachelor of Arts, 2021

    Supportive Leadership

    College of Individualized Studies

     

    I spent fifteen years in college, taking classes part-time while starting my businesses and working multiple jobs to get by. This helped me develop a practical, person-centered approach to leadership. I created a degree through Metro State University's College of Individualized Studies that combines the foundations of business management with the psychology of individuals and groups.

  • WORK & PROJECTS

  •  

    broken image

    Executive Director

    West Side Farmers Market

    In July 2023 I started as Executive Director of this small community market where I set a stand up for the first time in 2016. We had major leadership transition and financial uncertainty after the pandemic and as Board President I supported the market through our hardest times. I am thrilled to be in a position to advocate for this important part of the community and help create a thriving future for it.

    broken image

    Admin for Growing Wellness

    Ag Solidarity Network

     

    Farmer Social Media (no ads, more rad)

    This farmer-led platform is a space for you to grow community, post questions, learn about and share events and job opportunities, and more.

     

    I serve as the Admin for the Growing Wellness Group where we share resoures, and create space for conversation and support around our human needs as farmers.

    broken image
    2022-2023: Member

    The Anti-Racist Farmers Market Toolkit: Community of Practice

    Farmers Market Coalition

     

    I had the honor of joining the 1st Community of Practice surrounding the Farmers Market Coalition's Anti-Racist Farmers Market Toolkit released in 2022.

     

    Using the Toolkit as a lens to examine our specific Farmers Market (representing West Side Farmers Market) we meet as a group to collaboratively problem-solve barriers and identify actionable steps for advancing equity in the communities our markets serve.

    broken image

    2022 Research Co-Designer

    Health Access for the Unhoused

    broken image

    Board Member

    2019-2023

    West Side Farmers Market

    In 2018, I served on the committee to develop our small Farmers Market into a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

     

    Once they received their non-profit status, I served on their first Board of Directors as Treasurer, then Vice-President and President until I was hired as Executive Director in 2023.

     

    I've loved being part of this market since I first started as a vendor in 2016. The West Side Farmers Market truly embodies what farmers markets are all about!