I pray for a lifelong journey of service, growth, and pursuit of bliss. I hope to leave this world better than I found it – the soil richer, community more whole, self more aware.

MY STORY

I was raised in the suburban sprawl outside of Boston, with highways and shopping malls crisscrossing the landscape of my youth. I sought escape in the tales of books. Adventurers from long ago inspired me to take off on my own hero’s journey… It began in my backyard garden and the woods, where I came to understand the cycles of nature and solidify a connection to land that has only deepened with time. Veggie sprouts inching their way up by the windowsill were my joy through the long winter months of private Catholic high school. During the summer, my privilege and self-direction allowed me opportunities to travel the world at a young age. I visited my first ecovillage in North Carolina at age 15. Then I volunteered in West Africa and planted a permaculture garden on my university campus. Later on I toured community projects throughout Europe while majoring in Sustainability at Goddard College.

A single question guided my studies… “Where did we go wrong?” And later… “So what is to be done?”  A great sense of responsibility has often rested on my shoulders. I want to give back to a world from which I have received so much. At the same time I hold a painful ache for all the disfunction. The depression and anxiety experienced in my own family is an all too common symptom of our culture’s core disconnect from life-giving relation with each other and the Earth. My pain is a piece of all the pain – the wars raging, waters poisoned, soils stripped, cultures lost, children overeducated, people without purpose. The more I travel the more I’m inspired by those tucked-away places on earth that are trying to heal, reconnect, and regenerate life.

When I attended my first Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) Conference in Switzerland in 2013, I felt a sense of homecoming amongst these colorfully dressed people who are active participants in a New Story for humanity. I was elected to a leadership position in the youth chapter of GEN, aptly called, NextGEN. With a team we began producing events for young changemakers. (We ran the 5th annual Ecovillage Pathways this year.) Soon after, I became a Board Member of GEN, as well as a Board Member of the Fellowship for Intentional Community. (I’m now in my 4th year of service to both organizations.)

My draw to these people and places continues. Intentional communities, ecovillages, permaculture farms, social projects – these are critical experimentation centers for re-imagining how we do life on this planet. I’m grateful for each place I get to visit, now well over one hundred regenerative projects across four continents – including Africa, India, Central and North America, and throughout Europe. I am dedicated to growing networks of such communities working in collaboration to regenerate our planet.Currently, I’m the Development Coordinator of GENNA Alliance, a collaborative platform for individuals and organizations serving the regenerative communities movement within North America (including GEN, FIC, NextGEN, Numundo, and VillageLab as initial partners).

I often speak, teach, and facilitate at events. I also offer coaching for people new to regenerative communities and marketing services for aligned projects. Two communities where I have lived for longer stretches of time are: Sirius Community, a 35+ year old community in Massachusetts (2014-2015), and Ashevillage, an urban permaculture center in North Carolina (2015-2017).