My passion for food, sustainability, and community outreach began in earnest in my teenage years and has not waned since. For several years, I worked as a health educator before moving into the natural foods industry, where I worked in marketing and sales for several large natural foods companies. It was through this work that I learned that marketing could be a powerful vehicle for change. Many mission-driven organizations have an important story to tell, and communications and marketing can be incredible tools for helping to bring a story and a mission to life.

I have a strong interest in understanding food systems. This has led me to volunteer on farms, study models of fair trade at home and abroad, and to homestead my own small piece of land. In 2009, I graduated from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute with an MBA in Sustainable Business, with a focus on food systems. Understanding the complexity of our food system creates a foundation for understanding many of the issues pertaining to GMOs in our food supply.

For the past five years, I have worked for a large international non-profit as a marketing project manager. Through this work, I have had the opportunity to engage in all types of communications platforms. This experience has left me more excited than ever about communications as a means to educate, to initiate dialog, and to connect people with one another.

It is important to me that my work with the Non-GMO Project support communications and outreach activities that are open, honest, and inclusive. It is also important to me that we welcome all stakeholders, no matter what their viewpoint, to the conversation about GMOs: farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and consumers. From a broader perspective, it is important to me that my work contributes to a future where consumers can make informed food choices, and where all people have access to healthy and safe foods.