My family moved to the western slope of Colorado from Vermont when I was three. What was a small ranching town outside of Vail in 1990 has completely transformed in the last three and a half decades, sprawling and spreading in extreme ways. My family still lives in the valley along the Eagle River. 

Based on what I have seen transpire throughout my short lifetime, my work aims to contribute to sustainable community growth and societal transformation  in the region. 

As a kid, my family frequently camped in the Utah desert (often in the Glen Canyon area of Utah), where I developed a deep love for the land of the southwest. I began raft guiding in 2007, and the rivers of the west and their well-being have become a passion of mine. 

I attended undergrad at CU Boulder, where I graduated with degrees in Environmental Science and Geography, focused on hydrology. My undergraduate thesis explored the idea of systems thinking as a way to address the challenges of water law in the west, specifically for the Colorado River. 

After graduating in 2011, I moved to the San Juan mountains in southern Colorado, where I became an outdoor educator, worked for a local environmental sustainability firm, and ultimately taught math and science in an experiential school. 

In 2013, I briefly served in the environmental education sector of the Peace Corps in Paraguay, but returned home early to spend more time with my family while my dad was sick with terminal cancer. He passed away in 2015.  

During the pandemic, I moved to Laramie, WY to complete a Master's degree at the University of Wyoming when my mom was moved into a memory care unit in Denver. My dual degree was in Natural Science Education, and I took classes in the Science and Math Teaching Center and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. 

During my time at UWyo, I assisted Dr. Smutko on a Wind Energy Siting Collaborative. I  wrote my thesis about Indigenous Food Sovereignty initiatives in the region now known as the western US. Due to this work, I’ve had the honor of working with the Restoring Shoshone Ancestral Food Gathering group in Fort Washakie, WY. 

After graduating with my Master's degree, I began working with a small firm in Jackson, WY that specializes in organizational strategy, public outreach, stakeholder engagement, and meeting facilitation: in short, practicing collaborative solution processes. Clients included TriHydro and Teton County, The Nature Conservancy, WYldlife Fund, National Parks Conservation Association, and Wyoming Wilderness Association. 

I participated in the Ruckelshaus Institute's Collaborative Practice in Natural Resources cohort of 2023-24. In this program, I focused my capstone work on a collaborative process between NGOs from conservation, wildlife, and recreation sectors that aimed to provide guidance to the Bridger-Teton National Forest's Planning process. 

As I embark on my PhD work, my goal is to help build bridges between seemingly disparate groups to enable a more sustainable future that respectfully and collaboratively includes Indigenous interests and voices. 

I dream of a future where communities sustain respectful relationships to their water sources, and I believe the only way to do this is to restore our connection to the land.