I grew up in Northern California with great enthusiasm for exploring and learning about the natural world. In the early 1990s, I began specializing as a tropical botanist with the Smithsonian Institution (Nat'l Museum of Natural History). I coordinated scientific programs and ran botanical expeditions to increase scientific knowledge in Guyana, South America. Through these experiences I became devoted to learning and protecting tropical ecosystems, indigenous cultures and traditional knowledge. Seeking to make a positive contribution, I began working in international conservation - to apply my deep botanical knowledge and field experience to community-based project research and management. My special interests include Neotropical botany, forest ecology, ethnobotany, the integration of traditional ecological knowledge and Western science, the influence of ancient Amazonian societies upon current forest composition, non-timber forest product value chains (stingless bee honey, herbal tea), and environmental story-telling.