Sky Island Alliance is a small, grass-roots non-profit organization focusing on the preservation and protection of the Sky Island region of the US and Mexico. Sky island Alliance works to ensure the Sky Islands are a place where nature thrives, open space and clean water are available to all, and people are connected to the region and its innate ability to enrich our lives.As the Development Director, I led the creation and implementation of successful annual fundraising plans that included strategies and goals for acquiring, renewing, and upgrading support from individual donors as well as engaging the community. As a critical member of the organizational leadership team, I worked collaboratively with the staff and board of directors to manage and grow the organization.

Youth On Their Own (YOTO) is a local Tucson, AZ non profit organization providing critical support to homeless youth with a strong ambition to graduate from high school. YOTO steps in to provide youth in need the critical resources they need to focus on school and achieve their goals. As the Director of Philanthropy, I led the Development team in all aspects of organizational fundraising from event planning and coordination to Major Gift Fundraising. As the chief development officer, I was directly responsible for identifying and cultivating community partnerships as well as individual major donors.

Reach Out and Read is a national evidence-based program that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms by giving new, developmentally, and culturally appropriate books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona partners with pediatric healthcare providers in Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties, as well as the Tohono O’odham and Yaqui Nations, to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.As the program director of Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona, I collaborated with physicians at 60 pediatric clinics throughout Southern Arizona to distribute over 50,000 books annually. As the program Director, I facilitated the pediatric oversight committee of Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona whose aim was to enhance and grow the program.

Literacy Connects is a wide reaching non-profit organization focusing on improving literacy and fostering creative expression. From birth through adulthood, Literacy Connects’ programs offer opportunities for learners of all ages to realize their potential — at school and in the workplace, as parents, as consumers and as participants in the life of our community. As a member of the organizational leadership team, I was integral to major organizational strategic planning, evaluation, budgeting, event management and program integration. I was fortunate to be the project lead of a National Endowment for the Arts grant-funded reading program called The Big Read, which included writing proposals and reports, brokering partnerships with over 50 community partners, managing the creation and implementation of events and activities, and managing the funding and budget process. Serving as the staff facilitator of the Awareness, Capacity Building and Advocacy committees of the Board of Directors, I led major organizational and community-wide convenings that included dozens of community leaders as members.

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a world-renowned Zoo, Botanical Garden, Art Gallery, and Natural History Museum all wrapped into one. ASDM focuses on research as well as public education with the chief goal to protect and increase public appreciation of the Sonoran Desert Region. Serving as an ASDM horticulturist us unlike anything else. In addition to working to provide the unique, region-specific plants for the exhibits and working to ensure the exhibits accurately portray the Sonoran Desert Region, I participated and lead public education efforts, taught and facilitated docent training classes, collaborated with donors on exhibit enhancements, and so much more. It is at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum where I learned the importance of working with the community toward a common goal and begun my career as a non profit administrator and fundraiser.

Plants for the Southwest is a plant nursery located in Tucson, AZ specializing in arid adapted plants from around the world. As a Nursery Technician, I worked with plants native to arid regions from around the world from Tucson to Madagascar. I was involved in all aspects of plants production from propagation to irrigation.

The Tucson Audubon Society is the local chapter of the National Audubon Society. The Tucson Audubon Society inspires people to enjoy and protect birds through recreation, education, conservation, and restoration of the environment upon which we all depend.An important aspect of the Tucson Audubon Society's mission is working toward habitat restoration. Although briefly, I had the pleasure to work on a restoration site on the far northern reaches of the Santa Cruz River.

Native Seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) is a nonprofit seed conservation organization based in Tucson, Arizona. NS/S seeks to find, protect and preserve the seeds of the people of the Greater Southwest so that these arid adapted crops may benefit all peoples and nourish a changing world. Their mission is to conserve and promote the arid-adapted crop diversity of the Southwest in support of sustainable farming and food security.During my time at NS/S, I worked primarily at the conservation farm in Patagonia, AZ. The bulk of my work focused on hand pollinating many different types of crops during a major seed grow out for the organization. In addition, I worked as a general farm hand performing any work that was needed to maintain the farm and ensure the crops were properly grown. Following the growing season, I worked at the conservation center in Tucson, AZ processing, sorting, and cataloging seeds for long-term cold storage and retail sales.