Laima Diaz Vepstas Email & Phone Number

Sebastopol, California, United States

Sebastopol, California, United States

Worked during the summer and fall seasons on a beautiful family-owned, fully organic farm in Northern California focused on bringing high-quality produce to local stores and restaurants.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS: • Managed and coordinated multicultural/bilingual crew streamlining harvest flow and other farm operations; supervised greenhouse operations monitoring up to 30,000+ seedlings at a time. • Managed purchase orders and maintained excellent customer relations with multiple local store and restaurant accounts averaging $7000 in weekly sales.• Successfully trained new staff members in English and Spanish on seed propagation, watering, transplanting, harvesting, and packaging.

Cotati, California, United States

Worked at a Mendocino-based startup company focused on creating high-quality, medicinal cannabis products.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: • Supervised 20+ employee bilingual team of diverse cultural backgrounds and skill levels.• Supervised all production operations consistently meeting weekly production goals.• Maintained company's Excel data management system up to date with minimal oversight.• Trained over 50 employees in Spanish and English on proper use of processing and packaging equipment, health and safety procedures, and software tools including Excel and G Suite.• Supported HR staff by creating and translating Standard Operating Procedures and job descriptions, onboarding new hires, and overseeing time-sheets from multiple departments.ACHIEVEMENTS:• Developed a strong relationship with team by providing one-on-one meetings and leading weekly interactive staff presentations resulting in a more cohesive and motivated crew, and an increase in labor productivity.• Created and implemented a user-friendly data tracking system to capture production outputs leading to a decrease in overproduction and a decrease in price per unit costs.• Fostered a culture of collaborative problem-solving resulting in more efficient lines of production, a decrease of packaging errors and the creation of higher-quality products.

Sonoma, California, United States

Worked on a small, fully organic and biodynamic farm specializing in unique crops for Michelin-starred restaurants of the SF Bay Area.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS: • Assisted farm manager with daily farm tasks including watering, pruning, weeding, and harvesting.• Strengthened farm’s Community Supported Agriculture initiative by harvesting, sorting and organizing farm’s bounty; optimized farm manager’s time and overall farm’s productivity.

Novato, California, United States

Completed a year-long CivicSpark Fellowship program, an AmeriCorps initiative dedicated to address community resilience issues by supporting local governments and non-profits. Worked for the City of Novato during the Fellowship in a comprehensive sustainability program aiming at advancing the city's Climate Action Plan goals.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS:• Drafted municipal sustainability policies to improve resource efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts for City operations.• Implemented and maintained US EPA’s software tool ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to track energy and water usage and costs from eight City-owned buildings with minimal oversight.• Increased reader base of the City's monthly Sustainability Newsletter to over 1000 subscribers by developing the first ever bilingual version of the newsletter.• Collaborated with the Public Works Department in the planning of a community tree planting event focused on increasing green space in historically under-represented neighborhoods. The project led to a strong community involvement and the planting of over 70 native trees.• Collaborated with other CivicSpark fellows in the creation of a virtual campaign to encourage individuals to donate blood to help curve the decline of blood donations due to the global pandemic.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Worked as a part-time Writing and Language tutor for the University of New Mexico's Center for Academic Program Support, an award-winning learning assistance program dedicated to students' academic success.KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS:• Assisted undergraduate students in achieving academic success by tutoring multiple levels of Spanish and Portuguese in group settings of diverse cultural backgrounds. Helped students develop transferable academic skills. • Facilitated student learning by adapting to students’ unique learning styles resulting in higher academic achievements in their respective language college courses. Helped boost students’ confidence in their reading, writing and speaking capabilities.• Planned and conducted language-specific workshops on university campus to help students and community members improve their communication skills in Spanish and Portuguese.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba, Double Major In International/Global Studies And Foreign Languages & Literature

Concentrations: Environmental Sustainability / Portuguese & French Relevant coursework: International Relations, Governing the Global.

Education record

Semester-long study abroad experience in Brazil.