Flagstaff Family Food Center recognizes its responsibility to learn and work towards tackling the root causes of hunger. In this role, I am helping create the foundation to do so.More specifically, I am helping support, educate, and advocate with and for our clients. That means increasing access and reducing barriers to SNAP, providing a navigation channel for local resources, and advocating for a more resilient, equitable food system across Northern Arizona.

Sustainable local food systems are an incredibly important asset to communities, as they provide economic, nutritional, and environmental stability, unlike the larger industrial food system complex we currently find ourselves in. I managed two main projects in this role to address some of the challenges the Northern Arizona food system currently faces.The first was the City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office's Northern Arizona Food System Assessment. Together, we analyzed the challenges and successes of our current local food system to create food policy recommendations that will help uplift and create a more resilient, sustainable local food system.The second was to restart the Northern Arizona Grower Coalition. Together with Pinnacle Prevention, we aimed to create a support structure for our local growers in Northern Arizona.

Working in a small co-op management team, you're able to play a lot of diverse roles. What started as a job as one of the grocery team members grew into a produce team member, store manager, forefront manager, member-services coordinator, & other admin positions.As store manager, I oversaw the entire store to ensure a safe, clean, well-run, customer-focused store. While in the Forefront Manager position, I trained, coached, and mentored 10 team members in customer service, POS systems, and efficiency. In my time as Member-Owner Services Coordinator, I created and maintained data regarding customer service, member-owner information, and forefront management to ensure effective and efficient store processes.Even more than the hard skills gained in this position, the soft skills were irreplaceable. I gained experience in direct communication, quick problem-solving, making systems more effective, customer-service oriented writing, & many more.

Great Basin Outdoor School is a non-profit working to teach children science in an outdoor setting in order to help conservation efforts. In this role, I planned, implemented, and monitored the winter and spring outdoor education programs. I assisted in acquiring funding through grant writing and event planning. Lastly, I managed administrative, program, & outreach duties of the non-profit.

Miss Me Not is a 250 acre horse boarding facility that also raises ~1000 sheep and harbors a permaculture CSA program.In my first six months, I fed & maintained facilities for 17+ horses, 200+ sheep, 19 chickens, and various other small animals and led ranch hands in gardening for the 2019 season to provide for the ranch’s CSA program.Because of my tie to agriculture and the community there, I stayed as a resident for another year and participated in another CSA season.

The Greenhouse Project is a non-profit whose mission is to grow organic produce for the underserved in their community. In addition, they use their garden property next to Carson High School to teach students organic agricultural practices.In this role, I seeded, planted, and maintained a variety of organic produce & native plants around thegreenhouse property. I lead & taught Carson high school students in gardening, soil science, & organic agriculture. I assisted in a supervisory role for volunteers and other Americorps members to facilitate daily activities. Lastly, I designed, filmed, and edited an advertisement for them.

During the 2018 farmer's market season, I assisted in running the mobile market program. This involved taking local produce to 21 stops in the Boise community to bring more nutritious, sustainable food to underserved communities in the Boise area. Before the market ran every week, I cooperated with local farmers in stocking van with weekly produce. I also ssisted in receiving donations to produce silent auction at the yearly fundraiser.

In this position, I performed many, diverse roles. First, I wrote an office newsletter and other outreach materials to inform and engage donors andthe community. I utilized Adobe products to produce advertising material. I assisted in the management of commercial advertisement production. I managed various outreach, communication, & public event projects in order to maintain professional development & community engagement programs.

OMSI is a world-renowned science museum. The life science lab leads the museum in teaching biology and ecology.In my role, I lead scientific demonstrations (ex: squid dissection, DNA extraction). Presented information on genetics, evolution, climate change, and animal behavior. During my time there, I also developed a synthetic cockroach pheromone in the University of Portland chemistry lab to test identification methods on distinct cockroach species.