I am seeking opportunities in Georgia with an environmental organization or company that is focused on science-based ecological restoration or related activities supporting this growing field.Upon graduation from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Journalism, I enjoyed a dynamic and successful 10-year corporate career in marketing with eventual responsibility for all customer communications for BellSouth Mobility and Cingular Wireless' 2 million+ customers. During this time, I also became more and more involved with philanthropy and volunteering, working on behalf of Big Brothers, Trees Atlanta, and AID Atlanta. Participation in several multi-day, long distance charity bike rides inspired me to found a non-profit organization, Action Cycling Atlanta, dedicated to raising funds for AIDS vaccine research and service organizations. Leaving the corporate world, I moved to NYC and was accepted as a NYC Teaching Fellow, teaching special education students in some of the most challenging classrooms in New York City while earning a Masters of Science in Teaching from Fordham University. Upon returning to Atlanta, I taught 5th grade in Decatur, GA while serving as an Action Cycling board member and ride director of the 2007 and 2008 AIDS Vaccine 200 rides which raised $181,000 for AIDS vaccine research at Emory Vaccine Center. To date, ACA has raised over $4 million.The next step of my surprising, unconventional, and always adventurous professional life appeared as an opportunity to become a partner in adventure travel company (based in Page, AZ) and to become a backpacking guide leading over 175 multi-day, backcountry trips in the Grand Canyon and surrounding red rock desert.After a summer of sweating alongside crew mates caring for urban forests at Trees Atlanta and completing an internship and Permaculture Design Certificate on a working Permaculture farm in New Zealand, I continued to expand my environmental education by earning a Graduate Certificate in Ecological Restoration through the University of Florida. I chose the field of ecological restoration because of its holistic approach to rebuilding ecosystems and reestablishing ecosystem functioning.My guiding career has been very fulfilling, and now I want to practice conservation and restoration closer to my home and family in Georgia. I feel that conservation and restoration work together to conserve what is intact and to restore what is not.