I have been traveling my entire life and have visited dozens of countries across four continents. I speak three languages and have lived for extended periods of time in both Europe and Africa. These experiences have broadened my cultural lens and taught me a tremendous deal about working with diverse groups of people.
Since 2006, I have spent summers working with my aunt and uncle on their homestead in Michigan, acquiring skills in the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. I am an experienced builder, both conventional and natural, and certified Permaculture Designer. The concept of a sustainable community came to me from my experience living in Togo, West Africa. I was a business management student studying abroad at the time, looking for a new sense of purpose.
Upon completion of my semester abroad, I returned to the Isenberg School of Business and completed my last two years of study in one. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Management in just 3 years and started Drums For Development as an independent honors thesis project. After teaching drumming to thousands of people throughout the USA over the course of several years, I recognized the potential to develop deeper into community ties within the USA and promptly moved to Sirius Community, a well-established 35-year-old ecovillage in Western Massachusetts. Here I began my practical education on community living. I gained skills in Non-Violent Communication, Consensus Decision Making, Sociocracy, Conflict Resolution, Peer Mediation, and other community building techniques.
In July 2012, I was awarded a full scholarship to take the month-long intensive Ecovillage Design Education Course at Hallingelille Ecovillage in Denmark and became a certified Ecovillage Design Educator. I went on to visit over a dozen intentional communities throughout Denmark, Germany, and Italy and joined the Global Ecovillage Network at the NextGEN European Summit at ZEGG (The Center for Experimental Cultural Design) in Germany. In July 2013, I was elected as 1 of 3 International NextGEN Representatives and currently serve on the Board of the Global Ecovillage Network.
After initially being hired as a freelance community consultant by The Valhalla Movement, I am now their Strategic & Education Manager, working towards the collective aim of developing a sustainable community from the ground up in Montreal and documenting the process. Valhalla also aims to serve as a media source for news on sustainability & community initiatives. I am also the founder of EvocUnity, a collective of artists and visionaries creating transformational spaces for Exploring Views Of Consciousness, Creativity, Community, and Culture to awaken a sense of Unity within the Northeast USA, and InTerraTree, a hybrid ecovillage/ecolodge model collaboratively designed with indigenous artists in Togo, West Africa to build local resiliency through regenerative land stewardship, locally-owned social enterprise, and transcultural education.
Most recently, I have returned from a year overseas, working with communities in West Africa and Europe. From the New Story Summit at the Findhorn Community in Scotland (you can hear my keynote on my Content page), to an introduction to Possibility Management at a 5-day Expand the Box Training, to a 3-week Water Retention Landscaping Course at Tamera Healing Biotope in Portugal. An overland adventure from Portugal to Germany where I spent a month living with Clinton Callahan, the creator of Possibility Management. This education in radical responsibility and culture hacking prepared me well for hosting international volunteers at InTerraTree in Togo and living in the jungle for 3 months, after attending the Global Ecovillage Summit in Senegal and a longer than expected stay at Sandele EcoRetreat in The Gambia. A return to Europe brought new adventures in Germany, Austria, and Italy (the amazing Giftival in Rome), along with connections and consulting opportunities with Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins, Schumacher College, The Eden Project, and Emerson College in England as well as the city of Galway, Ireland in their Europe Capital of Culture 2020 bid.
After ending our travels back in Scotland at the Global Ecovillage Network's 20th Anniversary Celebration, my partner and I returned to the USA and settled in Asheville, North Carolina, where we are currently experimenting in localization and community building.
Since 2006, I have spent summers working with my aunt and uncle on their homestead in Michigan, acquiring skills in the environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. I am an experienced builder, both conventional and natural, and certified Permaculture Designer. The concept of a sustainable community came to me from my experience living in Togo, West Africa. I was a business management student studying abroad at the time, looking for a new sense of purpose.
Upon completion of my semester abroad, I returned to the Isenberg School of Business and completed my last two years of study in one. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Management in just 3 years and started Drums For Development as an independent honors thesis project. After teaching drumming to thousands of people throughout the USA over the course of several years, I recognized the potential to develop deeper into community ties within the USA and promptly moved to Sirius Community, a well-established 35-year-old ecovillage in Western Massachusetts. Here I began my practical education on community living. I gained skills in Non-Violent Communication, Consensus Decision Making, Sociocracy, Conflict Resolution, Peer Mediation, and other community building techniques.
In July 2012, I was awarded a full scholarship to take the month-long intensive Ecovillage Design Education Course at Hallingelille Ecovillage in Denmark and became a certified Ecovillage Design Educator. I went on to visit over a dozen intentional communities throughout Denmark, Germany, and Italy and joined the Global Ecovillage Network at the NextGEN European Summit at ZEGG (The Center for Experimental Cultural Design) in Germany. In July 2013, I was elected as 1 of 3 International NextGEN Representatives and currently serve on the Board of the Global Ecovillage Network.
After initially being hired as a freelance community consultant by The Valhalla Movement, I am now their Strategic & Education Manager, working towards the collective aim of developing a sustainable community from the ground up in Montreal and documenting the process. Valhalla also aims to serve as a media source for news on sustainability & community initiatives. I am also the founder of EvocUnity, a collective of artists and visionaries creating transformational spaces for Exploring Views Of Consciousness, Creativity, Community, and Culture to awaken a sense of Unity within the Northeast USA, and InTerraTree, a hybrid ecovillage/ecolodge model collaboratively designed with indigenous artists in Togo, West Africa to build local resiliency through regenerative land stewardship, locally-owned social enterprise, and transcultural education.
Most recently, I have returned from a year overseas, working with communities in West Africa and Europe. From the New Story Summit at the Findhorn Community in Scotland (you can hear my keynote on my Content page), to an introduction to Possibility Management at a 5-day Expand the Box Training, to a 3-week Water Retention Landscaping Course at Tamera Healing Biotope in Portugal. An overland adventure from Portugal to Germany where I spent a month living with Clinton Callahan, the creator of Possibility Management. This education in radical responsibility and culture hacking prepared me well for hosting international volunteers at InTerraTree in Togo and living in the jungle for 3 months, after attending the Global Ecovillage Summit in Senegal and a longer than expected stay at Sandele EcoRetreat in The Gambia. A return to Europe brought new adventures in Germany, Austria, and Italy (the amazing Giftival in Rome), along with connections and consulting opportunities with Transition Towns founder Rob Hopkins, Schumacher College, The Eden Project, and Emerson College in England as well as the city of Galway, Ireland in their Europe Capital of Culture 2020 bid.
After ending our travels back in Scotland at the Global Ecovillage Network's 20th Anniversary Celebration, my partner and I returned to the USA and settled in Asheville, North Carolina, where we are currently experimenting in localization and community building.
