My attraction to the Chuckanut Center stems from its commitment to building community through gardening. As a board member my focus is outreach - working to support our neighbors by donating fresh fruits and vegetables to the Bellingham Food Bank, hosting pre-school programs, mentoring university students to grow their own food and creating a program for disabled gardeners.

I grew up on the concrete playgrounds of New York. The City was a powerful backdrop to my childhood but the closest I came to a garden was visiting Central Park.

Then in 1987, by complete accident, my partner and I discovered the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham. Looking through our city eyes, we thought we’d landed in heaven! More than 30 years on, life in Bellingham has taught me to treasure a deep sense of interconnection with our natural world.

Before moving permanently to Washington, I spent my career in a completely different world as an executive producer and COO for the top television commercial production companies in Los Angeles.

I’ve been on several industry and educational boards, mentored young film workers, created and taught a course in television commercial production at USC, and founded a program to empower women directors for the Director’s Guild of America.

This is the experience I bring to the Chuckanut Center where it’s combined it with my belief in the power of connecting people to nature and one another through working in the garden.