About

I am an MIT-trained Urban Planner and Social Impact Innovator with 15+ years of experience in strategic planning, grassroots community organizing, non-profit startup and management, urban planning, sustainability, food policy and planning, program management, participatory processes, and community and economic development.  

With roots as a community organizer in Hawaii, I have a deep passion for participatory processes and community engagement.  I get excited about synthesizing stakeholder input with targeted data analysis and research to develop well informed strategic plans.

I have been responsible for all aspects of the formation and operation of 4 social enterprises including two non-profits in Hawaii along with an MIT-seeded company, Maa-Bara, LLC, and a healthy lifestyle consultancy, ThriveBerry, LLC, formed in New York. I also served as President and Board Member of Hawaii Organic Farmers Association for five years advocating for farmers’ issues throughout the State of Hawaii.  

With all of these organizations, I was responsible for both high level strategy and day-to-day operations and have brought many projects from ideation to implementation. I possess a breadth of experience in organizational visioning, team management, bringing groups to consensus, coalition building, lobbying, budgeting, marketing, grant writing, and project execution.

Additionally, I taught courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on sustainable energy, waste, and innovation and spent several years as an innovator and researcher in a startup-think-tank environment at organizations such as XPRIZE, MIT D-Lab, and Community Innovator Laboratory.

With years of experience in hands-on organic farming, homesteading, aquaponics, and permaculture, I bring a unique and practical perspective to my food policy and sustainability work grounded in real world experience as a food producer and maker.

People know me as a highly collaborative, resourceful, strategic, insightful, and proactive relationship-builder who is able to seamlessly liaise with internal and external stakeholders and thrive in an entrepreneurial environment. I bring creativity & outside of the box thinking to the table combined with practical tactics that achieve program success.