What were you doing before you applied to the Conway School?
I was working for non-profits helping spread traditional organic farming practices and
local markets in northern India. After two years, I was looking for a program that would
expose me to ecological restoration techniques and help me be a better strategic
planner to amplify impact.
What brought you to Conway?
Size and length of program. Getting to work on real projects and deal with real design
challenges was key to me. I also was impressed by the highly regarded network of
restoration/organic farming professionals coming out of such a small program.
Imagine we just met, and recognized we had common interests. How would you
describe Conway to me?
10 months of drinking through a firehose with a close-knit cohort. There are so many
smart and encouraging educators/experts and such a diversity of design challenges on
the projects that you will have more info than you can take in come at you. Conway
does a great job of exposing you to real world design challenges while allowing for deep
site analysis. If you can build from this structure, it helps give you a leg up once you get
in the work force.
What advice do you have for someone just starting out in the field?
Get as much hands-on, on-the-ground experience as you can. Learn your plants and
don’t be afraid to ask questions. The alumni network is awesome. Reach out and offer
to volunteer a workday with groups you want to work with or work with groups like
Community Outreach Group for Landscape Designers (COG). Giving some time will
lead to getting a path toward a career.
What are you doing right now, and what do you love about it?
My passion is connecting ecological restoration with community engagement. I love the
challenge of restoring functional ecologies to parks/ conservation lands around new
England but when I get to bring in the community who lives next to these sites, engage
them in the work, and see them play a key role in its future care; that is what fills my
cup. Last year we finished a 2 year restoration of Mattahunt Urban Wild while working
with and training Powercorps to complete the work and it was one of my proudest
professional moments. Developing custom seed mixes and installing meadows gives me a lot of joy. This challenges me to understand the biological processes of dozens of species and how they play together in time and space.
List one or more books that you find influential in the field of ecological design
and/or planning.
Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels. This opened my eyes to
understanding how to walk into any forest and come up with a good guess for how it
developed. Prairie Up by Benjamin Vogt is an excellent guide to transforming residential
spaces into thriving meadows that play well with traditional landscape expectations.
Garden Revolution by Larry Weaner is a must have for practical meadow/shrubland/forest restoration and innovative techniques. Sibley Guide to Trees and Bark by Michael Wojtech for ID. Anything by Doug Tallamy or Michael Dirr is great for research and inspiring clients.
What book changed your life?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Any time I get down I pull out this quick read and it
helps ground me, re-evaluate, and approach what I am going through in a different way.
What is your favorite tool?
I don’t go anywhere without my Felcos and Hori hori (sometimes even forget I have it at
the store). Bluebeam has been a game changer for taking notes and takeoffs on plans.
For invasive management a weed wrench, buckthorn blaster, electric saw and root
slayer is a powerful combination.
Which aspects of your Conway education do you use in your current work?
Rapid and rigorous site analysis is key to all of my projects. Conway works less with
theory and more with objective research of the site and this leads to good outcomes/
addressing real problems. Conway pushed me to understand the story of the site and of
the players who are involved with it. It challenged us to develop a story-telling narrative
that incorporates these which has helped immensely in the quality and effectiveness of
my work. Conway also stretches the muscle of juggling a lot of concurrent challenges
and stakeholders while making adjustments on the fly.