I am an entrepreneur, world traveler, and day dreamer. I am passionate for learning about and experimenting with new ways of living and working in community. My current focus in this domain revolves around organizing locally-owned businesses to nourish community strength, and ecovillages as a sustainable model for community-based living.

I am blessed to partner with true visionaries and spend my days with geeks, who I love dearly. I keep saying that one day I'll write a book about the geek phenomenon. Just wait for it...

Where I come from

I was born and raised in southwest Kansas. I have a huge family - my mother is the youngest of 15 children. I have over 100 1st cousins. I have lived mostly in Colorado since 1999, with a brief stint in Houston, TX.

I quit school at 15 (and did manage to finish school in creative ways) to pursue my dream of being a missionary. I participated in a full time ministry (with a religion I no longer belong to) for 5 years.

This lead to me having an interesting, varied, and long job history. I've washed dishes, waited tables, cleaned about everything you can think of, driven a school bus, been a lunch lady, telemarketed, taught kindergarden, and danced on a beer tub. I've managed residential apartment buildings, been a bookkeeper and managed programs for a non-profit foundation. Most of my days are now filled working with Arthur Brock and other amazing people to build the Mile High Business Alliance for Denver's locally-owned businesses. The important thing to remember about my job history (for those who can't imagine it), is that I've been working since I was 14 years old, and I've usually had 3 jobs at a time.

I am Potawatomi, enrolled in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the ninth largest federally-recognized native tribe in the US. I am Thunder Clan, and ever learning what being Native American means for me and how I can contribute to this community.

But don't just take my word for it. Check out what those who know me have to say.

Other mostly-useless but perhaps interesting facts about me

Favorite Films: The Princess Bride, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Harold and Maude, I Heart Huckabees, Little Miss Sunshine, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Serenity, Stranger than Fiction....there are so many others I could never list them all here.

Currently Reading: I am always reading several things at once. I'm currently reading "Going Local" and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."Other recent favorites: Mutant Message Down Under, Seeing Nature: Deliberate encounters with the natural world (by Paul Krafel), The Fifth Sacred Thing, Wicked, Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal, Free at Last: The Sudbury School Model, or View my entire recommended reading list

What I'm listening to: Cat Stevens, Suzanne Vega, Cowboy Junkies, Imogen Heap, Feist, Molly Cherington, They Might Be Giants.

My Vices: Eating ice cream, of the Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter Cup flavors. Taking naps. Staying up too late. Falling asleep on the couch trying to watch one more movie. Knitting when I should be working. Drinking lots of hot chocolate.