I grew up in Grays Harbor County, Washington. My connection with nature started when I was very young because my family members had a leased property on the Duckabush River in the Olympic Mountains near the Hood Canal. I grew up going to that site camping, hiking, fishing, shrimping, clamming, geoducking, shrimping, beach treasurer collecting, and learning about the flora and fauna. My aunt who is the most inspiring person was the one who showed me the way of the land very humbly and properly. She passed away in 2005 suddenly. I am now living the dream she had for me as an integral person of our society and a naturalist at heart. My passion for nature grew in high school as I continued the legacy she left in my heart and in our community. I was in her 4-H club she started and I continued to be involved in that and became a youth leader. When the county fair came in August I would fully involve myself as much as possible in my projects and volunteering for 4-H and for Habitat for Humanity. As my junior year approached I started competing in FFA competitions like Natural Resources and Nursery Landscaping. Natural resources was my favorite science class in high school. I entered Grays Harbor Community college hoping for a degree in science. In 2010 I earned my Associates in Arts and in 2011 I earned my Associates in Applied Science: Natural Resources Forestry. From the forestry courses I was able to travel and do an internship through Rayonier Forestry Inc. I transferred to The Evergreen State College to start my path to a Bachelors in Science. I had the opportunity to do an internship with Seattle Audubon Society and learned the urban environment which was very new to me. I am taking a program called The Fungal Kingdom currently and really enjoy learning about the minute organisms that are so important to our earth. I am graduated in June 2013 and started a career in forest policy. Once I learned from the industry and I married my Air Force husband, I moved to Germany and started my business called Talking Forests full-time and I am now an international social media consultant traveling the world. We just landed in North Carolina so be on the lookout for East coast findings!