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Gunjan Koul 

(She/her)

Founder/Director,

Seed & Bloom

I have been working in the field of therapeutic horticulture since 2018. While deep in grief and mourning the loss of my father after a long illness, I was soothed by the healing power of plants when a dear friend signed us up for a workshop centered around moss. Here I learned that moss appears on the scene where other things have died. It feasts on rocks for centuries, and grows out of the most unsuspecting places on a city sidewalk. Moss…well, she figures out. She is a most resilient plant, and we have much to learn from how she adapts, evolves, and continues to persist. Curious and convinced of their ability to positively transform the mind and body, I began studying the use of plants as a healing medium at the New York Botanical Garden, where I earned a certificate in Horticultural Therapy. After working with the GreenHouse Program at Rikers Island Correctional Facility, I then went on to work with Sprout by Design, a team of educators sharing horticulture and culinary skills with students in youth detention centers around New York City. Working with plants in carceral spaces is where I discovered a real passion. Here was a magical tool and offering- the ability to grow life that needed to be nurtured and handled with gentleness in an environment largely designed to keep those very things outside of its walls.Through my work with Sprout I also facilitated workshops in supportive housing facilities and public schools, leading classes in the areas of hydroponics, worms/bugs/composting, and soil gardening.  After a move to Santa Fe, New Mexico I joined the Conservation in Prisons Project, managed by the Institute for Applied Ecology. Here I led classes at the Penitentiary of New Mexico with a focus on native plant species, and now continue to offer activities rooted in therapeutic horticulture and culinary skills.  With Seed & Bloom I hope to share the harmony of the garden and the kitchen with students of all backgrounds, learning styles, abilities, and interests. I believe that in order to steward our environment, we must acknowledge that everyone has a different relationship to land and the very way that we put our hands in soil. Though growth looks different for each individual, nature is here to be an ally to us all.  In creating safe spaces for learning, I strive to make sure that everyone in the room is held in mind, and that they feel included and engaged. My skills have been shaped by my previous work as a nurse, working with vulnerable populations in a limited resource environment, and from earlier moments in childhood, learning to grow vegetables in my parents’ garden. When I’m not in the classroom or the greenhouse I can most often be found at the movies, on the tennis court, or cooking in my kitchen.

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Leah Potter-Weight

She/her or they/them

Seed & Bloom Intern, Education & Programs

MSW Candidate, New Mexico

Highlands University 

Leah Potter-Weight has worked in regenerative agriculture spaces for fifteen years - from farming on other people's farms, to co-owning a farm, to running educational programming for producers and technical service providers. Most recently she managed education and outreach at the Quivira Coalition in Santa Fe, NM. She's transitioning her career to work in mental health counseling, as she pursues her Master of Social Work at New Mexico Highlands. Her agricultural background and burgeoning social work education will allow her to pursue her dream of supporting people who have experienced trauma, oppression and/or mental illness via numerous modalities including horticultural and agricultural-based therapies. Furthermore, she hopes to support producers' mental health.

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Anita Adalja 

All Pronouns
Advisory Committee Member, Seed & Bloom

Anita has spent many years working on farms including non-profit, for-profit, urban and rural farms all over the country. Her heart is focused on safety, dignity and financial security for farmworkers. In 2019, she founded Not Our Farm, a non-profit farmworker storytelling and power building project, and she is a co-farmer at Ashokra Farm, a small farm in Albuquerque. Additionally, Anita trained and worked as a social worker in New York City and New Mexico in both supportive housing wraparound agencies and carceral spaces. Anita is also a farm food safety practitioner through La Semilla Food Center and the NM Grown Approved Supplier program where she leads community education for farmers rooted in labor, dignity and community care.

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Dina Grove 

She/her
Advisory Committee Member, Seed & Bloom

Dina Grove leads teams responsible for operational planning, data strategy, and grants at Arnold Ventures, a Houston-based philanthropy. Previously, Dina was a member of the Arnold Ventures legal team, providing support and guidance on a range of matters including private foundation rules and lobbying compliance. Prior to joining Arnold Ventures, Dina worked for a law firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, handling complex commercial litigation and clerked for two federal judges. Her experience includes representing small businesses, large corporations, and individual clients in diverse commercial litigation matters and providing pro bono representation to clients in partnership with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. She received a J.D. from New York University School of Law and B.A. from the University of Virginia.

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Corrie Reynoso
 


She/her
Advisory Committee Member, Seed & Bloom

Corrie is a communications consultant who has refined her creative and strategic writing skills working in healthcare advertising for 16 years. She is currently associate creative director at a payer advertising firm, Entrée Health, managing her teams to find the best creative solutions for their clients. She also serves on the board of a conservation nonprofit, Wild Forests and Fauna, where she has spent 10 years expanding their marketing and donor development initiatives and creating funding campaigns for forest conservation programs in South America and Africa. She earned her B.A in biology from Rutgers University and a Masters Degree from New York University in Environmental Conservation Education.

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R. Charlie Shultz

(He/Him)
Advisory Committee Member, Seed & Bloom

R. Charlie Shultz (Academic Director, Controlled Environment Agriculture, Santa Fe Community College) is considered a leader in the field of Aquaponics and has worked with diverse populations across the globe. Charlie received his undergraduate training at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, earning BS degrees in Fishery Science and Biology. Charlie then worked with fish at the University of Georgia and the University of the Virgin Islands where aquaponics was pioneered. Charlie completed his master’s research at Kentucky State University looking at the potential for indoor aquaponic food production. After graduate school, Charlie spent two years working at Lethbridge College in Southern Alberta, Canada as an Aquaponics Researcher before relocating to San Marcos, TX to run an integrated tilapia and vegetable farm. For the past seven years Charlie has built a CEA program at Santa Fe Community College focused on CEA workforce training.

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