Explore Ecology Staff and Board
Environmental Educator
Meg grew up in the creeks and valleys of the Ozarks. She got her B.S. in Environmental, Soil, and Water Science at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Meg’s passions lie in regenerative agriculture and soil science and she is no stranger to getting her hands dirty.
Meg has worked with private and public organizations to find ways to conserve our natural resources and rebuild the relationship between communities and their surrounding ecosystems.
Meg is an avid crafter and can be found spending most of her downtime, sewing, knitting, or doing ceramics. She also loves finding new trails or campsites to explore and relax at on the weekends.
Environmental Educator
Growing up in Redlands, California, Aliyah moved to Santa Barbara to go to UC Santa Barbara. She graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a concentration in communication. In her time at UCSB, Aliyah enjoyed learning more about environmental justice initiatives and led lessons on coastal erosion and local ecology to elementary-aged students in partnership with CCBER’s Kids in Nature environmental education program.
Aliyah became passionate about sustainability and local environmental action and went on to support plastic reduction and energy efficiency efforts with the City of Goleta. Through these experiences, she became connected with the Santa Barbara community and its beautiful environment.
Aliyah is very enthusiastic about sharing her passion for the environment on the Explore Ecology team!
Garden Educator
Emily was first introduced to gardening at her elementary school in Texas. She then moved to Simi Valley, CA with her parents and younger brother. In 2024, Emily graduated from UCSB with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and an emphasis in Water and Soil Science. Over the past four years she has cultivated her passion for sustainable agriculture by working on several organic farms and gardens in California and New
Hampshire.
During her time at UCSB, Emily worked for the A.S. Department of Public Worms as both a Worm Wrangler and Operations Coordinator. During this time, Emily helped to create a closed-loop food system in the UCSB and Isla Vista community by growing seasonal produce and composting on site. She also completed her Environmental Leadership Incubator (ELI) project focused on creating an educational farm day event for Isla Vista Elementary students and families.
In addition to gardening, Emily loves to express herself through music and crafting! She plays electric and upright bass in several bands throughout Santa Barbara. She was a bassist for the UCSB Jazz Ensemble for four years and has played in many other rock, funk, and jazz bands around town. Emily has recently been working with clay and wire mediums to make little bug and vegetable charms for her friends.
Emily is stoked to be combining her passions for art and soil science to teach students about gardening!
Garden Educator
Anastasia grew up in Southern California and spent most of her childhood outdoors on horseback which gave her a deep appreciation for nature early on in life. Anastasia’s passion for the environment was deepened by one of her high school teachers who inspired her to not only pursue environmental stewardship in college, but the desire to teach the next generation its importance! Anastasia moved to Santa Barbara almost seven years ago to attend UCSB where she graduated with a degree in Environmental Science and a degree in Political Science, and she never left.
In her free time you can find Anastasia walking or hiking with her husband and dog, having themed dinner parties with her friends, or at home reading/ catching up on the latest documentaries.
Garden Educator
Twyla Summers is a 2024 UCSB graduate from Sonoma Valley, CA. She grew up as the youngest of four children in an outdoors and arts-and-crafts forward household, learning to explore all different types of expression through murals, ugly dolls, and all the crafts you can make with only cardboard, paint, glitter, and a hot glue gun.
With a passion and education focus on Urban Planning, Culture, and Public/Environmental Policy, Twyla has supplemented her Sociology degree with work in her hometown’s Community Services and Environment Commission, Challenge Sonoma Adventure Ropes Course, Rhoten Productions Summer Camps, and as an events intern for Santa Barbara’s Los Padres ForestWatch.
For fun, Twyla creates linoleum block prints, spends time outside, and explores the abundance of Santa Barbara’s food and wine industry.
Her goal is to one day have a role in the urban planning sector of a city where she can help implement low-income neighborhood restoration and social welfare programs including community gardens, free clinics, after school arts programs, free language classes for youth and adults, and anything else that will give every individual a purpose and feel valued.
Twyla hopes her role as a Garden Educator at Explore Ecology will assist in teaching Santa Barbara youth the importance of holistic caretaking of their planet, their community, and themselves.
Garden Educator
Delaney grew up all along the east coast and California is the eighth state she’s lived in. She graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from the College of Charleston, where she also developed a love for environmental sustainability through the College’s sustainability initiative!
Delaney studied abroad in Cambodia and Vietnam and she later returned to Cambodia for an internship teaching English to employees at an Elephant Sanctuary. In Cambodia, Delaney’s passion for the environment grew, as she assisted the Forestry Coordinator with projects such as propagating native plants and removing invasive species.
In addition to teaching English in the remote wilderness, she has also worked as a Forest Preschool Teacher and Swim instructor.
Delaney is deeply passionate about the psychological benefits of being in nature, which is why she is so excited to share her love of gardening with others.
She has a certificate in Permaculture Design and will soon complete a Native Plant Landscaper Program through the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens.
In her free time, you can find Delaney hiking with her dog, reading, sewing her own clothes, and attempting to identify every plant she comes across.
Environmental Educator
Cara Orndahl grew up in Illinois and moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB. Cara graduated in 2024 with a degree in Ecology and Evolution and a minor in Spanish.
During her time at UCSB, she contributed to the restoration of coastal ecosystems at North Campus Open Space and The Lagoon. Cara also had the opportunity to help research the wildfire resilience of native plants. Through these experiences, she became passionate about protecting California’s unique ecosystems. Cara is very excited to share this passion by teaching with Explore Ecology!
In her free time, Cara loves to knit and crochet, play video games, watch reality TV, and go on walks around Santa Barbara.
Garden Maintenance Coordinator
Andie is a California native who is passionate about earth advocacy, being an awesome auntie, and all things plant related.
In her spare time you can catch Andie propagating plants, going to the beach with her dog, and exploring national parks with her partner.
Andie also loves making essential oil candles for her small business and talking about trash and waste reduction. She is really excited to grow with Explore Ecology’s amazing community.
Garden Educator
Courtney loves food – growing it, learning about it, cooking it and eating it. She hopes that as the Garden Educator at Harding University Partnership School, she can inspire courageous eaters as they learn about and care for the world around them.
Courtney has a Master’s in Environmental Science and Management and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies and Biology. She likes to be outside, noticing the tiny details like the parts of a flower or the pollen sacs on a bee. She loves traveling all over the world as well as exploring more locally. Courtney also really enjoys any excuse for a costume!
Courtney and her husband have two daughters, Juniper (9) and Everly (6). They also have a very large and silly dog named Cator.
Garden Educator
Born and raised in Alameda, Anya’s connection to nature and community has shaped her journey. She graduated from the University of Arizona in May 2024 with a degree in Environmental Studies and a minor in Global Health.
Anya’s experience ranges from working as a school garden intern where she engaged students in hands-on learning about growing food to supporting local government policy initiatives and organizing community outreach efforts. These roles have deepened her passion for climate action and environmental education.
In her free time, you’ll find her staying active, trying out new recipes, or planning her next adventure. Her weekends are often spent hitting the trails with friends and soaking up the sun at the beach or in the garden. She’s thrilled to inspire curiosity, creativity, and a love for the environment in the next generation!
Environmental Educator
Elsa grew up in Sonoma, California, and graduated from UCSB with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in Art. During her time there, she studied environmental justice and became interested in the intersection between the arts and sciences. Elsa completed a senior thesis advocating for the power of art in regard to the environmental movement, learning how art has historically been used for organizing, collective imagining, and connecting people across divides.
Elsa has led an art camp for kids, worked as UCSB Sustainability’s lead graphic designer, interned with Explore Ecology to organize Coastal Cleanup Day, and was commissioned by the Isla Vista Community Services District to paint a mural in the community.
Elsa has loved both art and nature since she was very young, growing up camping, hiking, painting, and drawing. She is extremely passionate about social justice and hopes to elevate voices often silenced by mainstream discourse. As an environmental educator, she is excited to participate in reciprocal learning with the younger generations who will lead our future, and is driven by making ecological education more accessible.
In her free time, Elsa loves to practice yoga, sew, make ceramics, go backpacking, and spend time with her friends and community!
Explore Ecology Mascot
I love coming to work and getting pets from everyone.
In my spare time, I like to sleep, eat, hike, and explore nature.
Did I say eat and sleep?
Garden Educator
Manuel Cortez, originally from El Salvador; studied Agriculture at the National Agricultural School in El Salvador. Manuel later graduated from the Latin American Technical University as an Agricultural Engineer with a specialty in organic agriculture (BS degree in the US).
His passion is teaching how to grow vegetables and ornamental plants organically.
Manuel has worked as a Para Educator and Garden Educator at Davis Senior High School in Davis, CA. He also worked as a horticultural instructor at the National Agricultural School.
In his free time, Manuel likes to do volunteer work and travel inside and outside the country. On the weekends, Manuel enjoys hiking or working in his garden.
He is very happy to be part of the Explore Ecology Team.
Garden Educator
Sarah is very passionate about being involved in the outdoors, as well as expressing creativity. She grew up in the Bay Area learning to garden with her mother and going hiking, camping, and backpacking with her family regularly. While gardening with her mother, she grew a deep connection with the processes of ecosystems and food production, so Sarah believes it can be incredibly beneficial for kids to get hands-on experience in nature.
In her free time Sarah enjoys creating art through crocheting, drawing, watercolor, and sewing! She is also passionate about small-scale sustainable food production, and being mindful of where her food is coming from, as well as how it was produced. Sarah went on to follow her passion for the environment at UC Santa Cruz, and she recently graduated with a major in Environmental Studies, focused on plant sciences and environmental policy. Much of what Sarah studied had to do with the connection between environment, social, and economic inequities and possible solutions, while the other half of her studies focused on field work and research projects.
Previously, Sarah worked at Fort Ord Natural Reserve, a reserve owned by UCSC for the purpose of research where she assisted with ongoing research projects, learning about, and testing various ecological theories.
Garden Coordinator
Sadie lives outside of Buellton with her husband, two boys, dog, cat, and tortoise.
She grew up farming in the Midwest and has a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago.
Sadie loves gardening and landscaping at home (especially Irises!) and is the garden educator for Santa Ynez Elementary and Oak Valley Elementary in Buellton.
While she never achieved her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, Sadie’s greatest aspiration is still to someday make it into space.
Garden Educator
Renee Gutierrez is a first-generation college student who recently graduated from CSU Monterey Bay with a major in Environmental Studies focusing on education.
Renee loves being outdoors, traveling to national parks, camping, and hiking. Renee would love to say that she had been to every national park in the US someday! So far, she has been to 6, so she has a long way to go.
Renee will never forget, as a child, going on a camping trip to Guerneville and sleeping under the redwood trees; that experience significantly impacted her life and made her passionate about the environment. That is why Renee wants to educate future generations and instill in them the love for nature that she has.
Vermicompost Coordinator
Angie was born and raised in Santa Barbara. She studied Psychology at San Diego State and was a social worker in San Francisco for five years before she discovered her love of growing food. Angie learned how to grow vegetables with the Green Urban Lunch Box in Salt Lake City and then moved back to the Bay Area to start farming.
Angie made her way home to Santa Barbara and discovered Explore Ecology where she is able to combine her love for people, plants, and the environment. She enjoys working as our resident Vermicompost expert and is passionate about soil health, the soil food web, and keeping the red wiggler worms in our large-scale worm bins happy!
Angie loves surfing with the leopard sharks at Devereux and getting lost in the backcountry of Santa Ynez with her husband Chris, son Frank, and their little dog Lucy. She loves being back in Santa Barbara County and her new favorite hobby is learning the names and faces of all the native plants on her walks and hikes. Keep an eye out for Angie on the trails collecting seeds and smelling the sage.
Garden Educator
Marissa graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2020 with a bachelor’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has been living in Santa Barbara for the last 3 years. Marissa gained invaluable experience working for her tribe’s environmental office in Santa Ynez, where she reinforced her passion for growing native plants and got to be involved in her tribal community.
One of Marissa’s favorite things is being able to spend her days outdoors working with the land. She recently spent the summer in Skagway, Alaska working on a small produce farm where she expanded her knowledge about sustainable gardening and growing organic foods.
In her free time, Marissa enjoys painting, knitting and making block prints. She also likes to spend her days off camping and exploring everything nature has to offer.
Marissa is excited to join the Explore Ecology team and inspire young students about gardening!
Garden Educator
Maximo grew up in Argentina. As a child, he spent his summers in the remote countrysides of Argentina and Uruguay learning and helping his stepdad with ranch work. It was during these summers that Maximo developed his love for nature, simplicity, and sustainability.
Maximo’s life took him on many amazing adventures, but his heart always came back to nature and found its home in wild California. Today, Maximo is often admiring his fruit trees or tending to his vegetable garden in Lompoc with his two children, or in Los Olivos, hiking Fig Mountain and helping raise his stepsons, with his favorite librarian and spiritual wife, Rachael.
Maximo’s dream is to keep learning and to share his passion for nature with his students and the community.
Garden Educator
Roxanne is very excited to be part of Explore Ecology’s Garden Education team. She really can’t think of anything she adores more than plants and kids (maybe pets.) Roxanne and her husband Jeff have been working in agriculture for decades. It’s been very rewarding for them to continue to be active in the community and use their growing skills in new ways.
Roxanne has been in the Santa Barbara area her whole life and has no intention of leaving, ever.
Roxanne graduated from UCSB many many years ago with a degree in Spanish. She currently is studying viticulture/agribusiness at Allan Hancock in Santa Maria because she loves knowing as much as she can about agriculture in our area.
Art From Scrap Sales Associate
Ryan was born and raised in Napa, California and has bounced around all over California since!
He has a strong passion for board sports, as well as the outdoors.
Ryan also has a love for painting, along with graphic design.
He graduated from UCSB with a degree in Statistics and Data Science.
Ian DocktorGarden Education Coordinator
Ian graduated from UCSB in 2020 and recently returned to Santa Barbara after a two year hiatus doing seasonal work in avian conservation, as well as environmental restoration and education.
When he’s not teaching, Ian likes to be outside learning more about native plants, vegetable gardening, natural history, birds, and bioacoustics.
He’s beyond excited to be back in a place he loves while helping students connect with the natural world!
Garden Educator
Lauren was born and raised in California and is happy to be back after six wonderful years of living in Colorado.
Lauren received her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and International Studies and her time working at the Center for Sustainability on campus helped her realize that she wanted to pursue a career that focuses on taking care of our natural environment and each other.
Garden Educator
Chloe grew up in nearby Ojai, CA, which helped shape her passion for living a green lifestyle and conserving wildlife.
Chloe loves animals and has fostered puppies and kittens for the Ventura County Humane Society for years.
She also enjoys thrifting and vintage clothing, playing guitar, and anything related to gardening.
Chloe loves helping foster the connection between children and the natural world.
Garden Educator
Since graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Isabelle has been traveling the world, working, and doing her best to experience the treasures life has to offer.
In her girlhood Isabelle developed a strong love for flowers, butterflies, and bugs and was lucky enough to find an academic outlet to fulfill that fascination through studying horticulture.
Coupled with passion for conservation and environmental stewardship, Isabelle is eager to be sharing her knowledge with the next generation.
Store Associate
Katherine’s enthusiasm for the world of creativity and conservation began long before joining Explore Ecology. A true Californian, she was born and raised in San Diego before moving to Santa Barbara to pursue her goal of becoming an Art History major. Here, she discovered how truly important conservation work can be in regard to historical artifacts and architecture as well as environmental landscapes.
But her exploration of the arts did not stop there. Over her past three years at Santa Barbara City College she has held the position of President for the campus’s Art History Club, in addition to self-educating herself in diversifying cultures by means of global travel.
During her spare time Katherine can be found attending live concerts, exploring new recipes to cook for her friends and family, and taking trips to visit her friends up and down the coast of California.
With what started as being a customer of Art From Scrap, Katherine is honored to be a part of such a wonderful team and local nonprofit here in her home of Santa Barbara!
School Gardens Program Director
Genevieve grew up in Carpinteria, CA where she spent many years building her tan, tough feet, and love of nature. She studied biological sciences at SBCC and UCSB, and graduated with a BS in Zoology. She spent quite a bit of time traveling and eventually found her husband in the rugged land of Wales. They have raised their two beautiful daughters in Carpinteria over the past 15 years.
Genevieve got her first taste of teaching children about nature at her daughters’ preschool and hasn’t looked back since.
Genevieve started working as a Garden Educator in 2014 and became a Garden Coordinator and then was promoted to Garden Program Director. Genevieve loves working for an organization that is so committed to helping children connect with nature and the food they eat.
Environmental Educator
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Josh would describe himself as fun, optimistic, easy going, and excited about life. Outside of teaching at Explore Ecology, Josh enjoys going to the beach with friends, playing volleyball, skateboarding, and surfing.
He is excited to educate the next generation on environmental topics and to share his love and excitement about the earth to anyone who wants to listen.
Art From Scrap Creative Reuse Store Coordinator
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Melissa grew up in Illinois near her family’s farm where she was able to learn about sustainable agricultural practices and develop a deep respect for the natural world.
She moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB and graduated with a degree in social justice, feeling a strong need to create positive change in the world.
While raising her young children she worked part time coordinating farmers markets which allowed her to build community relationships and educate about agricultural practices. Melissa has spent the last 10 years teaching K-1 students full time, with a focus on STEAM, environmental education and creative reuse.
She is excited to be the Art From Scrap program coordinator where she can find new and creative ways to connect her whole community with materials, resources and ideas that support the mission of Explore Ecology.
Environmental Educator
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Veronica is very passionate about conservation and sustainable agricultural practices. She has spent many summers working in environmental education at various zoos and museums and loves introducing kids to the plants and animals that coexist with us.
In her free time, Veronica likes to sit at the beach and read, take dance classes, roller skate, and walk around fancy neighborhoods to look at the houses.
Garden Explorers Program Coordinator
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
After years in the classroom, Stephanie found that she loved creating curriculum and learning experiences for children. She pursued her Master’s Degree in Instructional Design and has recently been developing STEAM and Literacy Curriculum and providing professional development training for elementary teachers. She is so excited for the chance to come full circle and utilize her experience to contribute to this amazing program.
Environmental Educator
Natalie Barnes grew up in San Diego and graduated from UCSB with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, with an emphasis in education. During her time at UCSB, Natalie was especially drawn to classes where she had the opportunity to work with other students and learn collaboratively about environmental topics. She was also involved in Excursion Club at UCSB, which was a great way for her to build community and spend time outdoors. Through this club, Natalie led trips to various locations and was able to take groups of people outside to explore and learn more about the environment around us.
While at UCSB, Natalie also had the opportunity to work with students of various ages and teach them about sustainability and other environmental topics. She has always loved being outdoors and grew up camping, hiking, and spending time at the beach. Her connection to the environment formed naturally through these experiences, and as she got older, that appreciation grew into a desire to help protect it.
As an environmental educator, Natalie is excited to work alongside students and help them make connections to the natural world around us. She hopes to help students feel more connected to their environment and empowered to take care of the spaces around them. They are our future, and Natalie hopes to make environmental education more accessible to them.
In her free time, Natalie enjoys hiking, backpacking, going to the beach, and spending time with friends and family.
EE Makerspace Coordinator
Although he is a Central Coast native, Andrew has studied and worked in Spain, China, Mexico, and the UK. He is passionate about sparking creativity in learners of all ages, and he is always eager to explore new and experimental artforms.
Andrew enjoys printmaking and bookmaking, and he spends as much time as possible with his Scottish terrier.
He has also worked as a food writer and a teacher of English as a second language.
Garden Educator
Anna grew up in Boise, Idaho, where she spent a lot of time outdoors, including gardening with her mom. She studied Environmental Science at the University of Rochester in upstate New York and went on to earn a master’s degree in Hydrology in Amsterdam. Anna’s excited to share her love of nature and food through garden education, helping kids find the same joy she felt growing up outside.
When she’s not working, Anna loves reading, running, and hanging with her orange cat, Creamsicle. She’s part of a local running club and aspires to complete the Santa Barbara Half Marathon.
Public Relations Director
Jill loves educating about nature through all forms of media. She’s a UCSB grad, with additional training in Environmental Horticulture, Documentary Film, and Permaculture.
She is the host and producer of Sustainable World Radio, a long running podcast about the natural world, plants, and Permaculture.
When she’s not hanging out with plants, you can find Jill reading novels (or seed catalogues), natural dyeing, or concocting herbal remedies.
Development Director
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
A volunteer naturalist for the Channel Islands National Park and National Marine Sanctuary, she leads hikes on the islands and teaches aboard whale watch and dive vessels along the coast.
Her professional collaborations include restoring wildlife habitats, creating environmental education programs, and establishing nature preserves throughout Santa Barbara County.
When she’s not furthering the mission of Explore Ecology, you’ll likely find her in the waves at El Capitan or Butterfly Beach.
Lindsay JohnsonExecutive Director
Lindsay grew up in Colorado, where her passion for the outdoors and the wonders that our earth holds started during weekend camping trips in the Rockies and winter ski trips to Colorado’s best ski areas.
When Lindsay’s not working, she spends time with her family in Santa Barbara, traveling, and exploring.