Moving to Michigan from Washington State has shown me that place matters for all health outcomes.

As a 27-year citizen of Ferndale, Michigan, I have contributed to the local food movement throughout the state and have established myself as a Permaculture designer. Over the past 15 years, I have sought out experiences that challenge my preconceived notions and unconscious bias. I co-founded a community garden that still exists today in my socioeconomically diverse hometown to help bring together different perspectives and build collaboration. At HFWBH, I managed a greenhouse and a farmer’s market that was the basis of my preventative health programs. These programs focused on a range of populations from children, hospital patients and families, interest groups, and NGOs.

I seek to synthesize a narrative from my life and scholarship that is large enough to hold both the depravity and collaboration our species can express. I have now become focused on connecting public health outcomes to design for clients at the institutional and governmental level, focusing on universal income interventions to address acute and long-term disparities among diverse communities. I suggest designs should account for maternal and infant health outcomes when measuring design effectiveness.