I have been a student & promoter of sustainability for more than a decade. Weaving stewardship & ecological urban planning into two architecture degree paths from Rice University, i have long believed that the spaces we create & inhabit directly influence our collective health. I am an outspoken advocate for (& builder of) spaces that nurture Life.

From architecture in Texas, i rooted deeply into the plant kingdom in San Francisco --where habitat restoration & plant propagation grew quickly into gardening professionally, and the management of projects & crews across the city.

In 2006, Frances founded nature works -- a cooperative, grounded in a mission of healing the Earth wherever its partners are, and transforming global consciousness.

Since returning to the East Coast in the fall of 2007, i have studied & practiced regeneration extensively, with many of the most experienced Permaculture designers in the Northeast; developed a regenerative food system at a sustainable retreat center in Costa Rica; presented myriad educational workshops across New York & New Jersey; and, helped to found Green Collar Futures -- an organization that empowers communities to serve themselves by fostering visionary local leadership & accessing the unique & essential gifts in everyone -- which was just responsible for the design & creation of an Permaculture Learning Garden -- a fenceless edible food forest -- for urban communities across the HUdson from New York City.

Now, just having left the IPC in Jordan, i am on a permaculture journey across the Mediterranean as i lend my hands & heart to the creation of living systems that self-organize -- systems that grow in their own vitality -- beyond sustainability. I will re-land in the US with home bases in Philadelphia & Vermont (summer & winter) as i land & cultivate Home, gardens & an integrated economy with a beautiful community anchored by an earthly devotion to radical inclusivity.

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