Samantha Elie
Nursery and Communications Manager, Sound Native Plants, Olympia, Washington, USA
American living in Washington, USA
Samantha researches the illuminating relationships that native plants maintain between their ecosystem, climate, and people. Her conviction is that vital environmental health solutions are based in community knowledge and empowered by the scientific method. Her spark was ignited at a youth-led sustainable farm in Rwanda, and given oxygen as she engaged with the Working Group on Girls at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2012. Earning dual degrees in economic botany and montane ecology from The Evergreen State College, Samantha’s work is interdisciplinary and community-powered. She mentors students, manages a native plant nursery, and volunteers avidly in the Pacific Northwest, United States. When Samantha is not working with plants, she is writing about them, crawling among them, or creating botanical art.
