A native of Ohio, I relocated to Lexington, Kentucky in 1988.

Education: I hold a BFA from Miami University in Ohio and am currently completing a second Bachelors in Marketing from Sullivan University in Kentucky.

Family: Married, 10 years, to husband Joey Shadowen, also a Sierra Club leader in the Sierra Club Outings Program, is a key founder for Kentucky's two Inner City Outings programs and is Midwest Regional Volunteer Coordinator for Inner City Outings.

Professional Skills: I work as both a volunteer environmental activist, and am employed as a Marketing Manager for an international business-to-business retailer. My job involves communications, advertising and public relations.

My professional background in media and communications offers key
skills that will become essential in a fast-changing landscape.

My background has given me the credibility within the Club to be seen as an effective consensus-builder— a skill that is in critical need within the organization to address our internal communications.

My background in multimedia, as a Marketing Manager working with both print publications and web-based marketing, gives me the knowledge needed to understand how to help the Club become adept with new and traditional media tools. I have skills to understand both the power, and limitations, of new technologies.

We will need people with a clear understanding of online organizing and fundraising as the Club fully implements their new systems. The Club is already looking to hire staff with those much-needed new media skills. But even as new tools are coming, we need to be mindful of the needs of our existing members who have come to rely on more traditional communications tools. As a Director, I will approach our evolution with respect towards where we are and where we are going.

Additional Information: My husband and I are both actively involved in Outings and we teach Beginning Backpacking as a course to raise funds for our local Sierra Club Group.