Meet Your Coordinators...

Carolyn Gilles
Founder & Executive Director, Green Edge Collaborative
Director, Green Edge KY
Born and raised in the beautiful state of Kentucky, Carolyn’s early career was spent in retail management, preparing food for small cafes, and operating a small private catering business. After completing the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City, she decided to focus her career goals on educating the public about consumption choices and their effects on the world around us. This new initiative led her to found Green Edge Collaborative in July 2006. She later returned to the classroom and completed a Bachelor of Science from The New School in May 2009, focusing her study on social enterprise. -- Carolyn@greenedgenyc.org

Judy Harper
Director, Green Edge NYC
Committed to sustainable solutions to our current environmental problems, Judy specializes in introducing new lifestyle concepts to consumers and businesses. She completed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Technical Workshop, while at Cosentini Associates, an engineering consulting firm. Her background includes work with The New York Philharmonic, the NBA and NFL, and Freelancers Union. She is currently consulting with a new performing entity, The American Soul & Rock & Roll Choir, for which she developed the branding and imaging.-- Judy@greenedgenyc.org

A. Lauren Abele -- Coordinator, Development
After finishing a Masters of Public Affairs at Indiana University, Lauren came to New York to pursue her career in the social sector. A long-time environmental advocate, Lauren has analyzed the Kyoto Protocol with the U.S. Department of State in Brussels and worked on the National Ambient Air Quality Standards at the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis. She is the founder of a volunteer environmental education program for elementary school students and has worked on environmental projects in both Spain and Australia. -- Lauren@greenedgenyc.org

Patricia Curry -- Coordinator, Administration
After ten years at Microsoft, Patricia happily left the corporate life behind to focus on causes she finds personally compelling, such as the state of the planet. Having traveled, studied, and worked abroad extensively, her experiences have made her enthusiastic about encouraging ways of living conservatively and consciously in our daily life. She is an ardent rooftop gardener, a lover of cats, and is thrilled to be a part of a citywide effort to bring methods of living sustainability to New York.-- Patricia@greenedgenyc.org

Erin Harte -- Editor, The Leaflet NYC
A native of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia, Erin is a freelance writer, editor, and educator in Brooklyn, New York. She began her publishing career in the Book Clubs division of Scholastic, buying and developing nonfiction for young readers. After several years working with facts, she left Scholastic to complete an M.F.A in fiction at Brooklyn College, where she received the Himan Brown Award and the Ross Feld Prize for her short stories. She served as the Editor in Chief for the 2009 edition of the Brooklyn Review. She’s also edited young adult books and web sites for kids, parents and adults who refuse to grow up. In addition to editing the Leaflet, Erin currently maintains a blog about words and teaches English Composition at Brooklyn College and Medgar Evers College. -- Erin@greenedgenyc.org

Nicole Haysler -- Coordinator, Events
Promoting green living to the community, Nicole utilizes her background in marketing and event production to plan and executing special events for Green Edge Collaborative NYC including the annual fundraiser. She also helps to coordinate new neighborhood supper clubs and acts as a resource for those interested in starting their own. Nicole is a fine artist with a special interest in printmaking and loves to spend her Thursday nights hopping between gallery openings.-- Nicole@greenedgenyc.org

Evan McFarland – Coordinator, Public Relations
Over the past five years Evan has worked with several non-profit environmental groups handling marketing and public relations activities to raise awareness for conservation and sustainability. He recently worked with the NYC Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation on campaigns dedicated to the protection of the world’s oceans and beaches through conservation, activism, research and education. A graduate of the Fairfield University with a B.S. in Marketing and International Business, Evan currently works for HBO managing direct marketing campaigns. -- Evan@greenedgenyc.org

Christy Park -- Coordinator, Green Edge Films
A graduate of James Madison University’s School of Media Arts and Design, Christy is dedicated to media with a social conscience, an endeavor that fuses her passion for service, film, education, and storytelling. A former director of local youth programs for AmeriCorps, she worked with non-profit media organizations, HOME, Inc. and Somerville Community Access Television. Through directing, producing, and editing she has contributed to KINODANCE, Pureland Pictures, Plum TV, and Film-Truth Productions for such projects as A Home for Us All, a documentary feature which explores the housing crisis on Martha’s Vineyard. She recently acted as Associate Producer on Toe to Toe, an Official Selection for 2009 Sundance Film Festival. -- Christy@greenedgenyc.org

Anita Schillhorn van Veen -- Coordinator, Social Media
Anita brings five years of non-profit communications experience to the Green Edge Collaborative. She has worked with WITNESS, UNESCO, The Jed Foundation and other organizations to promote causes through online communications, film, and social media. Along with contributing to Huffington Post, PopMatters, and other news and culture websites, she writes her own gardening and green living blog at soilicious.wordpress.com. -- Anita@greenedgenyc.org

Jennah Synnestvedt -- Art Director, Co-Founder
As a freelancer who wears many hats, Jennah is dedicated to raising the vibration of the planet. After graduating from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communications Design, Jennah built a graphic design practice with clients such as Graphis, The One Club, and POOL Inc., where she currently works on the advertising for Burt's Bees. In the fall of 2006, she attended a two-week "Design for Sustainability" program at Lund University in Sweden. Around the same time, she co-founded Green Edge Collaborative with Carolyn , which allowed her the opportunity to design the logo and visual identity. Today, Jennah has realized that healing the self is intrinsic in healing the world, and is launching a clairvoyant practice called My Little Bubble.-- Jennah@greenedgenyc.org

Not sure who to contact? There's always Info@GreenEdgeNYC.org

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