As the owner of Strategic Insights with over 25 years of experience, Amber combines deep expertise in bookkeeping and financial analysis with a heart for the Hood River community. She is dedicated to using her professional background in fiscal management to support local initiatives that foster healthy relationships and connect youth with the natural world. By blending her passion for mentorship with her experience with financial planning, Amber works to ensure the next generation has the stable foundations and outdoor opportunities they need to thrive.

Daniel Lefco is a mission-driven leader, longtime outdoors lover, and believer in nature’s power to support healing, growth, and connection. His early career was rooted in youth development, environmental / experiential education, and cross-cultural service learning, including leading therapeutic and service-learning programs for underserved and at-risk youth in the U.S. and Costa Rica. As Program Director of Rio Rapido in Costa Rica, he led a multicultural team, managed a significant budget, and built community partnerships grounded in dignity and respect. After earning his MBA, Daniel built a 10+ year career in product leadership at ChargerHelp!, Portland General Electric, HP, and Nike. He is honored to support CultureSeed’s work helping Columbia Gorge youth find belonging, wellbeing, and resilience through outdoor immersion and mental health support.

Jill is a retired resource development consultant with over 30 years of experience helping organizations connect to resources for projects, operating support, capital and endowments. Her areas of focus include sustainability, the environment, urban infrastructure, culture and human services. She has raised funds for Portland State University's Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Columbia Gorge Community College, Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, ShelterCare and many others. Her experience includes facilitating public-private partnerships and collaborative projects with multiple stakeholders. Jill has secured support from public sources, foundations, corporations and individual philanthropists. Her skills include project planning, budgeting, case development, grantwriting, and project management. Jill holds a B.A. in English from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from Seattle University.

Jody is the owner and Director of Research and Evaluation at Colibri Consulting. Before starting her own business, she spent years working as an educator, nonprofit program manager and scientist - working with communities in the Pacific Northwest, New Mexico, Ecuador, Alaska and South Africa. She deeply enjoys using Popular Education and participatory research (in both English and Spanish) to empower nonprofits and the communities they serve. Living in the Columbia River Gorge with her husband and 2 kids, she embraces playing outside as a key part of emotional and physical wellness.

A licensed clinical social worker and public‑health policy specialist, Kallie champions trauma care and community resilience. Over the past decade she’s bridged emergency‑department crisis intervention, high‑trauma school counseling and rural substance‑use prevention—recently leading Washington’s 988 behavioral‑health crisis system initial rollout as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Department of Health. A seasoned grant manager for CDC and SAMHSA‑funded violence‑prevention and mental‑health initiatives alongside Tribal, community and rural partners, Kallie also brings her passion for whitewater kayaking and outdoor education to nurturing holistic, nature‑based healing.

Miguel is a Colombian immigrant who loves the outdoors and strives to make it as accessible for folks from all backgrounds. Growing up in Colombia there was always a lot of fear of the outdoors and having been able to connect with nature made him want to help others get that same connection. He is also an experienced kayaker and whitewater instructor with a lot of experience teaching kids. He is also currently in nursing school.

Stephanie is a mental health therapist whose work is rooted in connection, belonging and care for people and place. A Black biracial woman raised in Hood River, Oregon. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and a master’s degree in Counseling. Before entering the mental health field, she spent several years working in environmental education, exploring the relationships between people and the natural world both in the US and abroad. She had the opportunity to spend several years in South America, where she developed the ability to converse in Spanish. As a therapist, she values the roles of community, cultural identity, and connection to nature in supporting individual and collective wellbeing. Stephanie brings her love of hiking, wildflowers, biking and nature-based crafts as well as her deep connection to helping others, specifically BIPOC youth, find a place of belonging and empowerment within the natural world.