Holly, a native to the western suburbs of Denver, grew up always trying to strike a balance for her love of science and art. She attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and received a Bachelors in Environmental Design. Throughout her studies, she took a great interest in the societal challenges that face our growing urban centers such as conserving water resources, increased pressure on transportation and energy sources, and of course- food production. An internship with the Colorado Center for Community Development gave her a broader perspective in designing for a range of sizes and types of communities- down to the small rural towns of the Western Slope- and inspired a desire to apply her design skills to the type of work that builds community.

In 2011, Holly took a hiatus from designing to travel and learn about other cultures. After spending a year and a half teaching ESL in Seoul and touring Southeast Asia, she returned to Denver with a fresh perspective. In 2012 she found her way to the GrowHaus just in time to help Colorado Aquaponics complete the build-out of their new commercial farm. Seeing the hybrid system built from start to finish was an eye opening experience in terms of finding inspiration and hope for a potential way to sustainably design community food production systems. Eager to learn as much as she could, Holly took advantage of volunteer opportunities around the farm and attended the Green Acre Commercial Farming Course. This volunteer work eventually lead to an internship with The GrowHaus.

Holly is also currently a Permaculture Design apprentice through Wild Green Yonder Permaculture Design, having completed the Denver Permaculture Design Course through the GrowHaus in 2013. She has experience in Landscape and Urban Design projects, enjoys 3D modeling, graphic and web design projects. Holly loves to build anything, is eager to learn how things work, and has recently completed her own home scale aquaponics system with 75% salvaged materials.

“I am beyond excited to work with such amazingly diverse and supportive team of people. I believe that aquaponics provides an amazing opportunity to change the way our food system operates with endless possibilities- and the Colorado Aquaponics team has the expertise to get us there.”