Introducing Groundwork’s New Co-Executive Directors
Forrest Gillies and Keshet Miller are Groundwork’s new Co-Executive Directors.
A note from Keshet: Hello Groundwork community! I am so excited to be returning to Groundwork and stepping into the new Co-Executive Director role. Back in 2021, amidst a global pandemic, I took a leap of faith and moved to Paonia to help start the Food Systems Fellowship program. The Groundwork team learned so much that first year, and it is incredible to see the growth and change that this organization has undergone in just a few years. After 2021 I went on to pursue other projects, and now I return to Groundwork with a renewed sense of inspiration and desire to bring positive change to the organization. Now more than ever, I feel grateful for the opportunity to engage in work that feels urgent and necessary. While the process of change often involves challenge, tension, and letting go – I am confident that this transition of leadership will bring forth opportunities for healthy growth. With gratitude, Keshet.
Forrest Gillies has been with Groundwork in Paonia, CO for three years and will be managing the operations side of the organization including fellowship, farm and youth mentoring. A bit of Forrest’s background: Forrest was fortunate to be raised at one of the oldest intentional communities in the U.S., nestled into the red sandstone foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Being surrounded by wilderness, sustainable agriculture and abundant community shaped him into a human inspired to share these gifts with a world starving for land-based connection. Guided by the question of how to create and sustain real, viable culture, Forrest found answers in the seeds. After studying Ecological Agriculture: Seeds, Bees & Soil at the Evergreen State College, he discovered the ways in which seed, subsistence agricultural systems and traditional ecological knowledge create the foundational framework for culture to emerge. Forrest has managed multiple regenerative farm and education projects including Siskiyou Seeds and White Oak Farm in Oregon. He leads nature connection programs for youth and is apprenticing in natural building. Rooted in reverence for the human & more-than-human world, Forrest walks in service to a more beautiful world we all know is possible.