Personnel
Meet our Staff!
Ryan Koch
Executive Director
I am a licensed professional counselor associate (LPCA) in Lexington, KY. I completed my graduate degree (MA Counseling) at Asbury Theological Seminary in 2005. I have a background in experiential education with extensive training and practice in challenge course facilitation and wilderness trips. My training to date motivates me toward therapeutic interventions based on an action-reflection model in addition to traditional talk therapies.
My conversion to gardening was inspired in part by David and his family (see below). Since 2004 he has mentored me on his farm as well as in a garden in Lexington. I see now how gardening can promote the integration of one’s physical and mental health-it is a valuable component of a holistic education. I see too how gardening helps a community grow together by sharing work and food.
Rebecca Self
Education Director
A native to Lexington, I come to Seedleaf with a focus on education and community outreach. I received my degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. From there, I began my career in teaching. Initially serving as a science teacher at the high school level, I then moved on to middle school education, where I served as the science and math teacher at the Montessori Middle School of Kentucky, in Lexington, as well as their Sustainability Coordinator. In this role, I transitioned the school’s focus to an experiential, land-based curriculum. The students conducted their studies on a 12 acre piece of property, where they completed units involving field and stream studies, beekeeping, gardening, composting, stream restoration, rain garden construction, and other sustainable initiatives.
When I saw how well the students responded to this active, real-world educational method, I realized that similar innovative and engaging practices needed to be more widely available in our community. As I became familiar with the wonderful work that Ryan was doing at Seedleaf, I saw the great potential in Seedleaf’s individual and community focus in treating food access and the environment as a social justice issue. I am thrilled to be joining them in such noble work and look forward to helping Seedleaf expand its educational offerings.
Andy Werner
AmeriCorps VISTA Member
Meet our Board!
Angela Baldridge
I am the program director of SUCCESS Corps, a statewide AmeriCorps project housed by the Family Resource and Youth Services Centers in Kentucky. I also work as a freelance photographer in Lexington, shooting for various clients, including the Lexington Herald-Leader. I received a BA from Transylvania University, and completed coursework for a Master’s in Visual Communications at Syracuse University at the NY and London campuses. Through Seedleaf, as president of the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, as co-founder and director of Build-A-Bed, and through AmeriCorps I have gained insight and awareness about the lives of individuals and communities throughout Kentucky. I hope to facilitate continued local empowerment on an individual and group level by listening and supporting the community through action. I joined Seedleaf’s board because I (oddly) love grant-writing and wanted to write grants for Seedleaf, an organization whose approach and methods I wholeheartedly believe in. Also, Ryan cooks some mean beans at the board meetings!
Geoff Maddock
I was raised on a dairy farm in Australia and now make my home in the East End of Lexington with my family. Seedleaf is a wonderful organization for us to practice our commitment to helping make healthy food available to underserved residents of Lexington. It is a way for us to share the joy of growing some of your own food and of coming to appreciate how each one of us is connected to the land around us. By serving on the Seedleaf Board and as a volunteer at the London Ferrell Community Garden I am grateful to be given the chance to become a better urban gardener, neighbor, and citizen.
Tiffany Thompson
Originally from Versailles, I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in Geography, with Spanish and Environmental Studies minors. I spent two years serving in the Peace Corps in Bolivia as an Environmental Educator after college and then moved to Louisville for the growing season of 2009 where I completed an apprenticeship at Field Day Family Farm, a CSA organic vegetable production farm. Coming back to Lexington, I joined Seedleaf as an Americorps VISTA member with a passion for local, sustainable food economies and the desire to share this passion with the people Seedleaf works with. Currently, I am Assistant CSA Manager at the UK Horticulture Research Farm and am continuing to serve Seedleaf as a board member and volunteer.
Shawn Burns
I’m a native Cincinnati resident who came to Lexington during a career in special event operations. During that time I was the Director of Food & Beverage Purchasing for the Cincinnati Bengals and Keeneland Race Track. I now run a document management business that allows me the flexibility to pursue my interest in helping to build a better local community with Seedleaf.
My wife Trish and I are passionate about the Seedleaf mission to nourish the local community through children’s education programs, teaching others to grow food and recycling waste. We have seen in our own families the impact of spending time working together in the kitchen and garden; sharing the successes and failures. As a child I didn’t eat my veggies and I certainly didn’t know how to grow them… If I can be taught anyone can!
My focus as a board member will be to increase Seedleaf’s communication with local businesses and offer opportunities for them to partner with us on programs, events and providing expertise to facilitate continued growth as an organization.
