Meet Becky Lakin, this week's guest editor. Becky is a cross-disciplinary leader with a background in people and culture, marketing, corporate citizenship, nonprofit leadership at The Giving Wall, and higher education as a professor within the Arizona State University School of Sustainability. She's also pretty excellent at parenting, as reported by her two daughters. Becky even finds time to lead horse+human workshops and retreats with formerly wild mustangs through her organization The Tomorrow Company!
Becky, who is currently running for the Henricopolis Soil & Water Conservation District Board of Directors in this November’s General Election, is here this week to serve up a handful of events by organizations that motivate her. She promises these events to be not only fun, caring, and wicked interesting – but also action oriented. They center around Becky’s vision for a thriving community driven by individuals, organizations, and institutions committed to protecting and strengthening the natural world that sustains us. Driving her list of recommendations this week is the belief that our wellbeing relies on the health of the soil and water on which we depend, and in which we delight. This, of course, is not a comprehensive list. So if you’d like more precise pointing based on your skills and interests, give Becky a shout.
Take it away, Becky…
James River Week at Maymont
Maymont likely needs no introduction as a 100-acre farm in the City of Richmond. For me it’s held many precious family moments and memories laughing with my girls in its gardens, taking photos of trees to remember their species (a pastime that seems to increase with age), and enjoying outdoor events – like the entirely epic Brandi Carlile concert this time last year. What a show.
From September 9 - 16, 2023, Maymont is celebrating James River Week by hosting a variety of programs for all age groups that will highlight the beauty and wildlife of the James River watershed – and the joy it brings. The week’s activities include animal keeper talks, crafts and art-making, art exhibitions, a Family Night Hike, and workshops on rain gardens.
The James River gives us respite, recreation, and resilience in the face of a changing climate – and welcomes as many as two million visitors annually. My family lives alongside the James River, where we caretake its banks and waters that wander by our Eastern Henrico home. The James River Advisory Council provides a forum for diverse interests along the James River in Central Virginia, and engages the public about issues and challenges facing the river. JRAC’s vision is a healthy, beautiful, economically vital and accessible James River that is cared for by a diverse and engaged community. Yes, please.
The Capital Region Land Conservancy (CRLC) is a Richmond-based non-profit that protects the natural and historic lands of the Richmond region. Thanks to CRLC, 12,000+ acres of environmentally or culturally important land and water have been protected to date – with tens of thousands more to go. This includes hundreds of acres of historically and environmentally significant forests and fields nearing my home that hold hope for learning our present from the past and designing our future alongside the natural world.
On Tuesday, September 12 from 5:00 - 7:00 pm, come explore native wildflowers, grassland restoration areas, and riparian buffers with CRLC and the Virginia Native Plant Society for a summer evening guided walk.
Vitals: Summer Wildflower Tour /Varina LandLab: 9200 Deep Bottom Rd, RVA/ Tuesday, September 12, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
Henrico County Board of Supervisors Forum presented by The Sierra Club Falls of the James Group
The Sierra Club Falls of the James Group (FOJG), the Partnership for Smarter Growth, and Henrico Conservation Action Network are holding a non-partisan forum for all candidates for Henrico County Board of Supervisors. The forum intends to inform the Henrico voters on issues related to planning and land use, civil rights, the environment, and good government. I’ll be there listening and learning as a newer-to-Henrico resident, who moved from the City of Richmond some fifteen months ago. Did you know Henrico is home to 330,000+ people within 245 square miles?
Why this matters to you if you’re not in Henrico? What’s good for other counties, and the City, is often good for the Richmond Region.
*In addition to the Henrico forum, there's also the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors Forum presented by The Sierra Club Falls of the James Group (FOJG), Chesterfield NAACP, and Partnership for Smarter Growth happening tonight, September 7, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm at Manchester Middle School.
More about Becky and The Tomorrow Company...
Imagine your team in protected forest, beneath 100-foot trees. Imagine them working alongside formerly wild mustangs to investigate how we communicate, influence, and lead positive change. Imagine them sitting around a common table, in a quiet meadow, sharing a meal created from the food grown on the farmland around them.
In each of these moments, we help teams connect with each other, and to the wild ecosystems that surround us – to deepen their understanding of themselves and your company’s path forward in an uncertain world.
I’ve worked as a corporate leader inside a global Fortune 500. I’ve worked for non-profits, and started my own. I’ve served inside government, and in leadership in startups. The problems everywhere are the same. But the solutions are within reach. We need only to step outside to find them. Come explore what’s possible with The Tomorrow Company.
