Our Team

Prior to finding her niche in communications and agriculture, Rebecca worked for four years as an attorney for a law firm in Washington, D.C. She joined the Biodynamic Association in the summer of 2007 as editor of the Biodynamics journal, soon expanding to focus on general communications and outreach. Rebecca received a B.A. in political science and religious studies from the University of Pittsburgh, a J.D. from Georgetown University, and an M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Oregon. She has been active in food and farming issues, including working at Ruby and Amber's in Dorena, a small horse-powered farm; editing and designing a local food and farm guide; and serving as a former board member of the School Garden Project of Lane County. Based in Eugene, Oregon, she enjoys working in her garden, exploring the local food scene, and soaking up the natural splendor of the Pacific Northwest. 

Thea Maria Carlson is Executive Director of the Biodynamic Association, bringing vitality and renewal to the food system through biodynamic agriculture and land stewardship. Thea is a leader, facilitator, educator, and farmer dedicated to building living soil, growing nutritious food, and nurturing vibrant communities. She lives in the Mayacamas Mountains in Sonoma County, California, on land originally stewarded by the Maiyakma and Mutistul people. Since 2011, Thea has played a key role in developing the Biodynamic Association’s programs and exploring new ways to manage and evolve the organization. Her previous experience includes diversified organic and biodynamic production farming; teaching gardening, nutrition, and beekeeping; designing, building and managing urban community and educational gardens; and organizing strategic communications trainings for nonprofit leaders. Thea holds a B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University and a permaculture design certificate from Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. She is also a graduate of The Coaching Fellowship and the Center for Courage and Renewal's Academy for Leaders.

Georgie comes to the BDA after 20 years in academic libraries and higher education, most recently as associate dean at William & Mary Libraries in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her academic career focused on organizational development, budget and finance, EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) issues, and assessment: all interests she hopes to bring to her work at the BDA. This year, she moved to a small trailer on the organic Demeter certified Biodynamic farm, Against the Grain, in Zionville, North Carolina, where she and her husband, M Mueller, have become part of the farm family. Her dedication to biodynamic agriculture grew as a result of attempting to live in service to the honeybee. She and her husband have been working with bees for a decade, studying beekeeping under the teachers at Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary and sharing the joy of swarms, wildflower cultivation, and observation. In fact, she might say that all of the wanderings she has had⁠ — whether in music and dance, travel, poetry, yoga, painting, herbal healing and ayurveda, cooking, love and family ⁠— all can be seen through the lens of learning the language of the bee.

Kailtin is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, where she got her B.A. in International Politics. While at UWM, she completed three internships (one in the courthouse and two others in local nonprofits) and was very active in volunteering. She became interested in agriculture during her senior capstone, where she centered her studies around agrarian reform practices and land grabbing in Africa. She is especially interested in urban gardening, nutrition, and anything involving helping the bees. She plans to continue her education and return for her Masters in Public Health next fall. In her spare time, she loves camping, biking, reading, and selling vintage clothing.

Raphael brings to her roles a passion for biodynamics and community development. A California native, she has a diverse background in farming, the arts, Waldorf education, sociology, and anthroposophy. She views her work as a stewardship and draws on her knowledge from a decade with Rudolf Steiner College. In addition, she lends her experience in developing initiatives in farming, CSAs, and co-operative ventures. A perennial student, Raphael is currently studying the Practical Arts (fiber craft, blacksmithing, and woodwork) and their relationship to the whole farm organism. She believes in the power of farming to bring together the nourishment of the body and land and to inspire social renewal. Raphael currently resides in upstate New York where she can be found splitting wood, baking bread, and knitting.

Zachary enjoys implementing creative technology solutions for growing sustainable organizations. His current interest is in making easy to use software that empowers users to maintain and grow their websites and CRM systems while contributing back to the wider free and open source software movement. Zachary loves drinking tea, practicing taijiquan, and spending time in the mountains foraging for chanterelles around Eugene, OR.

Anna has made a career of helping build organizational capacity in her various nonprofit roles over the past 10 years. She enjoys seeing the organization flourish in new ways once a more solid foundation has been set up with process, procedure, and efficiency of task management. In her roles with the BDA, she has additionally been able to experience the joy, freedom, and challenge of building People processes (human resources) that center on the humanity of the person, and of co-creating an organizational culture that best serves the individuals working here. She earned a B.S. in Nonprofit Management from Manchester College (now Manchester University). In her spare time she enjoys vegetable gardening (especially employing the principles picked up through the biodynamic movement), reading, sewing, cooking and baking, and hosting/visiting friends and family.

Anthony began farming 15 years ago, in search of a place to wonder, explore, and serve. In farming, he found hot sun, hard physical work, and community to be potent medicine. After five years learning from a diversity of farms, Anthony was called to the Hudson Valley of New York to begin Great Song Farm, a diversified vegetable CSA farm, in 2010. Here he found his kin and began deepening his work with biodynamic farming, anthroposophy, inner work, and community life. In 2018, Anthony passed Great Song onto other farmers to focus on Farmer Training while milking at Churchtown Dairy, near Hudson, NY. Fostering direct and meaningful relationships between nature, agriculture, and community is central to his work. Anthony brings experiences as a student, WWOOFer, apprentice, farm-worker, farmer, and mentor to his work coordinating Farmer Training at the BDA.

With an ongoing sense of wonder at the miracles produced by biodynamic and organic farming, Penny is a city kid from Chicago who discovered farming in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region and never looked back. Penny began working with the BDA as the conference coordinator for the 2012 and 2014 conferences before moving into her current role at the BDA of fostering business relationships. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing, event planning, and fundraising, Penny brings a strong business perspective to the farming community. Her education includes a BA from Boston College, a Stateline Farm Beginnings Certificate from Angelic Organics Learning Center, and various farming seminars at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, the Midwest Organic Farming Conference, and the Biodynamic Association. She and her husband, Phil are joyful stewards of a 10-acre flower farm, event center, and lodging hosts on Still Point Farm, just 20 minutes south of Madison.

Grace joins the BDA with a not-yet-fully-understood soul connection to biodynamics and anthroposophy. Her initial encounter with Steiner and his teachings comes out of an ever-unraveling desire to understand the mysteries of food, to the core. She has spent the last decade exploring the many facets of food, predominantly in the realms of agriculture and nutrition, with seemingly inconsequential, yet formative experiences in food law and policy sprinkled about. Her long-standing health complications have also served as a guiding force, assisting her towards further alignment with her desires to live in honor of and reciprocity with the Earth. She and her husband are intent on further developing an interest in traditional skills and ways of existing in harmony with the Earth. They hope to nurture a balance between a careful tending to and cultivation of the Earth, and a more ancestrally guided interaction and communication with Earth as wilderness. Outside of her involvement with the BDA, Grace is mother to a blossoming practice in functional nutrition and is stepping more firmly into a call to birth work, which in her eyes dances intimately with the core essence of food as life, both for humanity, as well as for the Earth. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of California, Davis.

Tonya comes to the BDA with Carolina red clay under her nails and honey in her blood. She has the beginnings of a self-designed 6.5-acre homestead called Bees, Butterflies, & Chocolate (a sanctuary for pollinators, an unabashed honey lover, and chocolate addict). Ms. Taylor earned a degree in environmental studies with a focus on nature in human culture from Bates College. Additionally, she is a permaculturalist, an NCSBA-certified beekeeper, a North Carolina Cooperative Extension NC Farm School graduate, and a member of the North Carolina Agriculture Leadership Development Program. Tonya has experience with heirs’ property/land retention issues pertaining to historically underserved communities, conservation and stewardship, and community food systems. She has an appreciation of mixed media arts, music, culture, and a strong affinity for international travel.

Sarah first encountered biodynamics in 2000 and has continued learning about it ever since. Sarah is excited to play a role in supporting biodynamic research across the continent. Based in Squamish, Cascadia, Sarah conducted a biodynamic apprenticeship at C-Dar Lodge Farm, has taken part in biodynamic preparation making, organized biodynamic courses, and travelled to many farms and gatherings to see how biodynamics is practiced and understood as widely as possible. She is motivated to explore applications of biodynamics in forestry and land restoration. Sarah completed her M.Sc. Forestry and B.Sc. Natural Resources Conservation at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She has walked many miles in the woods conducting fieldwork for wildlife research, forest ecology, silviculture, and as a backcountry park ranger. More recently she has worked as a social scientist and cultural researcher, carrying out traditional land use and related studies. She is inspired by gardening and adventuring in the outdoors with her husband, their black dog, and friends by foot, bike, boat, and skis.