Community resilience starts with people who show up.

I founded the Covered Bridge Cooperative Corporation, the worker-owned co-op that makes Covered Bridge Cookies. A thirty-year-old family bakery in Windsor, Vermont — his father's recipes, real ingredients, nothing you can't pronounce — now 100% owned by the people who do the work.

Four owners, living wage, good conditions. The legacy stays with the people who keep it running. It's hard. Real collaboration — sharing power genuinely — is hard every day. Worth it. But not a switch you flip once. You choose it, actively, every morning.

Sworn in to the Windsor, Vermont Selectboard two weeks before the COVID lockdowns started. No manual, just neighbors helping neighbors in the face of great unknown. You learn fast how people, power, government, markets, and non-profits interact when the ground's moving under everyone at once.

"Speak truth to power and move the needle."

We held the town together and made real decisions that stuck. Some of what we did in the middle of the hardest stretch:

I founded the 161st Catamounts under an Outdoor Service Guides charter. Three things: get together, get good at real skills, go on adventures.

The skills are the kind you'd actually want: de-escalation, Wilderness First Responder, HAM radio, backcountry travel. The point is young people who can take care of themselves and each other.

"Find your path, change the world!"

I was also a founding member of Whatdothlife, a Vermont music and arts collective. Together we built the scene, the culture, the events, the shows. A community of artists, musicians, and builders making things happen. The unglamorous part — showing up early, staying late, making sure the magic has a place to exist.

ALSO · SMALL BUSINESS TECH

I help small businesses, bakeries, and nonprofits get technology they actually own. See my business work →