Throughout her life, Lisa has found opportunities to study the environmental topics that form the foundation for her passion of making space for nature in urban ecosystems. Her background in activism began as a teenager in the late 1990s, helping run the city of Elgin (IL)’s first chapter of Food Not Bombs, an antiwar grassroots organization that focused on food-justice and human rights for the homeless as well as volunteering on a wide variety of projects from park trail restoration to wild seed-saving with the state parks.

Roots & Sky was born in Baltimore city, where Lisa pursued a career as an artist while finding opportunities to garden. Her passions combined in designing gardens after attaining certificates in Natural Methods of Honeybee Stewardship (2012), Permaculture Design Certification (2014) and Fruit & Nut Tree Care from Baltimore Orchard Project (2015) and Dave Jacke's Forest Gardening Design Intensive (2017).  Before starting her own company, Lisa worked several years interpreting and installing designs for private clients alongside several designers in Maryland that embrace an organic approach to gardening with native plants while exploring permaculture techniques to address storm water issues, enhance edible landscapes, and create wildlife habitats in urban areas. Lisa has lectured on sustainable gardening and permaculture topics, lead volunteers in hands-on projects and helped start a medicinal plant sanctuary and food forest at Baltimore Free Farm after completing an in-depth sustainability study, site assessment and garden design for the organization. She has also volunteered with Blue Water Baltimore’s Herring Run Nursery helping educate about native plants while launching her landscaping business. 

After a decade running Roots & Sky in Baltimore, MD working with urban farms and homesteaders, she relocated to western Massachusetts for a MS in Ecological Design + Planning from the Conway School of Landscape Design (’19) where she specialized in stormwater management planning for two farms and a village experiencing coastal flooding. She thrived in working with community stakeholders in visioning, site analysis and assessment, and designing master plans for climate resiliency for two farms expanding production and stormwater planning (Nutwood Farm and Beaverbrook Farm) and creating educational public spaces to address coastal flooding and increase wildlife habitat in the community of Mystic, Connecticut.

Then in 2019, Lisa returned to Chicago where she spent just over two years working with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources - Coastal Management Program working on a variety of projects addressing water quality issues including coordinating with NOAA and IEPA on finalizing Illinois Coastal Non-Point Source Pollution Prevention Program, providing support to Illinois State Water Survey's Water Quality Trends Analysis, co-leading the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative's Training & Maintenance Workgroup in the development and launch of a green infrastructure maintenance training program, and developing the Coastal Management Program's strategy for protecting and preserving coastal ravine habitats. Throughout her years of service, she was an active member of the Calumet Stormwater Collaborative's Steering Committee, represented Illinois on the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program Task Force, and was certified as a practitioner of green infrastructure best management practices through the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program (NGICP).

In 2022, she relocated to Michigan where she resumed offering Permaculture Design & Consulting Services for urban and rural farms and homesteads, while expanding her soap & self-care offerings. Simultaneously, she completed MSU’s Organic Farmer Training Program (’22) and developed an in-depth business plan for the future of Roots & Sky’s permaculture homestead in Northwestern Michigan.

Lisa continues to teach and speak on permaculture topics while growing food and medicine in her home garden, and finding opportunities to travel, and encourage deep connections to nature in those around her.