During grad school, I caught start up fever while collaborating with an early stage green ag-tech start up and investigating the microbial ecology behind their product’s ability to suppress pre-emergence damping off. Riding the wave as the plant microbiome field has expanded over the past decade as a student, post doc and then as an industry scientist has been quite an adventure. Now at NewLeaf, I provide technical support to the Commercial Team and interface with our customers, partners and collaborators. As a weekend warrior, I volunteer as the branch ambassador for Hike it Baby St. Louis and lead family hikes in the region’s parks and nature reserves with my daughter and husband. We love the region’s active native plant community and are expanding our native pollinator garden one plant and seed swap at a time.