My love affair with coffee is only trumped by my love for unicorns.

My happy place is filled with Schnitzel, frisbees, and taller door frames.

I don't always keep people in suspense, but when I do...

Ashley Abernethy is the Marketing Lead at Rise. With over a decade of experience in sales and a passion for saving the planet and making it a better place for her daughter and family, Ashley is thrilled to be leading marketing efforts that will have a social impact at Rise.

Always dreaming about ways to leave the world in a little better state than when she got here, Ashley envisions a future where her daughter won’t have to worry about a polluted ocean or equal rights for all.

She also loves to empower fellow women and created “When Opportunity Doesn’t Knock Virtual Workshops” for women. These workshops included 21 day challenges with the goal of getting women out of their comfort zone and acquiring new actionable skills leading to extra confidence in their daily life.

Before moving to the Marketing side of the house, Ashley was determined to make as many companies as cyber secure as possible by being part of the Q1 Labs sales team, which was later acquired by IBM. She was named to IBM’s Hundred Percent Club and given the IBM Sales Eminence Award, both recognizing outstanding sales performance.

When Ashley isn’t on an adventure with husband Jesse or her soul sisters, she can likely be found sipping coffee or wine and planning her next retreat, mountain biking excursion, or travel destination. Probably using a spreadsheet of some sort and drinking out of a unicorn mug.

I am slowly turning into a computer.

Crystal is the President of Crystal Richard & Co. a global digital PR & marketing consulting biz helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, and brands create and tell stories that will attract a tribe of raving fans. She’s also the Content Creator behind East Coast Mermaid, the Author of Get Covered! and the Owner of the Sandy Toes Shop. She will be the first to admit that her cat with thumbs was Instagram famous first.

Melissa became the Twin Cities’ fifth LEED for Homes Accredited Professional (LEED AP) and completed the work necessary to get her own home LEED Gold Certified, the basis for her book, Creating a Sustainable Home: Green Building for Our Health, Wealth, and Soul, (Skyhorse Publishing, August, 2018). With her corporate experience in finance, marketing, and business development, and an MBA and Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, Melissa has been providing sustainability advisory services to businesses, governmental agencies and non-profits, focusing on strategic and operational change that provide bottom-line financial returns. She has led the LEED certification of two million square feet of commercial buildings, written GRI-compliant Corporate Sustainability Reports, is a LEED Pro Reviewer and LEED mentor with the U.S. Green Building Council. She is the founder of Green Intention LLC where she writes about sustainable home living.

While a product designer at heart, Fred specializes in user experience, interface design, branding and marketing. That love of smart and intuitive design perhaps also explains why he also happens to have a penchant for passive solar homes. Over the years he's founded several startups, including Atlantic Canada’s first UX/UI agency servicing fortune 500 companies, and even a mobile farmer's food truck.

Joy grew up in the natural beauty of the North Okanagan, nestled near the foot of the Monashee Mountains. Hailing from a family of home builders, both the environment and home construction became closely intertwined in her youth. Today, she and her builder hubby are raising their family in Vancouver, where she avidly follows the current sustainable construction trends as the city aims for the title of ‘Greenest City’ by 2020.

Wayne Groszko is a consultant, researcher, and teacher in Energy Sustainability with 13 years of experience. He has taught at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Community College, in the Faculties of Engineering, Environmental Science, and Energy Sustainability Engineering Technology. Wayne is also President of the Community Energy Cooperative of New Brunswick, and has worked as Renewable Energy Coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre in Nova Scotia. He holds a B.Sc. (Hon.) from the University of Calgary, and a Ph.D. from Dalhousie University.

Laura grew up in the California suburbs, far removed from environmentalism, but nature always has a way. She uprooted her life in 2015, moving to the countryside of Washington to live a more sustainable and simple life on 12 acres. She and her fiancee are learning on the job as they attempt everything from gardening and natural pest control to eco-friendly building and home improvement.

Dane George holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Masters of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from Dalhousie University. He has three years of experience working with residential contractors with a focus on energy efficient renovations, and has worked with the Clean Foundation as a Certified Energy Advisor conducting energy audits of homes. Most recently, his graduate research involved analyzing electricity consumption patterns. Dane has also prepared and delivered workshops on home energy sustainability, and is currently teaching Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.

Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.

Lindsey has been working as a sustainability expert with a focus on the Global Development Goals. She has a Master’s in International Relations and a Master’s in Sustainability at Malmö University. By providing expertise, workshops and engaging stories, Lyndsey is passionate about getting others involved in the importance of sustainability. Although from the state of Oregon, she has been living in Sweden since 2011 and continues to soak up the nuances of living in a different country.