OPERATIONS & COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Asheville NC

Joyce is a community advocate with more than a decade of experience in regional program development, nonprofit formation, and community engagement. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, she worked on the ground to ensure newly arrived refugees had the emergency supplies they needed to survive. Today, she continues that commitment by helping lead efforts in the Swannanoa Valley, building a nonprofit that provides disaster case management and long-term recovery support for local residents.

GRANTS & GIFTS SPECIALIST
Asheville NC

Lesley Heiser is a strategist, fundraiser, and writer. She has collaborated with organizations dedicated to community and environmental health including Cultivating Community of ME, Earth Island Institute of CA, Bounty & Soul of NC, and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. As a sustainability strategist, she has taught logic models/ theories of change to national cohorts in the Community Food Projects program of the USDA.

She has published in the Baltimore Sun, Ms. Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, Boulevard, Taproot Magazine, and many others. Her writing has been recognized with two Pushcart Prize nominations and two first-place Maine Literary Awards from the Maine Writers and Publishers’ Alliance. She was assistant editor at Los Angeles Review of Books.

She has a B.A. in English from the College of William and Mary, an M.A. in English from Indiana University in Bloomington, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Stonecoast at the University of Maine.

DISASTER CASE MANAGER
Swannanoa NC

Mary is a disaster case manager dedicated to helping her Swannanoa Valley neighbors and community rebuild and recover equitably. Her background includes service with grassroots nonprofits and systems-level experience with corporate automation and process design, giving her an ability to bridge personal care with organizational efficiency. She specializes in navigating complex resource networks, cutting through red tape, and ensuring clients access the holistic scope of supports they need. Her approach is relational and trauma-informed, developed in her previous work in mental health, disability advocacy, and elder care. She brings skills in written communication, coordination, and community-building, along with a commitment to resilience and long-term adaptation to help realize a thriving future for everyone in our Swannanoa Valley community.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR & MARKET MANAGER
Swannanoa NC

Sierra holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts and 15+ years of experience in the creative industry. She has worked with small businesses, nonprofits, and corporations as a brand and marketing expert, including consulting for Home Depot’s culture communications department and leading her own successful design practice. A resident of Swannanoa, Sierra immediately stepped into action after the storm, first helping with water purification and food distribution, which quickly evolved into large-scale grassroots recovery efforts. She was a founding member of the Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance, where she created the brand identity, developed the website and social media presence, and connected the community with vital resources through daily updates in both English and Spanish. Sierra is passionate about making complex information accessible and digestible for a diverse audience and ensuring that communication builds trust and engagement.