Sonia Desai

Sonia Desai (She/Her)

Charlotte,

Roles at NAAEE

Languages

Interests

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Culture and Art, Ecosystems, EE Certification, Forestry, Sustainability, Water

My career thus far has been centered around Banking and Finance which has left me lacking in purpose, inspiration and passion.  My true passion has always been observing and connecting with the natural world with a strong desire to steward and protect it, thus my interest to pursue NC Environmental Education Certificate.

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I've had limited experience in the environmental space however over the last couple of years I've organized park clean up efforts with my kids and rallied their friends to join in. I also organized a project to plant a mini-food forest at Billingsville-Cotswold Elementary school this past fall with donations from corporations and volunteer parents and students which helped make it a successful event.  We planted 4 fruit trees that are suitable for this region, along with approx two dozen edible and medicinal shrubs and ground cover layers surrounding each tree to form a guild and foster a symbiotic environment to integrate instead of segregate and isolate plants from each other.  I completed the Permaculture Foundations (Eco-Institute at Pickard Mountain, NC) workshop in 2021 and summer of 2022 took a course to learn about natural building (Mud Dauber School) and creating natural paint and plasters from readily available natural sources.  I've recently partnered up with a mushroom enthusiast friend on a project at Innovation Barn in Charlotte NC (part of Envision Charlotte) to grown edible mushrooms in a temp controlled space and measure yield from various substrates, spawn varieties and feasibility of reusing/recycling containers to grow mushrooms. Quitting my lucrative job at the bank this past summer has also opened up more time for me to explore foraging in and around Charlotte instead of just reading and learning about it.  I've successfully identified approx 2 dozen native plants that are either edible, medicinal or both across 4 different walking trails/parks in the area.  I plan on taking Mushroom Foraging workshops this spring to expand my knowledge base and compliment the indoor mushroom project I'm in the middle of.

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