Brittany Cousins is the Owner and CEO of Carolina Community Investments, a local real estate  firm which she founded in 2012.  She moved to North Carolina in 1994, and aside from a brief period  in New York, has called the Triangle home ever since. In her professional life, Brittany has managed the day to day operations of her business since its inception, and has focused much of her work on projects that can drive impactful change. Prior to founding CCI, Brittany worked in a variety of roles within the asset management industry, and she brings a strong understanding of the challenges faced by both small businesses and organizations trying to provide for the needs of a community. She has also participated in community partnerships which seek to work at the intersection of housing, community development, and health, particularly as it relates to controlling asthma triggers, lead abatement, and the improvement of long term blighted properties.             

In her personal life, Brittany is mom to two lovely boys, a sweet lab mix, and an overenthusiastic golden retriever. Her husband (bless his heart) cheers for UConn, but she prefers her alma mater Duke, from which she graduated in 2007 with degrees in International Relations and Economics. She loves to travel, and has been to 34 US states and 29 foreign countries. She also loves gardening, and began cultivating plants with her mother as a very young child. Today, she shares this love with her family, and often spends the summer attempting to give away home grown produce.   

Allison Schlobohm is an associate professor of management and corporate communication at UNC-Chapel Hill, where her work focuses on strategic communication and influence, communicating through turbulence, and business and society. Originally from the suburbs of St. Louis, she’s putting down roots in Durham. She serves as Secretary of the SEEDS board.

Working with SEEDS allows me to combine several things that I value immensely: getting dirty in the garden, spending time in nature, making a positive social impact, and educating the next generation.

The SEEDS space plays a vital role in our Durham community. There’s no better place than a garden when it comes to trying, failing, and trying again to create something new and beautiful with people don’t know but are in community with.

I love SEEDS’ mission to “help young people become resourceful and confident individuals with the capacity and commitment to be future leaders in their workplaces, their families, and their communities.”

I’ve worked as an educator for 17 years, and I’m not even close to being tired of it. Most of my work now is in university classrooms and organizational workshops. But I’ve previously worked with school-age students and felt firsthand the power that a caring, safe space can have in a young person’s life. I’ve also experienced that same impact as a student. Being a part of SEEDS lets me reconnect with students in their earlier, more formative years.

As a director on the board, I can give SEEDS some of the support it needs to continue helping young people grow, give back to their community, and develop the skills they need to build the futures that they want. It helps me grow, too.

Born in Peru, Paola is a mixed media artist and dancer who resides in Durham since 2005. A fierce advocate for human, social, gender rights and Neurodiversity inclusion, she believes strongly in intentional active community collaboration and participation to increase the levels of emotional intelligence and mental health. She lives in downtown Durham with her husband and their two dogs.

Dr. Reshma Nargund is a scientist and educator with a PhD in Environmental Epigenetics from Duke University. She is the founder of Wildflower Data and Learning, which develops STEM education programs and hands-on workshops for community and pre-college learners. Over the past year she has led workshops at SEEDS that blend science and craft, including paper marbling, cyanotype printing, and natural dyeing. She joins the board to help grow SEEDS’ programming and community events, including its annual harvest dinner, and to bring her network and her enthusiasm for learning by making.