Staff

Pronouns: she/her

Kate is leading the effort to build our garden in partnership with the co-founders and founding staff. Not only does Kate bring years of leadership and management experience, but she also has a passion for building programs and loves working with people and plants. Before becoming a registered horticultural therapist, she spent eleven years as the academic leader at two art colleges. She currently teaches horticulture at Portland Community College. In addition to her horticultural education, Kate holds an MEd in Creative Arts and Learning, and an undergraduate degree in visual art.

Kate grew up on the coast of Massachusetts and fell in love with Portland’s temperate climate when she moved here in 2005. Kate is an avid and experienced gardener, photographer, and outdoorswoman, and she loves to travel anywhere there are plants to be studied. Most importantly, she brings her smile wherever she goes. kbodin@portlandbg.org

Pronouns: they/them

Dan fell in love with plants when they were 11 years old at a summer camp in Northern Connecticut, but it wasn’t until they moved to Portland to study English at Reed College that it became an obsession. At Reed, Dan honed their writing skills as they looked towards a future in marketing and advertising as a copywriter.

In a hand-built greenhouse in their backyard, Dan amassed one of the largest collections of Passionflowers in the United States and served as a trade hub for the vulnerable Amazonian plants. Unfortunately, two no-cause evictions crippled their collection and their ability to properly care for their rare plants. This inspired them to start the PBG project with a dream to finally build and display the US National Collection of Passiflora at a safe botanical institution.

At heart, Dan is a writer and content strategist who’s been working with words and brands for over seven years now; when it comes to creative marketing and all of its facets, they’re your person. But after two years of working for Chinook Book, they opened a different door as they merged their dream of creating Portland’s premier botanical garden with Sean’s to establish one, cohesive project.

dpogust@portlandbg.org

Pronouns: she/her

Nicole is a graphic designer and the Digital Design Lead for MEK Design. In her free time, she enjoys designing for restaurants, food carts, and other small businesses. She loves seeing the potential of great businesses and organizations come to fruition when paired with effective design.

Growing up with a multicultural background has influenced all aspects of Nicole’s personality, particularly her love for plants, and interest in culture and the arts. From her family’s rice paddies in the Philippines to the wild ferns of the Pacific Northwest, she constantly finds herself surrounded by agriculture and nature. Lately, she’s turned her serial hobbyist’s focus into cultivating a growing collection of houseplants with her husband, Peter.

Pronouns: she/her

Barrie Cohen is the owner and founder of BC Public Relations. She created her boutique public relations firm on three principles: creativity, customization, and collaboration. After years of working for agencies in Philadelphia, Barrie saw the overwhelming need for a more attentive public relations firm dedicated to supporting and strengthening a client’s business goals. Unlike larger firms, Barrie has the ability to work one-on-one with clients to not only provide unprecedented, personalized services, but also to create a comfortable and trusting working relationship.

Always keeping the clients’ best interest in mind, Barrie utilizes her long-standing media relationships, innovative marketing strategies, and professional writing skills to successfully promote and position clients in a variety of industries across the country—and internationally. Her passion for positive publicity and storytelling has created countless opportunities for her clients including features in Cosmopolitan, Muscle & Fitness Magazine, Huffington Post, and more.

Pronouns: he/him

Michael Hyde is a K-12 educator who specializes in Maker Education, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) integration, and project-based learning. His progressive philosophy and teaching style encourages creative confidence and curiosity. While many educators talk about “empowering students and giving them a voice,” he believes that students are already empowered and they already have a voice. It’s the work of the educator to provide students with opportunities to wield their power and voice so that they can create any futures they imagine.

Michael believes that a joyful and inclusive education is a right for all and is committed to dismantling the barriers that deliberately and systematically exclude BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, neurodiverse, and disabled communities from accessing that right. He believes there are infinite ways of knowing, learning, and living; each must be honored and each deserves space in the classroom and beyond.

In addition to teaching K-12 students, Michael hosted observational opportunities in his makerspace classroom for inquiring educators and school administrators. Michael has designed and delivered professional development workshops for teachers, school administrators, school districts, and nonprofits interested in developing innovative and accessible Maker Education and project-based learning programs.

Michael enjoys birding; biking; dog agility training; kayaking; paddle-boarding; obsessing over his houseplants; playing the piano; gardening; growing far too many tomato starts than he could ever plant himself; and volunteering for the Produce for People program at his community garden, where he cleans and organizes the shared tool shed with alarming frequency. Mostly, he’s just a very curious person who collects hobbies as a hobby.

Pronouns: she/her

Natalie is an artist and writer based in Portland. As a collector of words and pressed petals, she’s always been inspired by the natural world and has a deep love for the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest. Aside from botanical illustrations, she also creates hand-bound journals, poetry zines, and botanical collages. When not writing or creating art, she enjoys being near bodies of water. For more information, visit her website.