Alex Kilgore is an experienced homesteader in the high mountains of North Carolina.  He's also a long-time primitive skills enthusiast and instructor, as well as the former Site Manager for Rendezvous.  He joined the leadership council in 2017 and brings a wealth of experience to the job.

 

Judy Langston is a mother, wife, caterer and youth spiritual leader. She teaches Sunday school, does various charity work and conducts spiritual leadership camps for teenagers. Her hope is to bring people together from all walks of life to remember "mitakuye oyasin," (we are all related).

 

Fuz Sanderson is an endangered species biologist, Earthskills teacher, musician, and storyteller.  Since 1989 he has followed his calling as a wilderness instructor, naturalist, and research biologist for 4H, National Wildlife Federation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, US Forest Service, US Park Service, and the Green River Preserve.  Fuz coordinated Earthskills Rendezvous for 8 years.  He is currently the founder and director of the Piedmont Earthskills Gathering in central North Carolina.  Go ahead, ask him about birds.

 

Michael Ismerio  is a passionate teacher who has been teaching music to people of all ages for over 10 years.  In 2008 he became immersed in the growing Deep Nature Connection movement and shifted his focus to guiding others on their journey to awareness, authenticity, and connection.  In recent years, his passion has been working with teens and offering rites of passage opportunities for our young adults.  Michael grew up in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, spent many years in the lush rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, and now calls Asheville, NC home.  

 

Nate Olive is currently the Director of the Ridge to Reef Farm in the US Virgin Islands on St. Croix, where he hosts the annual Bush Skills Caribbean Rendezvous in early Spring.  He is also a through-hiker of the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Pacific Coastline.  Nate is a valuable member of our Leadership Council and is also on the scholarship committee. 

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When Tiffanie Pope first attended Rendezvous in 2014, she immediately knew she'd finally found her home community.  Tiffanie is a homeschooling mom, passionate cook, gardener, craftsperson and artist who lives outside of Asheville with her husband, daughter and landmates both human and other. With a diverse background in performing arts and cooking steeped in ancestral wisdom, she discovered nature connection, cultural mentoring and rites of passage work in 2012 and quickly dove in. She trained and served on staff with both the 8 Shields Institute and Helpers Mentoring Society for several years. She is now thrilled to focus on offering mentoring and rites of passage to a small group of moms and their adolescent children with wombs in the Asheville area. Tiffanie seeks to view every moment as a duet with the divine presence in all things.

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The Leadership Council is currently accepting applications on our Jobs page.  If you're interested, please apply!

 

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