Wild Ideas

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Vickie Jeffries (Mihe Heyananhes Yattse), Tribal Administrator for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation

About Wild Ideas

Triangle Land Conservancy’s Wild Ideas series provides a unique venue where attendees can hear from leading voices and experts in the community. The speakers share innovative ideas and share tips to encourage community action that improves lives through conservation by safeguarding clean water, protecting wildlife habitat, supporting local farms and food, and connecting people to nature. Wild I.D.E.A.s for a More Vibrant Tomorrow explores how diverse people are shaping critical environmental issues in our community and beyond!

See photos from the evening on our Facebook page!

Enjoy complimentary food and beverages provided by Rocky Top Catering & Fullsteam Brewery

plus, birthday cake to celebrate TLC’s 40^th Anniversary!

Meet our 2023 speakers

Join us on February 15, 2023, and hear these trailblazing voices use their organizations and businesses to make Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access a priority and get takeaways for what you can do to support a vibrant tomorrow.

Earl B. Hunter Jr., Founder, Black Folks Camp Too — **Earl B. Hunter Jr.**, Founder, Black Folks Camp Too

Earl B. Hunter, Jr is an experienced business leader across multiple industries. He has been widely recognized for his ebullient personality, hard work ethic, and non-traditional approach to building relationships and closing deals.

Mr. Hunter is the Founder and President of Black Folks Camp Too — a marketing-driven business whose mission is to increase diversity in the outdoor industry by making it easier, more interesting, and more fun for Black folks to go camping.

Read Full Bio

Vickie Jeffries (Mihe Heyananhes Yattse), Tribal Administrator for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation — **Vickie Jeffries (Mihe Heyananhes Yattse),** Tribal Administrator for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation

Vickie Jeffries (Mihe Heyananhes Yattse) is the Tribal Administrator for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, and she has held this position for the past seven years. Ms. Jeffries is also the Chair of the annual OBSN Pow-wow. Ms. Jeffries retired from UNC Healthcare as an Administrative Associate and lives in Graham, NC.

Ms. Jeffries is a community linguist and a Southeastern Studies Linguistics Group member for the Tutelo-Saponi language of the Occaneechi Saponi Nation. Ms. Jeffries is also a beader, basket weaver, and Indigenous herbalist. She owns Mihe Hetoa, Inc., which sells indigenous-made items.

Kierra Hyman, Good Ground Associate at TLC — **Kierra Hyman,** Good Ground Associate at TLC

Kierra joined TLC in September 2021 after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Becoming somewhat of a foodie in college was the spark that catalyzed her interest in the connections people share with the environment through food.

The search for opportunities to further develop that interest brought her to TLC, where she’s since helped establish the Good Ground Initiative. Through this program, she enables TLC to participate directly in community agriculture, food security, and environmental justice.

Mathew Brune, Co-Founder, Director of External Operations, Operation Climate — **Matthew Brune**, Co-Founder, Director of External Operations, Operation Climate

As Co-Founder and Director of Operation Climate, Matthew Brune uses his platform to inspire fellow youth and support the upcoming generation of great climate storytellers and educators.

Operation Climate is a climate education non-profit organization created by young people for young people. Their mission is to modernize current environmental education by offering multimedia creative content, such as a podcast, infographics, and short videos, and training youth in the creation of such products through their internship and ambassador programs

About Operation Climate

Dale Threatt-Taylor, Executive Director - The Nature Conservancy South Carolina Chapter — **Dale Threatt-Taylor**, Executive Director – The Nature Conservancy South Carolina Chapter

Event Emcee

Dale Threatt-Taylor, our emcee for this Wild I.D.E.A.s for a More Vibrant Tomorrow, brings over 25 years of conservation leadership, deep academic expertise in agriculture science, and a talent for effective communication as executive director for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina.

Known by her former colleagues as North Carolina’s “conservation evangelist,” Dale Threatt-Taylor, was recognized by appointments to the Duke Energy Water Resources Fund, City of Oaks Foundation, and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund Board. Read Full Bio

REGISTER NOW!

The Expo

See what existing models and partners are already doing to move your community forward! The Wild I.D.E.A.s for a More Vibrant Tomorrow expo will feature 25 community partners and organizations working to create a more vibrant future for the Triangle region.

collage of attendees from past Wild Ideas events from Triangle Land Conservancy — *Highlights from previous Wild Ideas events*

Accessibility

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences offers accommodations to increase accessibility for all event participants. Examples are listed below:

Day of Wheelchair Rentals
Sighted guides by request before the event
ASL interpreter by request before the event (TLC intends to have an ASL interpreter during speaker presentations)
Accessible restrooms, family restrooms, and nursing rooms available in the main event space
Follow this link for an example of their event day accessibility accommodations.
If there is another accommodation that you or someone that would like to attend may need that is not listed above, please email Kayla Ebert at kebert [@] triangleland [dot] com