Build It Up is an all volunteer run organization. We operate through a Program Leadership Team, which practices consensus based decision making. Our Program Leaders are an awesome bunch of people who share a passion for local food, gardening, and community service. Check us out:
Lexy Close
Educator & Organic Gardener
Lexy loves to grow food, eat it, and share it with her community. She studied International Development and Social Change at Clark University in Worcester, MA. After graduation, she spent time working in Tanzania and then took seven months to WWOOF around Italy, the UK, and Belgium. She returned home to Johnson City in 2010 and has found enough fun things to keep her occupied that she never quite made it to leaving again. When she’s not at her job as the Beginning Farmer Program Director for the Appalachian RC&D Council, you can find her working on BIU projects or at home out in the garden or making something weird and tasty in my kitchen. If you still can’t find her, she’s probably up in the mountains looking for mushrooms!
Lyn Govette
Educator & Community Garden Coordinator
Lyn Govette lives and works in Johnson City. She is one of the founders of and the coordinator of the Tree Streets Garden Project for the past eight years. Over the past five years she’s worked with students at Topper Academy in learning gardening and cooking what they grow. She’s also an artist who practices socially engaged art.
Sheri Cooper
Science Hill High School Employability and Transition Coach.
Sheri guides students through entrepreneurship opportunities in market gardening, catering, and other local food related projects.
I am “me” and I care about “we.”
Taylor Malone