From an early age, my family instilled a love of the outdoors and the value of protecting it. My Dad comes from a family of farmers in central New Jersey and he continued their legacy through growing our own food in a small garden, fixing things when they're broken instead of throwing them away, recycling, composting, reusing and reducing our waste. As a family, we also spent most of our time outdoors exploring, exercising, and playing.

As an adult I've maintained the same values. I studied Environmental Economics at Rutgers. I continue to try to live a zero-waste life style through only shopping secondhand or from certified "good for the planet" brand, I compost and recycle, I have switched all my cleaning products to sustainable options, and I have reduced my plastic consumption. I spent most of my weekends outside golfing, walking my dogs, or exploring local parks. My role as a planner at J Crew Factory puts me directly responsible for eliminating overconsumption by ensuring we're buying the right product at the right quantities for our customer.

I joined the Eco Challenge to continue to track my actions and encourage my coworkers to do the same.

I’ve been working on a fundraiser for funeral expenses for a member of my community. So far my friend and I have done 6+ hours prepping cookie dough to be sold and in the process made a vegan version that tastes EXACTLY the same. Unsweetened apple sauce can be substituted 1/4 cup per 1 large egg and violife makes incredible vegan butter

I enjoyed the articles from EWG about the clean and dirty pesticide fruits and vegetables in the grocery store. I was sad to learn strawberries (one of my favorite fruits) is the #1 dirty pesticide treated item on the list. I always wash my produce after I buy it, but now I'm considering soaking my berries after I get them.

It's so fun to take a look at your daily actions, and their effect on your surrounding environment. It's kind of like tracking your food intake, you don't know what you're eating until you track it. Likewise, you don't know your impact on your surroundings, until you track it.