Certified Women-owned Business Enterprise (WBE) with the NYC Small Business Service
Rosemarie Miner
Founding Principal
Rosemarie is a green infrastructure professional with more than 12 years of experience in nature based solutions to climate change. With a B.S. in Ecology and LEED AP Neighborhood Development accreditation, her goal is for our organization to reflect a commitment to a livable future. As an artistic praxis, she works with nature to create living murals, as well as functional ecosystems, designing with spirits of place and for the generations to come. Her designs focus on blending the boundaries between human and non-human communities.
As the founder of a certified WBE and values driven landscaping business, she also aims to improve working conditions and evolve workers’ rights across the industry.
Drawing on her history as a community organizer, Rosemarie works tirelessly to build environmental and social resilience by facilitating ecological intimacy and fostering ecological literacy. In 2012, she served as AmeriCorps, working in community gardens across the five boroughs. In her tenure with the New York Restoration Project she worked on several facets of the Million TreesNYC Initiative.
She was the first Organizing Fellow with 596 Acres, working to increase public access to vacant green space across Brooklyn.
Rosemarie enjoys community theater, dancing, playing with mud and clay, cooking from nose to tail and a good book. She is known to burst into spontaneous bouts of song.
Erika Meade
Director of Staff & Studio
Erika brings her innate sense of balanced aesthetics and a dedication to operational excellence. With more than a decade of hospitality and fine dining experience, she has garnered a skillful attention to detail and logistics.
Erika began her work in landscaping with a drive to create and maintain bio-diverse outdoor spaces that encourage sustainable living practices.
Erika loves nurturing community in and around urban green spaces that are in harmony with native ecosystems while exploring accessible opportunities for rejuvenation and conservation.
2024 Crew
Cris
Hardscaping Lead
Cris (he/him) comes to Our Temenos having spent almost a decade perfecting his craft. His love for stone work and problem solving come together on the jobsite day in and out. Cris is an invaluable part of the OT team as he always jumps in to lend a hand. He is an avid runner and you just might spot him jogging across the Verrazano.
Jordan
Masonry Apprentice
Jordan (he/him) is a newcomer to the trade and a former AmeriCorps with Green City Force. He is interested in specialization in masonry and is passionate about learning the trade. Each day he gains more confidence in laying bricks, mixing mortar, and building sturdy structures. Jordan's dedication and enthusiasm are quickly making him a valuable member of the team.
Anita
Green Infrastructure Assistant
Anita (she/her) joined the Our Temenos team as a gardener in Spring 2024 and since then has stepped into a new role as the Green Infrastructure Assistant. She joined the team with an interest in deepening her understanding of climate resiliency. She is excited to be working on the Our Temenos team because the work combines expanding climate resiliency in NYC with the creation and maintenance of beautiful spaces that benefit our local ecology and our local community in so many ways. Anita received her BA in Environmental Studies and Sustainable Business from Fordham University . Prior to joining Our Temenos, she has worked on regenerative farms in the Hudson valley, built and managed hydroponic classrooms in NYC public schools, and managed the Queens New Roots Community Garden.
In her free time Anita loves to do yoga, read, go to live music shows, and eat delicious food!
Vanessa
Landscape Installation Technician
Vanessa (she/her) has worked in hands-on gardening positions for almost a decade. She started her work with plants at a young age and has always had a passion for protecting and defending the environment. Vanessa loves getting to be a land steward while continuing to learn more about different species of New York natives and overlooked plants! Vanessa has a bachelors degree in psychology and biology. Outside of work she loves to watch scary movies, go for runs or take a dance class.
Ezekiel
Landscape Installation Technician
Ezekiel (he/him) is a U.S. Army Veteran and GreenCity Force AmeriCorps alumni who enjoys working with his hands and is passionate about a commitment to his community. From tiling to mounting and building furniture, Ezekiel considers his hands-on work an artistic practice that has started to hone over the last seven years.
Ezekiel finds excitement in constantly learning new skills and fine tuning his current ones.
Teal
Site Lead
TL “Teal” Nottage
(They/He) is an artist, designer, fabricator, compost enthusiast, and land worker. Their work experience includes building Broadway theater sets, installing solar and green roofs, and community organizing. Their creative work is grounded in environmental justice and building ecological literacy for all. Teal is currently pursuing a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Pratt Institute.
Bella
Community Curator
Bella (she/they) is a British curator, interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Brooklyn with a background in art fairs, community events and journalism. Her creative and curatorial focus encompasses expanded choreography, cultures of the public, contemporary performance and visual art across mediums.
Bella’s work responds to the exclusivity, codes of behaviour and regimes of visibility specific to institutionalised spaces. They prefer to curate small and curate together, encouraging relational ontologies, new modes of collectivity and alternative systems of value that foster a feminist, ecological and decolonial ethos.
Bella is also the Co-Founder of Little by little Brooklyn (Lxl), a small arts organisation. She holds an MA in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch and a BA in English Literature and Drama from the University of Sussex (UK).
Mar
Landscape Installation Technician
Mar (they/them) is dedicated to building liberatory spaces that foster connection to nature and to each other. They've worked in gardens and landscapes both locally and nationally as a horticulturist and are particularly interested in learning about native garden restoration.
Mar is currently studying Horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Kylee
Studio Intern Summer 2024
Kylee (she/her) is a business student at Cayuga Community College whose studio internship focused on the ins and outs of running a small business. Kylee’s favorite aspect of the work is the reward that comes at the end of a installation. She enjoys watching the team’s hard work turn into a smile on the face of a client. She also delights in meeting new people along the way!
Anwyn
Site Lead
Scott
Landscape Installation Technician
Allie
Landscape Installation Technician
Spencer
Landscape Installation Technician