Ashley - Tennessee Store Manager
Ashley grew up in Arkansas before finding herself in the wonderful city of Nashville, Tenn., seven years ago. Being in Nashville has allowed her to experience the great world of music, and beautiful scenery. She’s worked as a retail manager most of her career. She is also a photographer…and no, not the wedding kind. She enjoys the in-depth learning working at Worm’s Way requires, and has had a great experience with a hard working crew, and with the support and connections with all the team throughout Worm’s Way. She’s really enjoyed helping build the business within her community!
Brian - Assistant Director of Consumer Operations
Before coming to Worm’s Way, Brian worked in luxury and travel sales. Brewing is his most loved hobby - meads, melomels, and wheat beers are his favorite. He’s always had a love for science and anything that gives him that mad-scientist feel is something he’s bound to fall in love with. Hydroponics was a natural for him to want to get involved with, and the Hydro for Hunger initiative is very important to him. Aging punk and a classic nerd, he’s quite fond of gaming and science fiction. He loves attending the theater and can be seen in 8 Wheels of Death, a movie about a zombie outbreak at the roller derby.
Clint - Assistant Mail Order Manager
Besides Clint’s love of gardening, his other hobbies involving nature include hiking, biking, camping and travelling around the globe as much as possible. He’s a huge music lover as well as a musician, and plays a wide variety of instruments from guitar, bass, keyboard and hand drums, to melodica and even sitar. He creates under the artist name Kaleidoscope Jukebox. Some of his music can be found here: http://www.kaleidoscopejukebox.com/audio.html. He’s shared the bill with artists like Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstahphunk, Freekbass, Emancipator, Govinda, The New Deal, Chicago Afrobeat Project and more.
Besides his own musical adventures, he served as a “dubmaster” in a local Bloomington based reggae band named "Coyaba." Playing with this band allowed him to open up for some of his favorite artists including Bob Marley's The Wailers, Toots & The Maytals, Groundation, Culture, Victor Wooten, Ky-Mani Marley, and more! He’s also an obsessive vinyl record collector.
Deanna - Assistant Staff Writer/Marketing Assistant
Deanna assists with many of the writing and editing endeavors from the Worm’s Way home office in Bloomington, Ind. This love of writing started at a very young age when she decided her calling was creating stories about princesses stuck in castles. Unfortunately, this avenue of literature had been fulfilled a couple hundred years earlier by the Brothers Grimm, so she has since moved on to more sensible subjects (she regularly shares her experiences as The Novice Gardener on the Worm’s Way blog).
Her earliest memories include being bitten by an earthworm in the garden (she swears it really bit her), and climbing the cherry trees behind her great-grandmother’s house. She also enjoys hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, camping, and spending as much time outdoors as possible during the brief summers here in Indiana.
Jen- Sales Associate
Jen has been with Worm’s Way since January of 2008. She hails from southwest Michigan (Three Rivers and Kalamazoo area). She loves all things gardening, with a specific focus on biological controls and veganic gardening (gardening without the use of animal products). When she isn’t researching the latest gardening trends, or filming the latest YouTube tutorial as “Jen the Grow Gal,” she is fine tuning her salsa recipe, making stuffed pancakes, listening to wEEn, or reading a novel by Charlaine Harris. In her spare time she is a vegan foodie with her own blog.
John - Director of Consumer Operations
John spent the growing years of his life living in Geneva, Ind. If you haven’t heard of Geneva (presumably you haven’t), it’s a small northeastern Indiana town about 30 miles south of Fort Wayne, and is also the hometown of the late author and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter.
Sports are a huge interest of his (basketball and golf, especially), but his true passion is travel. A recent trip to Hawaii allowed him to photograph Hawaiian monk seals, tranquil beaches, bold and peaceful mountain ranges, and of course, the Pacific Ocean (John is pictured standing in said ocean at right). He’s visited 39 states (Wyoming and Montana are his top two), and has learned that there are still some astoundingly beautiful, quiet places left out there. He recommends Lumaha’i Beach where they filmed the movie South Pacific. While he was there, only about five other people were there. It was practically deserted, and like a vision of paradise. Absolutely amazing!
Nate - Kentucky Store Manager
The Kentucky Worm’s Way store has been nurtured by its manager, Nate, since its opening in 2002. His combined skills accumulated from more than 25 years of sales, customer service and management experience in the service, entertainment, and consumer products industries and his love of gardening made him a perfect match for Worm’s Way’s expansion into the Cincinnati metro area. Nate is a fully vested team member for this employee-owned company, and therefore has your satisfaction as a top priority. Nate invites you to come visit them and their store in the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area soon and often, “Where our gardening season never ends!”
Rick - Florida Store Manager
A transplant from colder New England climates, Rick came to Florida for family, and a much longer growing season. Rick is an avid organic and hydroponic gardener and loves growing all the plant types the local climate makes possible. He lives just outside Tampa, Fla. with his wife and their two demanding cats. When not filling a reservoir or potting up a pepper, he can be found touring the theme parks or out on the bay, trying to coax fish into a boat. He considers both the Florida crew, and store, to be among the best in the entire industry, and would be thrilled if you paid them a visit.
Roger - Indiana Consumer Operations Manager
Before being employed at Worm’s Way, Roger was a repeat customer. There were no other stores in the immediate area that carried such a wide array of organic gardening products. He was originally employed as a purchasing agent for the company; however, after two and a half years he decided to make the move to the Worm’s Way retail division. He’s always loved to garden and collect various plants. A few other tidbits about him: he’s lived in Bloomington, Ind., for the last eight years and absolutely loves it. He graduated from Ivy Tech with an associate degree in Applied Science. Last, a few of his hobbies include gardening, indoor growing and gaming.
Rusty - Missouri Store Manager
Russell, our Worm’s Way Missouri store manager, is thirty years old and was born in Seattle, Wash. He’s lived all over the world (Iceland, The Philippines, Guam, England), but has been rooted in St. Louis for 10 years now. He’s proud to be a part of the team at Worm's Way. As he would say, “Life Is Good!”