Bridgette is a holistic nutritionist and currently studying plant medicine. She grew up in Georgia, went to school in North Carolina nestled in the Blueridge Mountains. She loves the outdoors and has intentionally lived near the mountains since leaving home. Bridgette is an enrolled citizen of the Jamestown S’klallam Tribe and moved to Port Angeles in 2018 to learn and work in her tribal community and explore the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. Bridgette studied nutrition and exercise science for her undergraduate degree at Western Carolina University. After graduating, she was accepted into their Dietetic Internship (DI) program and received her Master’s of Health Sciences in Nutrition and Dietetics. Bridgette was able to work on the reservation for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation during her DI and learned more about the disproportionate health outcomes for Native Americans. This became the focus for her dissertation and she continues to work on her research using trauma-informed care to identify culturally tailored public health approaches to reduce health disparities and improve health equity for Native communities.
Throughout her education, Bridgette found herself leaning more to the agricultural side of nutrition and found a great passion for sustainable food systems. She has helped start multiple community gardens and worked heavily with Farm to School to teach and advocate for local food sourcing and environmental practices. After attending a Farm to Food Bank meeting as a representative of her Tribe’s food bank, Bridgette joined the Peninsula Food Coalition and was informed about the SNAP-Ed Nutrition Educator position and very excited to join the WSU Extension team!