Staff & Interns

Christen joins MCE with nearly a decade of experience advocating for the cleanup of Manhattan Project radioactive waste in St. Louis. She served as Communications Coordinator for Just Moms STL and was a member of the West Lake Landfill Steering Committee. Additionally, she is the creator of the social media project, Humans of West Lake Landfill, developed to raise awareness of the human cost of exposure to radioactive waste and document the efforts to restore our communities. She also has eleven years of experience as a Purchaser and Bookkeeper for a busy E-Commerce store. She is excited to be a part of the MCE team and continue following her passion to protect our natural spaces and human health. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and kayaking with her family, nature photography, and traveling.

Carmen is a graduate of University of Missouri – St. Louis and brings experience in nonprofit fundraising as well as membership sales experience with national retail businesses such as Cole Haan and Warby Parker. She is extremely excited to be working with a mission-driven organization once again. Carmen is looking forward to applying her knowledge of customer service and relationship management to foster impactful relationships within her community and beyond. Carmen also has developed a love for houseplants, and she loves the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. Keep your eyes peeled when you meet her because you can find her wearing at least one item with Mickey on it every day!

For the past thirty years, Jim has combined his passion for wildlife, wild places and environmental issues with high quality video production. Transforming complex scientific concepts into compelling stories has become his hallmark, and the numerous awards and honors his work has received speak to the popularity of his programs with the general public. For over 20 years, Jim was a lead producer for the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Missouri Outdoors program. With over 100 story segments in the can, Jim evolved into long-form production, not only for the Missouri Department of Conservation, but other state and federal resource agencies as well. Jim has produced dozens of award winning documentary films concerning a wide range of natural history and environmental issues. In 2001, Jim stepped from behind the camera to found Missouri River Relief, a hands-on, on-the-river advocacy group devoted to physically cleaning up the wide Missouri. Thousands of volunteers have picked up hundreds of tons of trash on the lower Missouri as a result of this organization. Jim’s river-adjacent Boone County property has served as the organizations boatyard and equipment headquarters for nearly 20 years.

Rae brings many years of experience working on sustainable farms, with local nonprofits, and as an environmental compliance project manager. Rae oversees MCE’s Known & Grown program to both promote and develop sustainable farms in our state. Originally from St. Louis, Rae enjoys outdoor activities with her family, especially gardening.

Makenna is a Kansas City native with a passion for the city’s people, pride, and history. After completing a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2020, she returned to Kansas City to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Missouri-Kansas City where she graduated in 2022. Makenna has experience working and volunteering with many agencies that provide services in the mid-Missouri and Kansas City regions.

Makenna has always felt strongly about social and environmental justice and looks forward to working with MCE in the Kansas City region to achieve progress in those areas and give back to the community. 

In her free time, Makenna enjoys trying out new restaurants, hiking, yoga, going to concerts, and enjoying art.

Nicki brings a passion and commitment to sustainable farming and a connection to the local food network in the St Louis region. Through her education and experience as a farmer, she has come to understand that food – and equitable access to the rights and means to produce and receive it – is at the root of societal stability.

Nicki, along with her family, founded HartBeet Farm in 2015 in Eolia, MO. This diversified farm produced Certified Naturally Grown vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, pasture-raised eggs, and maple syrup. Their products were sold through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program as well local farmers markets, wholesalers, and grocers.

HartBeet Farm was one of the first operations to join MCE’s Known & Grown STL program and later Nicki would serve on the Farmer Advisory Committee. She looks forward to joining the Known & Grown team to promote sustainable farming in the St Louis region and expand access to healthy foods in the community.

In her free time, Nicki loves to cook with her wife Katie and spend time in nature.

Jared began his professional career in web development handling the online advertising efforts of Fortune 500 companies. After 5 years in this field, he decided to return to school to start a new career in public service. Jared earned a B.S. in Health Education at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Masters in Public Administration at Saint Louis University.

Jared’s public service career began with Tobacco Free St. Louis where he worked on updating tobacco policies to improve public health. He later worked for PreventEd organizing a region-wide campaign to educate and mobilize people about the opioid epidemic and advocate for public policy changes. Later, Jared helped found the St. Louis Downtown Neighborhood Association and became its first Executive Director. Prior to joining MCE, he was the Executive Director of Givable – a philanthropic catalyst for St. Louis area nonprofits.

Jared and his family enjoy taking trips to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and hiking and camping at many other beautiful parks and conservation areas throughout Missouri.

Melissa came to MCE first as a legal intern, reviewing agricultural permits and also researching and writing about the state of our food system. From there, she was hooked on MCE! Melissa brings her law degree, her B.S. in environmental science, and her minor in agricultural economics to the MCE table to lead our policy department in its work with federal, state, and local elected officials as well as government agencies to address environmental issues with community input at the forefront. In her spare time, Melissa loves weight lifting, rollerblading, biking, and refurbishing furniture!

Jaelithe was born and raised in St. Louis. She focused her undergraduate studies on the intersection of environmental science and public health and graduated in 2020 from Harvard University with a B.A. in Environmental Science and Public Policy. After college she returned to St. Louis, where she began working as a barn manager for Equine Assisted Therapy and as an intern at Great Rivers Environmental Law Center. 

Jaelithe hopes to be a part of protecting both the health of Missouri’s people and its environment. She is excited to join MCE’s team as Policy Coordinator. In her spare time, she enjoys horseback riding and crocheting. 

Chris Wimmer joined the Missouri Coalition for the Environment’s Food & Farm team as the Known & Grown Farm Specialist in July of 2019. Chris was born and raised in St. Louis and always dreamed of becoming a farmer. He received his BS in Agronomy from University of Missouri Columbia. Eager to combine his passion for environmental stewardship and growing food Chris founded The Farm at Kraut Run in 1995. The farm produced organic vegetables and meat sold locally through a Community Supported Agriculture program, farmers markets, and local restaurants. The farm’s hands-on educational field trips were designed to impress on visitors the importance of enhancing nature while producing food responsibly. In 2017 MCE sponsored a trip to the farm that introduced Chris to the effective environmental work they have been doing for the last 50 years. He is excited to join the newly formed Known and Grown Team, and to share his desire to expand the availability of locally grown, organic and humanely raised food.

Sumbal is a 4th year criminology major and political science minor studying pre-law at Maryville University. She previously interned at O’ Connell and Crosby LLC, now known as Law Offices of David M O’Connell LLC in St. Charles, MO. She has experience working on criminal and civil cases and now is excited to learn about environmental law. She is looking forward to working with the MCE team on environmental policies to protect the people and the environment of Missouri. 

Audrey is a St.Louis native who recently graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics focusing her study on the impact of media on international and domestic issues. After some-post grad travel, Audrey gained experience as an intake specialist for a local law firm. She has ample customer service experience and is thrilled to play an active role in the fight for climate security with MCE.