What is the Sustainable Solutions Cooperative?
We are a group of individuals that have built an alliance through Bee With Me to ensure a healthy and viable future of ethical sustainable solutions for our environment. Our team consists of experts, researchers, and enthusiasts from all over the country from entrepreneurs and directors of organizations. As a cooperative, our goal is to strive towards excellence of success to support you with the solutions to provide for habitat restoration, increase population of native species, help increase food production, and reduction of energy demands.
Alone our voices are but a soft whisper amongst the crowds; together as one, our voice will echo through eternity.
Meet The Cooperative
Charles Mohr is the Founder of Bee With Me. A proud father of four with a loving wife homeschooling their children. Charles uses his expertise of native bees to help build awareness of the importance of bio-diversity in a balanced system. His goal is to educate the public and build a global system of sustainability in our environment and economics. A true visionary at heart, he is dedicated to pursue this mission by teaming with the most ethical individuals to create a collective of beneficial impact.
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Thomas Tlusty was born in Illinois and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago.
Tom has had a lifelong passion in regards to sustainable agriculture and
increasing access of healthy foods for underserved populations.
Thomas spent five years working at the Chicago Board of Trade in his
mid-twenties. This was in an effort to gain a background in financial
markets and to truly understand the disparity effects (of both food and
money) created by speculative markets and a heavily subsidized
Monolithic-Corporate agricultural system along with the obliteration of the
small family farm unit as a result. This passion eventually connected him
with the inventors of the Garden Tower. In 2012 he joined Garden Tower
Project full time becoming Co-founder/Partner and Manager of Communications
& Educational Outreach
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Max Lerner directs the environmental initiatives of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation’s Emerging Technology Team, Grant Justification Team and Environmental Education Team within their Sustainable Facilities Division. He manages a think tank of visionaries tasked with the ongoing goal of designing innovative ways to optimize urban stewardship through the application of resource conservation, waste diversion, organic building systems and revolutionary best practices. His team’s rigorous pilot testing across the city allows NYC Parks to model, review, advise and scale frontline green solutions across all five boroughs to ensure our incredible metropolis has a sustainable future.
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Guillermo Fernandez is the Director of The Honeybee Conservancy, a national 501c3 non-profit organization that works to help the bees, while increasing access to organic, sustainable food in under-served communities. He is an urban keeps honey as well as solitary bees in his urban apiaries.
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Thad Smith, Founder Westside Bee Boyz, LLC, graduated from the U-Turn Permitted program in June 2013 and subsequently he began working with Sweet Beginnings as a three-month transitional jobs worker. Under the mentorship of Sweet Beginnings’ Former Head Beekeeper and now business partner John Hansen, Thad discovered his love and passion for bees. In 2014, Thad became Sweet Beginnings’ first Apprentice, managing more than 131 colonies in multiple locations and providing honeybee education. In August 2014, Thad started Westside Bee Boyz LLC with the purpose of establishing a Beekeeping supply store in the heart of the Westside of Chicago. With 2 other he realized his dream and opened “The Hive-Chicago’s Beekeeping Supply Store. Thad brings enthusiasm and a positive attitude to his company, and has proven to be an effective leader for the Westside Bee Boyz, LLC organization.
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Jessica Goldstrohm is the Owner and Head Educator of The Bees Waggle, LLC. The Bees Waggle was formed 2015 with a mission to spread the word about how important pollinators are, and to reduce the fear of bees by educating children (and adults). Jessica does presentations to schools as well as adult groups to help everyone understand the importance, and simplicity of nurturing the survival of pollinators in our own yards and communities.
Jessica earned a Master’s in Biomedical Sciences from CSU, and a Bachelor’s in News Editing from CU Boulder. Both degrees have proven very useful in her current endeavors. She is a Colorado native and has a passion for the outdoors. She established The Bees Waggle with her husband, David Goldtrohm, in 2015 after watching several documentaries about the plight of bees and monarchs alike. She felt personally compelled to do something about this issue utilizing educational tools. She writes a blog, does presentations to various age groups, develops native bee products, and has developed two elementary school curriculums centered around educating youth on why pollinators are so important to our planet. Jessica currently serves on the Colorado Pollinator Network (CPN) Steering Committee, and is Chair of the Education and Outreach Workgroup of CPN.
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Christopher is the Field Sales & Operations Manager for Google Fiber in Louisville, focused on introducing ultra high speed internet to the community. In his spare time he co-founded a KY based start-up selling designer bat-houses called BatBnB. The business raised over $100,000 in crowdfunding in late 2017, attracted celebrity interest from the likes of Adrian Grenier, and was featured in HuffPost. Christopher also made appearances on Entrepreneur’s Elevator Pitch web series (starts 10 minutes in) as well as CBS’s Emmy award winning, Innovation Nation with Mo Rocca. Prior to Google, he worked at MakeTime, one of Kentucky’s most exciting VC backed startups in the manufacturing industry, and before then he spent several years in San Francisco as part of the early team that developed Udemy, the world’s largest marketplace for online courses. Christopher studied commerce and advertising at the University of Virginia, is originally from Massachusetts, and is also a dual Swedish/American citizen. When he’s not busy at the office, you’ll find Christopher spending time with his family, coming up with a craft project, reading sci-fi novels, or taking a local woodworking class.
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Blair Leano Helvey is the owner of Entomology Solutions LLC, providing farmers, greenhouses, nurseries, landscapers, and homeowners with biological control solutions for horticultural and agricultural pests since 2009. Entomology Solutions has served such businesses as Callaway Gardens and the Kentucky Horse Park, and has helped several Kentucky-Indiana greenhouses and nurseries make a total switch to ecologically-friendly biocontrol.
In 2015 Entomology Solutions expanded to form Idlewild Butterfly Farm, adding butterfly rearing and an insectarium to Blair’s growing ‘bug business’. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Idlewild Butterfly Farm is a publicly accessible venue where visitors can enjoy viewing the insects and butterflies as well as enjoy the products and services Idlewild has to offer: from live butterflies for events and education, to pollinator-friendly garden plants grown without chemical insecticides, to educational literature, natural art and more.
Sustainability has always been the core of Blair’s business ventures, and between Entomology Solutions and Idlewild Butterfly Farm she has brought sustainable practices and conservation awareness to both commercial and consumer attention.
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Laura Kunkle is the Executive Director of America in Bloom, a 501c3 charity based inColumbus, Ohio. Laura worked with the national board of directors on short- and long-term strategies to grow the organization; fiscal management; event planning;program management; communications and marketing; volunteer recruitment and management; and public speaking.