Miranda
Roberts
11907 Wesley Drive
Hagerstown, Maryland 21742
Email:
roberts.miranda@gmail.com
WRITER » GARDENER » EDUCATOR
Creative and diversely skilled promoter of positive
social change through communicating meaningful links between food, nutrition,
ecology, and society.
PROFILE
v Published feature writer with a focus on whole and
local foods, wellness, and gardening.
v Organic gardener with experience creating and
maintaining gardens in sub-tropical and temperate climates and working with
diverse groups of children and adults.
v Educator with varied teaching experiences including
teaching English as a Second Language in Malawi, East Africa; communicating
HIV/AIDS prevention messages to Deaf youth and adults
in Kenya, East Africa; and curriculum design for university students in the
United States.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Volunteer Gardener, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, South Africa
September 2007 to February 2008
»Working together the lead horticulurist for the Useful Plants Garden, I maintain a demonstration garden of indigenous plants with medicinal, culinary and habitation uses..
Behavior
Change Communicator for the Deaf, US
Peace Corps, Kenya
September 2006 to September 2007
» Develop visual educational materials on HIV/AIDS and Life
Skills for Deaf Kenyan youths and adults to promote a better quality of life
with improved self-reliance.
» Lead a garden club with Deaf secondary girls involving
small-scale food production to encourage food security and cooking lessons to
maximize nutritional value of harvested produce.
Schoolyard
Garden Assistant, Greensboro Day School
and Greensboro Montessori School, North Carolina
March 2004
to August 2006
» Assisted
in the implementation of garden-based learning for both secondary and primary
schools.
» Monitored and troubleshot challenges
such as pests, disease, and irrigation needs.
» Delegated garden duties to and supervised student volunteers.
» Maintained school garden during summer holiday months (watering,
weeding, harvesting, and pest management).
Writer,
Director, Producer; Public Service Announcements for Voluntary Agriculture
District, North Carolina
November
2005 to June 2006
»
Conducted regular meetings with local farmers and board administrators
to identify and prioritize agriculture awareness messages.
» Independently organized selection
of videographers and arranged filming locations, dates, and equipment for video
shoots.
»
Created storyboards and scripts for voice actors; captured and edited
footage; and produced short public service announcement videos.
Curriculum
Specialist, University of North
Carolina-Greensboro, North Carolina
August
2004 to June 2006
» Worked on
production team to develop
credited humanities courses for a nationally acclaimed online education
program.
» Conceptualized
and produced creative interactive learning exercises; organized video shoots,
developed story boards for interactive games and learning tools, and archived
images and other visual materials.
» Substantively
edited full courses and supporting documents
Program
Assistant for Community Farm and City Market Project,
Project Greenleaf, University of
North Carolina-Greensboro
May 2004
to October 2004
» Coordinated city market days; this involved organizing harvests
the day before market, preparing produce for sale, marketing and managing sales
on market days.
» Monitored challenges
such as pests, disease, and irrigation.
» Provided technical assistance and distributed
seeds and other needed materials to the farmers as needed.
» Collected data by conducting informal
interviews with participants and observing plots and noting methods used (i.e.
intercropping, integrated pest management, use of trellises and other
structures).
» Worked independently to conduct
needs assessments of community farm members.
Freelance
Writer
December
2002 to present
» Identify
appropriate information sources, conduct interviews, and schedule photo shoots.
» Write all
article copy aimed at a localized consumer audience.
» Engage in
creative process of selecting article topics and identifying photo subjects.
» Experienced
copywriter with clients such as America Online and Adobe.
Teacher
of English as a Second Language, US Peace
Corps, Malawi
September
1999 to December 2001
» Prepared
daily lesson for classes of 50—80 students using innovative and creative
instructional methods
» Monitored
and assessing students’ English listening, speaking, and writing skills
» Led teachers in curriculum development and implementation with respect to problems unique to Malawian classrooms
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts-English, Salisbury University, Salisbury,
MD
LANGUAGES
Spanish: Proficiency, undergraduate minor studies
Chichewa: Proficiency, used at the community level as Peace Corps volunteer, Malawi
Kiswahili and Kenyan Sign Language: Proficiency, used at the community level as Peace Corps volunteer, Kenya