Mana Vermeulen-McLeod

Mana has been a resident and full-member at Earthaven Ecovillage, North Carolina, USA, since 2007. At Earthaven, where she is researching Ecovillage Life, she makes her living as an eco-carpenter/natural-green builder and as manager of the community kitchen. She is also actively involved with orienting and integrating the flow of incoming volunteers, called the ‘New Roots’ of Earthaven. Mana was the logistics/volunteers coordinator for the Southeast Women’s Herbal Conference 2009 and she gives haircuts when folks let her.

Before starting her Gaia U program, Mana was on the road, traveling and networking through Australia, the US and Europe with WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). Partly because of their shared passion for creating community and sustainable shelter, she and her partner choose to live at Earthaven Ecovillage.
The main focus of Mana’s first graduate year in Integrative Ecosocial Design was researching the ins and outs of a thriving and healthy community life, and especially Ecovillage Economics/Right Livelihood for women in rural communities. Tools such as Otto Scharmer’s ‘Theory U’, the Zegg-Style ‘Forum’ process and Nonviolent Communication (compassionate communication) are interpersonal tools that help her understand the needs and desires of her fellow community members.

Currently Mana is taking a sabbatical from higher permaculture education to build her green home and to create a family at Earthaven.

My Intergrative Ecosocial Design program with Gaia U has been a juicy catalyst for personal and professional growth. I’ve always been a process geek, and where can you find a University that appreciates and celebrates descriptive processes and not just data?

With the help of advisors and fellow associates, I have gained knowledge about many different levels of design; from emotional to intellectual to visionary. The program has opened up a world of connections, to inspiring permaculture projects, social experiments and visionary infrastructure. With Gaia U I feel connected to the larger community of world-changers.