Who We Are

Internal Team

As a detribalized Indigenous person, Julysa focuses her personal and professional work on education, reconnection, and preservation within Indigenous communities. She is a storyteller at heart and approaches her work with a strong sense of truth, dignity, and justice. Her professional journey began in journalism but has since traversed diverse industries, cultivating a unique skillset and lived experiences that enrich her strategic communications approach.
Originally from Texas, Julysa considers Yanagauna (formerly San Antonio) her true home, but she also spent many summers on her family’s ranch in Mexico, where she learned the fundamentals of land stewardship and nurtured a strong work ethic. In her spare time, she immerses herself in her artwork and dedicates herself to re-learning her Native Nahua-Toltekatl language and ancestral knowledge. Currently, she resides in Myaamionki (formerly Indianapolis).

Hannah Luz Rice is a dedicated Program Manager at Women in Ranching leveraging her experience as a community builder, advocate for social and food justice, passionate land steward, and avid cyclist. Her journey began at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah where she graduated with a B.A. in Geography and emphasis in Environmental Studies and Spanish. She has always had a passion for land stewardship, promoting healthy food systems, community advocacy, and riding her bike for the joy of movement and human-powered travel!
Hannah’s Mexican-American roots and identity as a Chicana provide her a unique lens and understanding for finding a place in agriculture as a Brown Woman. Hannah is at the beginning of her farming journey and feels compelled to steward the land and foster community through growing nourishing foods and upholding the belief that all peoples have the right to healthy and culturally relevant foods produced with reverence and respect for the land, animals, and hands that prepare the harvest.
Driven by her dedication to foster healthy communities and nurture connections between individuals and the land, Hannah remains steadfast in her commitment to amplify voices often overlooked in agriculture.
Her values are grounded in community, she is one of four co-leaders serving on the Southern Arizona Young Farmers and Ranchers Coalition. Through this work

Community Development Manager

Executive Director

Program Mangaer

Senior Communications Manager

Amber has been ranching in rural western communities for nearly 20 years with her partner and two children, stewarding Antelope Springs Ranch near Cohagen, MT, comprising 53,000 acres of native grassland. Her passion is rooted in building a future where rural families thrive and all people are empowered and supported in pursuing work that aligns with their passion and purpose. Her time working with NGOs in the Middle East, and six years as an Activity Director in a rural nursing home, have helped her develop a unique passion for creating spaces of dignity, joy, and acceptance. Women in Ranching allows her to center her work with people closest to the soil's surface, creating a network of peers who believe a better future is possible for us all.

Chiara Hollender is an Iranian-American storyteller and aspiring land steward based in New England.
Her passions in life are deeply rooted in the empowerment of women, and the complexity and beauty of nature. Over her career, she’s dedicated her work to disrupting the the homogenization of women's narratives, and feels called to help heal our collective relationship to the natural world.
In 2019, Chiara began documenting the experiences of female farmers and land stewards across the United States which culminated in a documentary series made in partnership with PBS. Since beginning that journey Chiara has worked and volunteered at numerous farms and gardens, and has fallen deeper in love with the land she calls home. She is deeply committed to increasing the representation of women in agriculture and land based work, while elevating the contributions of young women in the climate space.
Within the scope of her documentary work, Chiara has collaborated with PBS, Radical Media, Discovery+, Netflix and more. Her four-part documentary series for PBS titled “Women of the Earth” can be streamed on the PBS website.

Facilitator Team

As a Northern Cheyenne rancher and director/effector of the Wild Rose Center, a retreat and community resource center, April believes that Land has the power to heal us. April also believe that Food is medicine and subscribes to the Native American philosophy that we are all related. She loves meeting people who are making change- small ones and big ones and supporting their journey.

What is your connection to land?
I belong to the land. More specifically, my life and livelihood is tied to the Colorado ranch where I raised my family and continue to serve my community. On the land, I have found a way to express my strongly held value of inclusion in ways that extend to people of varying abilities, backgrounds and beyond to livestock, wildlife, and diverse plant life. Within my connected relationship to the land, I have learned to trust myself.
Why do you want to support women’s leadership on the land?
When a women feels that she belongs and trusts herself, the depth and breadth of her impact on her community and the natural world around her are immeasurable. A women who feels seen can better show up to see and support other women, the livestock, the wildlife and the land that surrounds her. I believe the land heals, and we can heal the land, so I want to support women in their leadership on the land as a decision to choose healing and hope.

Anica is a first-generation Chinese American. Her family immigrated from Hong Kong to the US in 1992—just shy of her sixth birthday. In the years of growing up in Kansas, where Asians were the minority, food was a means for her family to keep traditions alive and celebrate their Chinese culture. Her love for food, especially meat, led her to the realization that Good Meat was mostly absent from Chinese grocers in America. In 2018, Anica started training as a whole-animal butcher and began her journey into the regenerative meat industry. Learning this craft has helped her to realize just how much work is required to get meat on our plates. It made her think about ingredients differently, the experience of eating food differently, and she was empowered by the control small farmers had over how the animal and land was treated. As a woman working in a male-dominated industry, Anica has found a deep sense of belonging within Women in Ranching. Her hope is to be able to share her butchery skills with other women, and help grow the support system for women in food and agriculture.

My name is Beth Godbey and I am a mother, wife, rancher, irrigator, hay raker, goat chaser, cow feeder and home coordinator! I understand the importance of women on the land and I am passionate about supporting and empowering all of the many hats we wear. I love the circle gatherings and watching connections form and the beautiful growth that comes with being honored for our work, our dreams and who we are- women in agriculture!

Kathy’s deep love of the land and enthusiasm for nutrient dense, traditional foods propelled her transition from technology into farming and ranching. Starting with just a small homestead and homeschooling her daughters, her land relationship experience includes managing a 250-acre ranch in Texas; developing infrastructure and enterprises for grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb and native pecans; cow and goat dairying, pastured poultry for meat and eggs, honeybees, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens, composting, and many traditional skills and food preparation methods.
Kathy is a Professional Certified Educator in Holistic Management, Certified Coach, and Master Composter. She has provided support and professional development to regenerative ag educators and consultants across the world, and has personally consulted on both small and large scale farms and ranches across the US.