Kaela is a Project Coordinator on SBC’s Economic Empowerment Team. 

She contributes over a decade of professional experience spanning nonprofit program management, higher education administration, and field-based instruction in outdoor and international settings. Her strengths are in research, program design, group facilitation, and community engagement. At SBC, Kaela supports complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, like Sierra Jobs First, through qualitative and quantitative research, partner coordination, and administrative oversight. She also supports inclusive economy projects in partnership with Latino and Tribal populations.

Kaela has a B.A. from Davidson College in North Carolina where she created an interdisciplinary major in Peace and Conflict Studies. As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to Costa Rica, she received a M.A. in Peace Education from the United Nations mandated University for Peace. Kaela cares about protecting natural resources while expanding access to the outdoors; transforming conflicts and building collaborative relationships; and supporting young adult leadership and career development.

Kaela grew up in a small town in Maine, but has lived and worked in rural mountain communities across the U.S. and in South America. She moved to Truckee, California in 2020 and has family in Oakland and the Sierra foothills. Kaela spends her free time exploring the Sierra Nevada by foot, bicycle and ski.