The Sustainable Urbanist, 34

 Founder and Executive Director of Bike Walk Macon

Tell us about your vocation. Why did you choose it?

I moved to Macon in 2008 to study social entrepreneurship, psychology, and Spanish at Mercer University. After graduating, I spent a year teaching English in Thailand, where I experienced life without a car for the first time and learned a lot about myself.

When I returned to Macon, I worked with different nonprofits and discovered my passion for transportation through the 8 80 Cities Emerging Cities Champions Fellowship in 2015. This fellowship, along with support from amazing people and local groups, and my own experiences of biking and walking around Macon, led to the start of Bike Walk Macon. Riding my bike and walking around the city was fun, made me healthier, and helped me connect with my community. But I also saw the need firsthand for safer and more accessible streets.

At Bike Walk Macon, we work to make our city a place where everyone can get around safely and easily, no matter how they choose to travel, through advocacy, education, and community events and programs. I’m passionate about this work because transportation affects many aspects of our lives and is key to improving our city’s connectivity and sustainability.

Tell us about your activities in the community, especially what you’re most excited about.

I’m involved with several boards and committees, like the Macon Transit Authority Board, OneMacon Steering Committee, Reimagining the Civic Commons Committee, and the Pedestrian Safety Review Board. There are so many exciting and major public space and infrastructure projects in the works right now. I can’t wait to see and enjoy the new parks and bike pathways that will be built in the next few years. I’m also excited about the app MTA is launching soon that will make it easier to track and plan bus routes.

Right now, what is the best thing going on in Macon?

I’m excited about the vision for the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail. It will connect the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park to downtown Macon and surrounding neighborhoods and provide a beautiful, peaceful space for walking, biking, exercising, and enjoying our city.

Which three qualities have helped you succeed?

Persistence, adaptability, and community-mindedness. I try to ask for advice from people with more experience and different perspectives and learn lessons from my mistakes. These qualities have helped me push forward, even when faced with challenges.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Professionally, my greatest achievement is Bike Walk Macon. What began as a simple idea to bring people together to ride and walk has evolved into a successful movement for better streets.

This grassroots effort that started in 2015 has grown into an organization that has helped secure millions in funding for improved infrastructure, making Macon a better place for everyone.

Personally, I’ve built a happy life in Macon with my husband, Jon, and our dog, Roxy. I love our neighborhood. So many of the people and places we love are a short bike ride or walk away: our friends, my sister, parks, and local businesses like Macon Bagels (our favorite).

How do you set the stage for Macon’s success?

By pushing for policies that create real, lasting change. We’ve added miles of bike paths and made huge strides in pedestrian, bicycle, and transit improvements, and we’ve secured more funding than ever for multimodal projects. We’ve also worked hard to adopt and enforce the Complete Streets Policy and the Vision Zero Action Plan, and now we’re focusing on a neighborhood traffic calming policy. These policies make sure our streets are built to work for everyone in the future, even when we’re not the ones working toward it.

What do you struggle with professionally or personally, and what kind of support could help you through that challenge?

I struggle with feeling like things aren’t happening fast enough. We have a high rate of pedestrian fatalities and poverty in our city, and the need to improve our streets is urgent! Change takes time and resources. If you care about better streets, reach out to me, Macon-Bibb County, and your elected officials. The more voices we have advocating for change, the stronger and faster our movement will be.