Meredith Shelton

Meredith, or “Mayzie,” grew up in the intentional community known as The Farm outside Nashville, Tenn., a community that works to help insure that all people have access to clean water, sanitation, nutrition and livelihood. That experience serves as the philosophy at the core of her life’s work.

Mayzie received a nursing certificate from Caldwell Community College and is also a certified community herbalist. She also helped found and co-owned an eco-friendly fair trade store in Boone, N.C.

More recently, she worked with the nonprofit organization Go Conscious Earth in the Democratic Republic of Congo to document and facilitate the installation of five clean water wells that now serve 10,000 people.

Mayzie lives on a portion of 165 acres she helped preserve along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where she has raised her three children, Lydia, Rory and Charly.