We are overwhelmed with the amazing candidates for the 2024 board! Please read about them below and cast your vote during our December 3rd meeting. You can join us on zoom for the first hour of our board meeting. We aim to have 4 new members! Here is a link to register for the meeting:

Eleanna Mathioudis Goudey is a passionate community builder who loves learning any and every new skill she can. Currently, she is delving into broom making and wood carving! She has volunteered in different non-profits in the Twin Cities area, helping with volunteer recruitment, fundraising, and outreach. Professionally, she works in data analysis for a non-profit health insurance company. Her work focuses on understanding more about the needs of insurance members and then finding new ways to meet those needs. Eleanna combines her professional skills and passion for handcrafting to supporting the vibrant Fireweed community.

Hello! I’m Jeanette. I have been carving for 4 years ever since I took a spoon carving class from Jess. I caught weaver fever from another amazing instructor, Beth, and have been making baskets for almost a year now. I co-teach sharpening at Fireweed and will co-teach bowl carving there soon. Besides Fireweed, I have taken classes at the American Swedish Institute, North House Folk School, Woodspirit Handcraft, and Milan Village Art School. This summer I got to harvest birchbark with Beth up near Grand Marais, learn bowl carving from Swedish instructor Beth Moen, and build a stool up in Ashland, WI. I work at the American Swedish Institute as a studio classroom tool sharpener and event support staff. I love my job working in a Minneapolis library. I also bike year-round, read lots, and grow native plants. My wife and I live in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis with our cat, dog, and four chickens. My favorite tool is the Julia Kalthoff axe and I love axing out bowl and spoon blanks in my backyard. Craft connects us to each other- the act of slowing down and working with our hands opens up space for relationships to form, I’ve seen it happen over and over again, especially at Fireweed. Fireweed recognizes that they are a part of an imperfect society and I value the work they do to imagine a better future. I learn more about how to be a supportive member of our community every time I gather with friends to create.

Anastasia left the world of financial analysis and business development to cultivate an elemental foundation within herself to engage in a life of making. She studied at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship as well as completed a certificate program at Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Anastasia is building a woodworking practice in St. Paul that combines her curiosity of traditional furniture and the much more dynamic, more iterative, more instinctive design that surfaces at the workbench. She also is active in assisting local furniture makers when they need an extra set of hands and baking at Laune Bread.

Margaret has nearly 20 years of experience in accounting and finance
and currently serves as Controller at Westminster Presbyterian in
downtown Minneapolis. Prior to that she worked for the Metropolitan
Council Environmental Services division as a Financial Analyst and
spent over 15 years at YWCA Minneapolis where her final role was
Finance Manager. She has worked extensively with grant writing,
budgeting, and reporting as well as all aspects of accounting and
finance for non-profit organizations. Margaret loves 10-keys,
spreadsheets, budgets, and financial modeling and seeks ways to share
those skills with organizations rooted in social justice. Outside of
her love of learning new excel formulas, she relishes getting in way
over her head on home renovation projects, traveling and exploring
nature, and dancing in the kitchen while trying out new recipes.

Rachael Rivard (She/Her)

Rachael is a biostatistician with the Center for Evaluation and Survey Research at HealthPartners Research Institute. She loves numbers, puzzles, problem solving and most importantly making things work. Before she moved to the Twin Cities she lived in Madison, WI where she was the founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Dresses That Heal which used the wedding industry to raise money for women overcoming breast cancer.

Her interest in woodworking initially began with home restoration and DIY projects. One project led to another and she began looking for a community who shared her interests and came across Fireweed. It’s an honor to be of service to the organization’s mission to ‘empower women and non-binary makers through the art of woodcraft’. Every word of that statement feels like we’re building a stronger community together and she’s brought all her tools.

My name is Rachel Ryan (she/her) and I was born and raised in Minnesota. The first time I took a Shop Class was sixth grade and I stayed with it until eighth grade. The only reason I stopped? There wasn’t a single female that walked in to the Shop Class on the first day of school in ninth grade and I felt very out of place, so I immediately withdrew the next day.

Crafting things with my hands is a talent I miss, so much, which is why I decided to apply for a position to be on the board. I having a community of people I can look forward to seeing. One thing I learned in 2015 when I attended a soirée in San Diego I volunteered at for four years was what community really is about. Showing up — not just for you, but for others, too.

I have an Adirondack chair I made in eight grade that still remains in my patio where I reside in St. Louis Park.

Firewood Shop is a community I’d really appreciate being a part of, no matter how small of a part I’d play.

Thank you for your consideration.

Alice (she/her) has over ten years of experience working in fundraising for various non-profits, including Pro-Choice Minnesota, The Nature Conservancy, Panthera, Ocean Conservancy, Waterfront Alliance, and Texas Climate Jobs Project. She is currently the Foundations Manager for Food & Water Watch. She has a master’s in environmental journalism from Michigan State University. Alice lives with her spouse, two human children, two cat children, one rabbit child, and various fish children. She sews, knits (just a beginner!), and once built a boat.

Leah Van Tassel is a personal chef in Minneapolis trained at The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York focusing on health-promoting seasonal foods, supporting individuals and families with autoimmune diagnoses, and navigating food intolerance, allergies, and specialized diets. She has a small in-home bakery, Junco Bakehouse, specializing in gluten free seed and nut breads. Leah also works at EggPlant Urban Farm Supply using her knowledge as a home gardener, amateur food preserver and backyard chicken enthusiast to help others create nurturing food and spaces for themselves and the environment. She previously worked at a non-profit community development organization in Wisconsin, and has volunteered, provided admin support, and taught classes at Fireweed Community Woodshop since 2018. Leah is re-applying for her 2nd term as a board member. She is Fireweed's Treasurer.

Board Candidates 2024