Our Team

Tora Rocha – Cofounder – Habitat
Tora was the Parks Supervisor at the City of Oakland for many years, responsible for all the landscaping on public facilities in the district. While working at Lake Merritt she realized that her own landscaping was adversely affecting the pollinators in the gardens and planted 12,000 pollinator friendly plants. She put in AirBeeNBee Houses at the Gardens there, showing children how to make bee condos or bee hotels- for native bees. She’s also the founder of the Autumn Lights Festival and a Rescape instructor.

Terry Smith – Cofounder – Outreach, Education and Community Science
Terry is a STEAM Education Specialist (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), curriculum developer and California Naturalist with a passion for teaching all ages about natural history.  As co-founder of the Pollinator Posse, she appears at events, gathers data, speaks publicly and visits classrooms to spread the word about the importance and status of pollinators and how to support them.   Her home garden is designed to demonstrate how human edibles and natural habitat can blend into a beautiful whole and as an artist, she creates striking scale models of butterflies in silk.