MEET OUR TEAM
Scott Quitel, Founder & Executive Director
Scott Quitel, JD, MBA has extensive experience in ecologically-based land use planning, ecological restoration analysis, and ecological landscape design and construction. Scott is a faculty member at the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University, where he is also the Director of Social Entrepreneurship. He also teaches at Philadelphia University/Jefferson, serves on several local boards, and is a frequent invited speaker on planning, design, and ecology. He has led hundreds of educational ecology and design-oriented tours/hikes for people of all ages in natural areas in and around Philadelphia. Scott graduated from Brown University, has an MBA and JD from Temple University, holds a wetland delineation certificate and is an ISA Certified Arborist. Prior to founding LandHealth, Scott was a Principle Ecologist for Philadelphia's Applied Ecological Services (AES), where he led the visioning, public process, and design of a wide range of design-build projects, including the Washington Avenue Pier and the Meadow at Longwoods Garden.
Mayci Shimon, Deputy Director
Mayci was born and raised to be a nature lover. She spent the last seven years engaging community members as an environmental educator, watershed ecologist, and global change scientist, exploring the waterways and marshes throughout Philly. She is excited to use her background to bring new ideas, events, projects, and programs to LandHealth.
Steve Jones, Nursery Manager
Steve Jones contributes to operations at LandHealth's Nursery and to LandHealth's education programs. Steve is the Treasurer of the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers, a nonprofit, community-based ecological restoration program in the Wissahickon section of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. He serves on the Kelly Green Committee, a community/student/teacher collaboration at J.B. Kelly School in Germantown, and the Wissahickon Sustainability Council at Cook-Wissahickon school in Roxborough.
Email: steve@landhealthinstute.org
Harry Mazariego, Nursery Programs Manager
Harry Mazariego comes to the nursery team with many years of experience in education, both in outdoor and classroom settings. Most recently, he helped to build and maintain the raised bed garden, food forest, and horticultural programming at Andrew Hamilton K-8 School in West Philadelphia. Prior to that, he proudly served the immigrant and refugee community as an English language teacher. Growing up, Harry spent many hours hiking and cycling through natural landscapes around Philadelphia, particularly the Wissahickon and Pennypack Creek. His other hobbies include gardening, foraging, studying foreign languages, cooking, and writing music. He has been an active volunteer with the Philadelphia Mycology Club since 2020, where he shares his love for fungi and ecosystem conservation. He is passionate about citizen science, biodiversity, and human rights issues.
Kristina Kvavle-Slay, Project Manager
Kristina was drawn to LandHealth over their shared belief that healthy land leads to healthy communities. A tree-hugger native to the Pacific Northwest, Kristina trained as a Master Resilience Trainer for the Air Force before going on to receive a degree in Landscape Architecture from Thomas Jefferson University. There she focused on supporting Philadelphians by protecting gathering places, advocating for accessible transportation through walkable neighborhoods, and designing beautiful, educational stormwater management solutions. She is driven to connect communities with the resources they require for vibrant, healthy lives and will continue to advocate for access to stellar education for all.
Anisa George, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Anisa studied sustainable design at the Center for Bioregional Living in NYC and is the founder of Lehigh Valley Mindful Growers and the Little Pond Food Forest, a community learning hub for regenerative agricultural in Nazareth, PA. She is also a certified forest therapy guide and the writer of many plays, poems, and essays. Her biggest ecological passion is trees. She was recently nominated for Green Philly’s SustainPHL Award – Activist of the Year - for her work to stop the clear cutting at FDR Park.
Phoebe Miller, River Programs Manager
Phoebe (she/they) spent their youth romping through the trees and creeks of central Virginia and the Philadelphia suburbs, where they fell in love with water and nature. She studied Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Environmental Literature, and Documentary Film at UCLA and found her niche at the intersection of environmental justice research and post-colonial literature. Phoebe is thrilled to work with LandHealth on bridging the nature-culture divide in Philadelphia and its communities through education, mentorship, community engagement, and storytelling.
Co-op Students
Dejenae Smith, Education and Engagement Associate
Dejenae is a Philadelphia native and a second-year Biology student at Drexel University, intending to focus on studying Ecology, Evolution, and Genomics. She's particularly interested in studying how the presence and actions of humans impact our environments and its living organisms. In her spare time, she usually enjoys writing stories, sketching, and playing Scrabble. She's also recently picked up nature photography, and has enjoyed using her camera to create images of the plant and animal life around her.
Sydney Rowley, Social Media and Communications Associate
Sydney is a second-year at Drexel University studying her custom-designed major “Sustainable Design & Communication.” This major encapsulates her passion of drawing the connection between environmental science and art with a focus on scientific communication and urban planning. She is very excited to apply her major and passions to her co-op position at LandHealth. Outside of work and school, she likes to crochet, paint, and go for hikes.
We Remember
In Memory of Paulette Rhone
We remember Paulette Rhone who passed away in February 2019. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Paulette served as the Executive Director of LandHealth. Paulette's passion for nature and community empowerment through experiential educational opportunities in nature A founding board member of the Friends of Mount Moriah Cemetery, Paulette served its president, 2012-19. The restoration and preservation of this 200-acre cemetery, abandoned in 2011, was a great passion of hers. She also served on the Board of the Mount Moriah Cemetery Preservation Corporation. Paulette was with US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics as the region's Budget Analyst until 2007. She enjoyed her family, her church, lifelong learning, reading, and gardening.