MEET OUR CREW
Meet Our Crew
Our Staff is What Truly Sets Earthshine Apart
Our team of passionate and caring adventure enthusiasts are on hand to welcome guests and ensure that each and every visitor has a remarkable experience. While you may come as a stranger, we hope that you leave feeling a part of the Earthshine community.
The Earthshine Crew
Anna Bracco
Owner & Managing Director
Anna has spent her career in executive leadership development and is excited to bring this work outdoors. Earthshine is the perfect opportunity to meld her experience working with corporate groups – assessing, coaching, developing and facilitating leadership programs – with her passion for experiential learning and the outdoors.
Ali Holroyd Lien
Owner & Director of Outdoor Education
Ali has extensive experience running non-profit organizations in the Western Carolina area and has worked for over 20 years for outdoor / experiential programs across the country. An experienced facilitator, teacher, and business owner, Ali has had a strong connection to Earthshine since getting married on site years ago.
Megan Hanna
Lodge Manager
Megan joins the Earthshine Leadership Team as the on site manager. Originally from Charleston SC, Megan grew up visiting the mountains. She was a raft guide and an outdoor recreation trip leader at Clemson, where she majored in Natural Resource Economics and Parks and Recreation. Her hard work and enthusiasm for giving people a wonderful mountain experience makes her a great fit for the Earthshine family.
Moriah Geer-Hardwick
Lead Program Instructor
Moriah is an experiential educator with 20 years of experience working with children, families, and professional groups. He loves making a difference in the lives of others through outdoor education. At Earthshine, you can find Mo anywhere from black smithing, to leading hikes, to spinning on a spinning wheel. Ask him and he will point out which giant millipedes smell like cherries and which trees taste like wintergreen.
Alana Merrell
Administrative Coordinator
Alana is a Transylvania County native who spent much of her childhood running around the creeks and mountaintops of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She has a deep passion for art and nature and loves to share all that this area has to offer. You can find her in the office for any insider info on good hikes, waterfalls, swimming holes, or restaurants.
Bethany Myers
Lead Housekeeper
Bethany is a Transylvania County native and knows this beautiful part of the world well. She can be found working around Earthshine in many different capacities, helping to make each guest experience amazing.
Stephanie Thomas
Marketing & Development
Stephanie and her husband relocated to Western North Carolina from Atlanta. Stephanie is thrilled to bring her experience in hospitality and education to the mountaintop to help create once-in-a-lifetime experiences for our guests. An avid mountain biker, she’ll most likely be seen in and around Dupont State Forest when she’s not at the lodge taking in the magic of this place!
Shawn McMurray
Program Instructor
Shawn is an educator with over twenty years experience working with children and adults. A Transylvania County native and avid day hiker, Shawn retired from education early, so she could spend more time exploring her passion for the outdoors. Shawn is thrilled that her role at Earthshine allows her to combine her passion for the outdoors to her love for teaching.
Trish McClure
Program Instructor
After a career of evaluating how federal agencies implement laws such as the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, Trish joined Earthshine Lodge to share her passion for the outdoors with younger generations. She got her first taste of nature as a toddler at her family’s 1-room log cabin in southern PA and then riding horses through the farmlands of Baltimore County. After 30+ years in Washington DC, Trish and her husband are thrilled to call WNC home and enjoy hiking, kayaking, and visiting local breweries.
M Rathsack
Program Instructor
M has been teaching art and running her own independent art school since 2006. At Earthshine, she teaches Nature Art classes, Paint and Wine classes, and also helps in our Cherokee and Pioneer Living History Villages.
Megan Krintz
Program Instructor
More info coming soon!
Ed Maggart
Program Instructor
Ed has been involved in experiential education for 35 years as a high school teacher, director of a high school outdoor program, Head of School, and as a provider of professional development. Ed’s love of travel and the outdoors has taken him on adventures all over the world. When not on outdoor adventures Ed loves to cook for his wife, play guitar, and hang out with his granddaughter.
Jenny Wheeler
Program Instructor
More Info Coming Soon!
Laura Sullivan
Yoga Instructor
Laura Sullivan has been leading yoga sessions at Earthshine for three years. She specializes in teaching all ages and introducing yoga to beginners. Laura loves to show her class participants that anyone at any level can enjoy yoga.
Mark English
Instructor/ Llama Wrangler
Mark, better know as “the llama dude,” is well known in the Transylvania County for the variety of llama adventures he provides. Mark is partnering with Earthshine Lodge to offer llama hikes on the beautiful property and is now keeping some of his llamas in the Earthshine pasture.
Colleen Raulerson
Chef
Chef Coe hails from sunny San Diego, California. Now, she and her family live off-grid on their small homestead in Dupont forest. They enjoy all things outdoors especially camping, kayaking, canoeing, hiking and cooking! Guests love Coe’s homemade meals, focus on using locally sourced ingredients, and of course, her amazing smile!