Volunteer & Website Coordinator
“Follow what makes your heart happy, and don't listen to the naysayers. The world relies on agriculture, and there are SO many careers in this field to explore!”
Amanda Barnett, Volunteer & Website Coordinator, Yew Dell Botanical Gardens
We asked Amanda Barnett about her motivations for joining the Kentucky agriculture family.
How did you become interested in agriculture/working in agriculture?
I fell in love with gardening through the pandemic. When I visited Yew Dell, I knew I HAD to be involved. I signed up to volunteer so I could learn more, but there wasn't a volunteer coordinator. Through sheer chance, I became the new coordinator, and I have loved meeting the variety of "garden nuts" and learning from our staff and volunteers.
What did you study and where?
I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts from West Texas A&M University.
How long have you been with your organization, and what other roles have you held?
I have been with this organization and in this role for just over two years.
Describe your job and duties. What is the favorite part of your job?
My role can be broken down to two general parts. As a VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, I work primarily with our horticulture staff to know what ongoing and future needs there are for volunteers in our gardens, nursery, and woodlands. This role involves onboarding, communications (internal and external), recruitment, scheduling, finding new volunteer opportunities, and occasionally leading volunteering in the gardens.
As a WEBSITE COORDINATOR, I help to maintain our website and am working with our team to help turn it into a horticultural resource for the community. This includes creating self-guided QR tours of annual displays with our Garden Manager, maintaining the Theodore Klein Plant Awards "database", launching a new Nursery blog and dreams of incorporating our Curation Database for visitors to explore our collections more thoroughly.
What would you have done differently if you knew you would have ended up in this career?
For this particular role, I think I would have pursued a Project Management Professional certification.
