Founder / Director

Anna was born in southeast Louisiana and moved to Colorado after graduation from Louisiana State University to work on an organic vegetable farm. From there, she worked in the marketing world as a consultant for a decade+ where she had the opportunity to work alongside many organizations building companies and programs from the ground up. She thrives with a spreadsheet and project plan and loves turning things from chaos to sustainability.

Though she was thankful her work allowed her to travel to over 23 countries in her twenties, she decided it was time to put her laptop away and go back to school where she received certifications in horticulture and floral design. She then built a floral business where she focused on using local flowers and sustainable methods to design weddings and large scale events.

While in Denver, she had the life changing experience of working with a non-profit organization whose focus was food access and helped run over 180+ community gardens across the Denver metro area.

Motherhood called her back home to Louisiana where she has been raising two beautiful daughters and birthed the Louisiana Wild Society in an effort to connect her community with the world around us - all in hopes of creating a better future for our next generation.

When Anna’s not working, you’ll find her spending time in her gardens, exploring the creeks in St. Francisville, or trying to learn how to play tennis. 

Co-Founder / Board Member / Community Partner

Jess co-founded LWS alongside Anna, and is owner of Sweet Fern Native Plants, a plant nursery + design/consultation company specializing in native plants and landscape restoration in the south east. A Louisiana native, Jess grew up gardening by her grandmother's side and roaming the poplar/magnolia woods that her family calls home. Her connection to the natural world has been strong since her early years. 

A naturalist and designer, she has 15 years of experience within the landscape industry. She is heavily influenced by her time at LSU in the horticulture department, as well as the fine arts department studying ceramics.

Jess is the contributing writer for the Country Roads Magazine column "Our Sustainable Garden".

Jess is a student and lover of the natural world... she finds the Mississippi river and surrounding community has shaped her and she holds a deep reverence and love for this landscape that has stitched the patchwork of her entire being.

In her free time she enjoys tending to her personal gardens, cooking with seasonal veggies, fishing, romping through the woods and canoeing through the swamps and marsh with her hogwild toddler son in tow.

Community Director / Graphics

Erin is a New Orleans native with roots in Acadiana for generations. Like most of the team, she is multi-passionate and has had the incredible opportunity to live & work in many places, doing many different things. She has lived in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, California, Georgia, New Mexico and Provence. She loves immersing herself in new endeavors and making beauty in the world to share with others.

Her love of plants and the natural world started as a child, and grew when she left college and found that it felt strange to not fully understand how to grow her own food.

So she set off for New Mexico and worked on some farms in the hills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and learned an inordinate amount about life and the earth and caring for it.

She has worked on Oscar-nominated films, started & ran a non-profit organic farm for neuro-divergent individuals on Long Island, just outside of NYC. She studied illustration & graphic design, fine art, sculpture & loves to embark on new adventures and whatever else catches her heart.

Board Member / Photographer

Beth Kleinpeter was raised on a cattle farm in the heart of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Most of her youth was spent riding horses, adventuring in the woods and working on her family's land.  Some time after receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Louisiana State University, she moved to Brooklyn, NY and continued within that discipline as a Freelance Photographer. 

Later in 2016, Beth became the General Manager and Events Manager for Glasserie and Glasserie Events in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  Through that very work in the service industry, Beth found a reinvigorated interest in both land and progressive farming practices. By developing relationships directly with the growers and learning about their holistic growing practices, she was inspired to return to her roots of interfacing with the Earth and her ecosystems.

In 2021 Beth moved home to Baton Rouge and seized the opportunity to pursue a career in naturalistic landscaping. She has found interest in tree healthcare and arboriculture, and is currently studying to become an ISA Certified Arborist. Beth is currently working as a framing and production associate at Ann Connelly Fine Art.

Outside of work Beth loves gardening, cinema, taking photos, making spreadsheets, porch conversations while sipping on low intervention wines, and all the nature adventures! Beth has a Terry Gross-esque curiosity, and loves learning about the world through a myriad of mediums.