Betsy Brennan (she/her/her’s) was born and raised in Hoboken, NJ, youngest of three siblings and only daughter of her Korean mother and Irish-American father. Betsy attended Quaker-inspired and cooperative-model schools until she went to a college. Unprepared and overwhelmed by the typical American college-experience, Betsy set off after her final semester to find what life was calling her to do. She found herself working in an intentional agricultural community supporting adults with special needs in rural central Minnesota, where she met her now-husband. This formative experience of caring for people and animals alike catalyzed Betsy’s focus to mission-driven and community-oriented work. The value of love for self, land, and others guided her to work opportunities including managing the Great Barrington Farmers market and co-managing farm-based education for children and teenagers at Hawthorne Valley in Ghent, NY and more recently to working for their livestock operation. As Community Development Manager at Place Corps, Betsy is excited to build community engagement and support around the principles and practices of Place Corps while fostering love and appreciation of animals and farming with youth.

More fun things to know about Betsy is that she currently lives in Ghent, NY with her husband and pitbull, and when she’s not milking cows, soliciting donations, or organizing fun-raisers she is probably cooking delicious recipes with unique twists.