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Our Team

Our team of Sandy Loam’s guides and instructors bring their diverse backgrounds and experiences to create an inclusive community for young people.

Aishwarya Kancharla

Sandy Loam Administrator & Ranch Co-Manager

Aishwarya realized early on that her career would be devoted to working with families and building sustainable communities. After gaining experience in education, health and environmental sustainability, she saw endless and exciting possibilities in merging these interests. This is how Sandy Loam was born! She is proud to be a part of the Cotati community, a welcoming and diverse place that she loves calling home. Aishwarya has a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communications from New York University and a J.D. from UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings College of the Law). Her love of communities has inspired her to pursue further graduate studies in Spatial Data Science, which she hopes to leverage towards solving agricultural, environmental and health issues our communities face every day.

Name

Agricultural & Environmental Educator and Program Coordinator

Bio coming soon!

Danielle Oland

Farm to Table Curriculum Specialist

Danielle creates and implements a hands-on farm to table curriculum for our youngest learners. She loves watching children discover the world, ask questions, gain independence, learn empathy, respect and confidence. She has been an early childhood educator since 2003, specializing in the Montessori Method since 2006 with a credential at the Early Childhood (Primary) level. She moved from her hometown of Pacifica to Sonoma County in 1999 to attend Sonoma State, receiving a B.A. in Psychology. She loves our relaxed natural community, and brings that feeling of warmth into her classroom and homelife. Danielle lives with her husband and two daughters, and finds peace being outside with trees, nature and sunshine.

Tomi Laine Henry

Veronda-Falletti Ranch Co-Manager and Livestock Manager

Farmer Tomi cares for the farm's animals and stewards its agricultural and grazing areas. As a descendent of America’s first pioneers, Tomi has an innate thirst for frontiers of all kinds. Growing up in an industrial farming family, Tomi found herself wondering if there was a better way of doing things, and she hasn’t stopped wondering. Tomi’s version of modern homesteading is forward-thinking, tech-savvy and designed for both quality of life and efficiency in production. She began homesteading in 2013 and earned an A.S. in Sustainable Agriculture from SRJC in 2023.