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Leah Dannar-Garcia
Leah Dannar-Garcia
01:18

Leah Dannar-Garcia

RISE Farms & Firefly Farm

Wichita, KS USA

"What I’ve learned over my lifetime is that things aren’t as important to me as people, places, and experiences."

Career Roadmap

Leah's work combines: Food, Entrepreneurship, and Accomplishing Goals

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Day In The Life

Owner

I founded two specialty crop farms.

01:49

Day In The Life Of An Urban Farmer

My Day to Day

First, I check and respond to voicemail, e-mail, social media communications, and attend scheduled meetings. I check in with both farms and food hub managers to see if there are any emergency issues that need to be worked, such as employee hiring or termination, scheduling, trellis design, irrigation system issues, seasonal adjustments, pest management, and website maintenance. During the winter, this is all done on a smaller scale and we use the extra time to plan the next year's crops.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

If you want to get into a similar field, I'd first recommend getting a degree in either sustainable studies, regenerative agriculture, or biology.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Associate's Degree

    Arts, General

    Wichita State University

  • Bachelor's Degree

    General Education

    Wichita State University

  • Graduate Degree

    Teaching

    School for International Training

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be an Owner:

Bachelor's Degree: Sustainable Studies

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Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    In my 20s, I lived in New York.

  • 2.

    I came back home to Wichita, Kansas, to finish college—I earned my bachelor’s degree in general studies with an emphasis in English, Cultural Anthropology, and Women's Studies.

  • 3.

    I spent about a decade in my 30s traveling and living around the world as an ESL teacher.

  • 4.

    I eventually came back to the U.S. and earned my master’s degree in teaching with an emphasis in English as a second language.

  • 5.

    I got married and decided to stay in Wichita, which meant I needed to make a career change.

  • 6.

    My husband and I started gardening and I realized that I had an aptitude and passion for growing food.

  • 7.

    I decided I wanted to contribute to the farming industry which led to me founding Firefly Farm, a specialty crop heirloom tomato farm, and RISE Farms, a specialty crop urban rooftop farm.

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