Manda Aufochs Gillespie

Green Mama

Manda Aufochs Gillespie spent her earliest years living in the inner cities of Ohio where she is still remembered as the least coordinated girl to ever learn to jump double-dutch. Later, her family moved to the country where in an early attempt at conservation she tried to dig up and burn the coal ("Look mom! Black gold!") she found stored in their barn. Despite, this early--and very smokey--failure, she went on to develop a career in the environment. (No, she is not also a professional jump-roper.)

Manda Aufochs Gillespie, a.k.a. the green mama, is a writer and environmentalist. She writes on issues of health, the environment, and green parenting. She was the former editor of F Newsmagazine and Ink: Literary Journal. Her work has been published on Alternet.org and in Conscious Choice, Chicago Parent, Chicago Living, EcoCity Cleveland journal, and Communities Magazine. She formerly ran one of the country's only Urban EcoVillages in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a B.A. from Oberlin College and an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Today, she can be found riding her bicycle with her daughter at the helm, carrying home food from the local farmers market, while talking on her cellphone about the merits of cloth diapering. Visit www.thegreenmama.com for details on the green mama's next Green Parenting class.