Janel Louise Ohletz
I grew up on a farm and wanted nothing to do with it when I was young, but life brought me back to agriculture in an unexpected way. I spent 20 years as a professional chef and owned my own bed and breakfast with a fine dining restaurant, where I was a sustainability champion focused on my impact on the climate. I curated my menu around local foods and things that helped the environment as much as possible. When I had to sell the bed and breakfast due to life events, my kids asked me not to go back to being a chef because of the demanding hours. So at 42, I decided to pivot and went back to school for a sustainable agriculture and food systems degree, which combined my food background with my farm upbringing. I enjoyed teaching cooking classes at the bed and breakfast and educating people on where their food comes from and how they vote with their dollars, so I thought I might become a professor. I continued on to get a master's in agriculture science and then a PhD in soil science, all focused on sustainability. But after doing PhD work, I realized professors don't do much research, it's the graduate students who actually get to do the research, and I don't like writing grants. So I ended up in Cooperative Extension in Durham, North Carolina, where I could take science and distill it down to laymen and help farmers in the community. Then I got a call from the CEO at Planted Materials, Josh Dorfman, who was looking for farmers to grow grass to turn into building material. Through meeting them, I found out they were looking for someone to direct the agriculture side of things, and I joined as employee number 2 at this startup. The opportunity really allows me to use all of the different things I've done in my life, not just my degrees but all the soft skills and other things I've learned throughout all my different jobs, to run and direct the Agriculture Division and build it from nothing up to what it is today.
• Teaching and Communication Certificate
• Associate's in Culinary Arts
• Bachelor's in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
• Master's in Agriculture Science
• PhD in Soil Science
• North Carolina Association of Extension Agriculture Extension Agents Sustainability Award for Program of Excellence
• Academic Awards for Research Poster or Presentation at Conferences
• American Society of Horticulture Scientists
• Teaching at North Carolina Compost Council Annual Certification Course
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Everything has to be authentic and organic to me. I truly believe the universe will make things happen if they're meant to be, and if not, then it's not. I'm driven by making a difference to the inhabitants of the planet, not just the two-legged kind. I don't do things for accolades at all, I do it for my own personal gratification. My job is the reward. I'm a lifelong learner with an insatiable need to know more and answer the why. I have this perpetual curiosity like a 4-year-old asking why, why, why. I'm always thinking about something and seeking information to help inform decisions and test hypotheses. I'd rather have someone organically hear about me than me tooting my own horn. I'm a geeky scientist introvert who likes to spend time with my hands in the dirt and soil, and I spend my time with plants a whole lot better than other activities. Everything I do is about being a leader by what I do and what I have accomplished, not seeking external validation.