Our Team

Kristie Kapp, the founder of Resilient Roots, is a regenerative landscape designer who focuses on edible and native permaculture designs. Kristie has a master's in ecology from Yale School of Environmental Management and 30 years of farming experience. She has taught farming and gardening to every age group through several different organizations. Combining her two passions, ecology and farming, she completed a permaculture landscape design program in 2012 and has been creating landscape designs for clients since. Kristie strives to encourage people to look at their environments holistically while incorporating elements of time-honored design and reinforcing a relationship with the natural environment.

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Rachel Todoroff has been slowly creating her garden for many years, mainly from “pilfered” plants. She is a big fan of Resilient Roots workshops. The philosophy of creating a food forest suits her thrifty nature and desire to help her local environment rather than disrupt it. A resident of Hyannis and long-time administrative assistant at Sturgis Charter Public School, she is glad to serve as a director on the board of Resilient Roots.

Deb Winther serves as treasurer for Resilient Roots. She retired from MassMutual Financial Group after 35+ years in the financial services sector. Deb is a self-taught perennial gardener and native plant enthusiast. She completed a Permaculture Design Certificate program through Cornell University in 2021. She uses her knowledge of permaculture design principles to create a small forest garden on her property. In recognition of the fragile ecology of Cape Cod, she is relying on edible perennials native to the Cape’s unique ecoregion to create a resilient garden that provides an edible yield while supporting local pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.

Gisele Gauthier serves as the board’s clerk. She is an affordable housing consultant and teaches yoga. Giselle has been a chef in a past life and learned to appreciate fabulous food and that growing the food she cooked brought her heart and soul together. Gisele considers herself a dirt digger, and the idea of turning her whole yard into an edible landscape just thrills her. Gisele lives with her husband in Brewster.

Mark Nelson is an environmental consultant and has worked on water resource protection and land use planning projects on Cape Cod and around the country for the last 30 years. More recently, his work includes planning for climate mitigation and adaptation. Mark has volunteered with Resilient Roots since its inception, supporting the organization's workshops and permablitzes.