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The Sit Down with Rachel - Emily Hills

On this edition of The Sit Down with Rachel, host Rachel Velasco is in conversation with Emily Hills, director of Urban Reap.

Emily will be digging into the numerous ways Urban Reap benefits the Waco community. She'll also be discussing her path towards ecology and community-driven conservation, foundational lessons learned during her time in the Peace Corps, and how it is she's become known as the 'compost queen.'

EMILY HILLS
Having grown up in Waco, Emily earned her B.A. in Ecology from Washington University in St. Louis. Since 2011, she has worked in community-based environmental conservation and education in a variety of settings and places, ranging from botanical gardens and zoos to rural farms and urban gardens in the United States, Central America, and Southeast Asia.

She came back to Waco for Christmas in 2019 where she found a job and a home at World Hunger Relief while volunteering at Urban REAP. In February 2021, she became the Urban REAP Director at Mission Waco and has been working to expand environmental initiatives in her hometown through composting, urban agriculture, and education.

You can learn more about Urban Reap and discover upcoming events via their website.

A love for people and the greater Waco community has always been the heart of Rachel’s work. A 2005 UT Austin graduate with a degree in English, Rachel began her career as a classroom English teacher. Through various professional opportunities in the education field, health and wellness industry, and the private business sector, she cultivated a love for building strong communities through service. She joined KWBU in August of 2023. She is also the Saturday Market Manager for the Waco Downtown Farmers Market. She has four nearly-grown children and loves tending her herbs and roses and growing things.