Heather has more than 20 years’ of experience working in Florida’s coastal and rural communities from Amelia Island to Key West, Saint Augustine to Cedar Key. She is committed to making great places for residents and businesses and finding strategic paths to make projects happen.

As a lifetime entrepreneur who has worked in public and private development, she has a unique set of career experiences that provide clients with an open-minded strategy to leverage local assets with federal objectives and creative funding strategies to build projects. She is currently dedicated to the Indianhead Exploration biomass site developing the Good Neighbor Pilot Program, strategies to sell Darn Good Dirt compost, and other opportunities that help shape the future of full-circle society.

Session Code: 5B

Track: DEIA

Session Name: Making Strides Towards Equity & Diversity in the Composting Industry

Session Time: Thursday, February 8, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Presentation Title: Dirty Girls: The Past, Present and Future of Women and Compost

Presentation Description: Dirty Girls focuses on one thing, women in dirt. From the ancient Minoan waste management practices to recent realizations of the power of humanure, women have played significant roles. Why? Come and see our opinion on the subject from a woman in the dirt herself.

Heather Lane, AICP, has been in land development for over 20 years. She has spent a significant portion of her career identifying solutions to complex infrastructure problems including sustainability, water management, transportation, and creative funding strategies for public and private organizations.

In 2022, Indianhead Explorations of St. Augustine, Florida owner, and leadership asked her for some help through a zoning project that started an adventure in compost. But there was one interesting fact about Indianhead Explorations that didn’t exist elsewhere, women in leadership and a willingness to work together to solve problems. This resulted in establishing new regional relationships, identifying ways to be a good neighbor to pilot education, communication, and nuisance strategies, selling more Darn Good Dirt compost, and expanding operations by changing people’s minds about the company and the product.

Where women were omitted whether by choice or chance, problems pile up. This session will focus on attracting more women into the various aspects of compost production so we can problem-solve together, overcome society’s perception of the “ick” factor, and make our world a better place by using the most abundant renewable resource to give life back into mother earth.