Sarah Red-Laird

Sarah Red-Laird is the founder and Executive Director of Bee Girl. Her love of bees and their honey began in Southern Oregon, on the deck of her aunt’s cabin, at the end of a country road. She brought her affinity for beekeeping with her to the University of Montana where she chose honey bees and Colony Collapse Disorder as her Davidson Honors College research thesis. Sarah's affinity for Apis mellifera was apparent to Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk at the UM Honey Bee Lab, and he gladly put her to work in research. Sarah finished her time as a student at UM with a presentation on her CCD and beekeeping findings at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research titled, "How to Keep 100,000 Girlfriends, the Careful Relationship of a Beekeeper and Her Honey Bees." She graduated with honors, and as a University Scholar from UM's College of Forestry and Conservation with a degree in Resource Conservation, focused on collaborative policy. Sarah returned home to Southern Oregon late 2010. She found a niche combining her love of bees with her education, outreach, research, conservation, and non-profit experience to encourage and support beekeepers and bee lovers through her nonprofit organization, Bee Girl. Sarah is the US Ambassador of the BEEWORLD project, the Kids and Bees Director for the American Beekeeping Federation, a 2014 Oregon State Delegate to the American Beekeeping Federation, a mentor in the Oregon State Master Beekeepers Program, the Regional Representative for the Southern Oregon Beekeepers Association, mentor and coordinator of the Southern Oregon University Beekeeping Club and apiary, the Oregon Outreach Coordinator for the Bee Friendly Farming Initiative, and a 2012 graduate of the Ford Institute Leadership Program. When she is not tirelessly working with bees, beekeepers, kids, farmers, land managers, and policy makers, Sarah heads for the hills with a camera, large backpack, fishing rod, bike or snowboard, and her best friend, Sophie the Yellow Dog.