Cooperative Extension: Agriculture

Shiela Leonard, Esq.

MAMP Program Data Management and Case Coordinator
maineagmediation@maine.edu

PFAS Navigator Program Coordinator
um.pfasnavcoord@maine.edu

Phone: 207-955-1977

Shiela is an attorney and mediator who grew up and studied in the Philippines. Since her relocation to Maine in 2007, she has been focusing her practice on Family Matters mediation. She and her family climbed Mount Katahdin in the summer of 2022 and shared, “I am always looking for the next adventure.”

Lucy Wess, Esq.

MAMP and PFAS Navigator Program Director
lucille.wess@maine.edu

Phone: 207-974-9637

Lucy is a mediator, educator, and trainer. She has experience in a variety of mediation settings, including community mediation, CADRES family matters mediation in the Maine District Courts, probate, and other practice areas. Lucy works to promote inclusivity, compassionate curiosity, lifelong learning, and dignity through mindful and trauma-informed conflict resolution practice.

She has collaborated with students, staff, and administrators in various roles in higher education, including teaching History and Culture from 2012–2015 at SIAS International University in the People’s Republic of China. She now lives in Frankfort, Maine, and enjoys vegetable and flower gardening. Lucy also spends time reading historical fiction, getting moving through hiking, swimming, and yoga, building and repairing household projects, and going on daily outdoor adventures with her sweet, energetic hound mix, Maisy.

Leslie Forstadt, Ph.D.

Extension Faculty, Human Development Specialist, and Program Grant Administrator

Email: leslie.forstadt@maine.edu
Phone: 207-581-4387

Leslie’s focus is human development, including communication, well-being, stress, and resilience. She works with farm teams in the farm coaching program and with the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program with programmatic and grant support. She completed her 40-hour mediation training in 2019.

She has collaborated with faculty at UMaine and other campuses nationally, is a member of the Coalition of Agricultural Mediation Programs, and works regularly in Maine with colleagues as part of the Maine Farmer Resource Network and the Maine Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. She lives in Bangor with her husband and two boisterous kids and is always eager to get outside into the world.

Nora Saks

MAMP Trainings Assistant

Email: mamptrainings@maine.edu
Phone: 207-881-5531

As a lifetime lover of participatory learning, good group process, and deep listening, Nora is thrilled to be MAMP’s Training Assistant. She joins MAMP and the wild and wonderful world of mediation after a decade working in audio and print journalism, documentary storytelling, and education, and one before that in farming and food education. Nora is currently getting her legs as a practicing mediator and facilitator and recently completed USM’s Basic 40 Mediation Course, MAMP’s 16 Hour Agriculture Mediation Training, and MAM’s 16 Hour Family Law Training.

She currently lives in Bath with her human and more-than-human family and is particularly fond of exploring nearby woods and waters with her freckle-faced herding mutt, reading extremely nerdy books on communication and relationships, drinking root beer floats, and doing oral history projects.

Wanda Braithwaite-Baril

Active PFAS Navigator

Email: um.pfasnavigator1@maine.edu
Phone: 207-881-1688

Wanda has been a practicing mediator for sixteen years. She specializes in agriculturally based conflict resolution in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine. She also practices family mediation in Maine. Wanda worked with families in Androscoggin, Kennebec, Franklin, and Somerset counties for fifteen years to grow and preserve their own food as a means for fighting hunger. Wanda studied Business Management at Casco Bay College and Central Maine Community College.

Rachael Lowe

Active PFAS Navigator

Phone: 207-356-5931

Before moving to Maine in 2004, Rachael worked as a civilian for the Navy and volunteered as a credit counselor for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society-Kings Bay, advising service members who were transferred to the base regarding financial concerns. After moving to Maine, Rachael became a high school math teacher and dorm parent and taught all levels of math, including AP Statistics and BC Calculus, as well as personal finance and financial accounting. When her youngest graduated high school in 2018, she worked briefly as a student financial aid advisor but is currently an independent math consultant and online tutor.

She has recently completed the mediation certificate through the University of Southern Maine and the agricultural mediation training program through MAMP and is now on the roster as a co-mediator. Rachael enjoys traveling, hiking, kayaking, organic gardening and the different food preservation methods that it entails, and brewing kombucha.

Melissa Maker

Reserve PFAS Navigator

Melissa is a graduate of UMA Liberal Studies with minors in Justice, Governmental Affairs, and Human Resources, as well as continuing education at Harvard University. She is the owner of Melissa Maker Consulting LLC. She holds a broker’s license in real estate and a life and health insurance license focusing specifically on navigating Medicare. Melissa has a broad understanding of human resources, real estate, and insurance and prizes her negotiation skills.

She is a volunteer co-mediator for the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program (MAMP) and is a reserve PFAS Navigator. She formerly served as President of the Pen Bay Board of Realtors and President of the City of Rockland Harbor Commission. She enjoys flying with her husband Brian in their Super Cub tail dragger and spending time with her family at their lake cottage.