Based in Laramie, Wyoming, BJ Edwards currently serves as Executive Director of the Wyoming Food Coalition while also operating her own agricultural business, Taste of the Wind—a pasture-based sheep operation that produces and sells locally raised lamb and wool products using adaptive grazing practices designed to coexist with wildlife and support healthy rangelands. She graduated from the University of Wyoming in 2016 with a double major in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management and Environment and Natural Resources.
Through both her nonprofit leadership and on-the-ground production work, Edwards focuses on strengthening food systems in ways that support producers, consumers, and the environments they depend on. As she explains, “If we don’t have natural resources, we can’t eat—we can’t survive,” emphasizing how responsible land and resource management remain foundational to both community resilience and long-term food security.
BJ Edwards
Date of Interview: February 16, 2026
Hometown: Lake Forest, CA
Current location: Laramie, WY
Degree: Dual Bachelor of Science in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management (REWM) and Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), 2016
Who is your current employer, what is your job role, and when did you start?
“I have a couple of jobs. I’m self-employed through my business, Taste of the Wind, which I started in 2019. I also work for the Wyoming Food Coalition, the statewide food policy council for Wyoming. I started there in 2023 as the Executive Director, and I still hold that position.”
Can you explain how the mission of the Wyoming Food Coalition relates to environment and natural resources?
“Our mission is to strengthen local food systems by connecting stakeholders and amplifying their voices to ensure Wyoming producers, consumers, and environments thrive. The environment is really at the heart of all of that. If we don’t have natural resources, we can’t eat—we can’t survive. Managing those resources wisely is central to the mission of the organization.”
How would you describe your professional background and how you got to where you are today?
“Starting in college, I worked on different scales of food production operations across the state—small ranches, larger ranches, vegetable farms, a community garden, a USDA butcher plant in Laramie, and in a local farm-to-table restaurant. Eventually, I started my own food production business.”
“I’ve worked in many different facets of the food system, which gave me a broad understanding of what it takes to get food from the field to people’s plates. When this job came up, I had just had my son and was looking for something remote. My varied background suddenly made sense in the context of this role.”
“I had never worked for a nonprofit before, so I was upfront about my lack of experience with governance structures and fundraising. It’s been a crash course, but networking has proven to be the most important component of the job. My professional network, built since college, has been a huge factor in my success in this role.”
Tell us more about your business Taste of The Wind and is it still a full-time operation?
“Yes, my business is still in full-swing. I started out producing chicken, pork, lamb, and helping sell beef from other ranches, but I’ve since consolidated and now primarily produce and sell lamb and wool products from my sheep.”
“I run primarily on leased ground and use temporary electric fencing. This allows landowners to reduce permanent fencing and helps prevent wildlife from getting trapped in old fencing. We also use livestock guardian dogs, which minimizes predator conflicts without needing additional predator management.”
“There’s still wildlife—antelope, deer, birds—coexisting on the land. We try to graze responsibly and interact advantageously with existing ecosystems as much as possible.”
How did the Haub School prepare you for your business and your current roles?
“There were classes I wouldn’t have taken through the College of Agriculture alone—especially those focused on collaboration, facilitation, and working through large-scale projects in groups. Through my classes and extra-curricular involvement, I learned skills I use pretty often now, like grant writing, strategic planning, event planning, and stakeholder engagement.”
“That concept of multiple use—bringing stakeholders together and incorporating lived experience into program design—is vital to designing initiatives that are actually valuable to communities.”
Are there any mentors or faculty who stand out to you when you reflect back on your time at the Haub School?
“Maggie Bourque was amazing and really integral to my college experience. She helped me navigate completing a double major in four years and was incredibly supportive. Courtney Carlson was also one of my favorite teachers. And Melanie Matthews was fantastic—I went to Chile with the Haub School, and having her on that trip made it significantly more enjoyable. Lastly, Temple Stoellinger was another supporter and was integral to my college experience. I’m also still close with many of the students I lived with [in a Freshman Interest Group] and took classes with during my freshman year.”
Are there any applied experiences from your time with the Haub School that influenced where you are today?
“I went on multiple [field and global experiences] and received funding from the Haub School to go on those trips. The experience was life-changing in terms of how I understand natural resource management and conservation. Seeing how other countries innovate with fewer resources opened my eyes to different ways of managing land and solving problems.”
“We went on a trip to Chile which was focused on sheep ranching. I had never really worked with sheep before, and now they make up a huge part of my life and business. That trip had a big impact on me.”
Do you recommend current students to explore the Haub School’s Field & Global Experiences?
“Absolutely, it’s such a great time of life to go have those experiences, especially in a learning context. You just can’t beat that. If you go as a tourist, you won’t get to meet real people in a different culture in the same way. When we were in Chile, we spent time with sheep ranchers—we spent time on their operation conversing with them while their kids ran around. They roasted a lamb that their family grew, on a spit for us, and they took us out into the community to experience traditional sheepherding culture from their perspective. You just can’t experience these slices of a new place, if you go somewhere without any real-world connections.”
What advice would you give to a current student or a recent graduate from the Haub School?
“Travel and network. College should be fun. I know there’s pressure to do well in classes, but in natural resources, it’s not like med school where you need straight A’s. If you’re learning, enjoying what you’re studying, and genuinely interested, you’re going to be fine. It’s really about finding where your interests are. You’ve already done the work to get into college—now you get to decide what matters to you.”
“Having applied knowledge and the chance to meet students from across the country and the world was worth more than anything I learned in a classroom. I was involved in Range Club, and rode competitively with the UW Ranch Horse Team, which allowed me to travel around the country in the context of range management and stockmanship and meet other students and professionals. I traveled to Oklahoma, Texas, California, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas. We competed in plant ID and public speaking. Public speaking was something I didn’t realize I would enjoy, but I developed that skill in college and have built on it throughout my career. Getting to practice those skills in the real world was incredibly valuable.”
“Even if it feels like extracurriculars might put stress on your grades, it’s worth it. I’m really glad I had the chance to try different things in college. It’s a relatively low-risk time of life to do that.”
If you could describe your view of the Haub School in just a few words, what would it be?
“It’s the ideal intersection of natural resources, science, common sense, policy, law, and recreation.”
Any final thoughts?
“I really appreciate that the Haub School is part of the university and balances so many different perspectives. In my line of work, people can become removed from where their resources come from. We forget that without clean water, good food, and clean air, we couldn’t exist.”
“It feels like the world is getting further away from the resources that sustain us, and I think the work the Haub School is doing helps bring us back to that truth. They provide educational, professional, and connection opportunities centered around natural resource management—and everything ultimately comes back to that, no matter what we do.”
“I am a Haubie because, at my core, I enjoy being outside and connected to nature.”
BJ’s story has been edited for length and clarity. All image credits go to BJ.
