Billie Jo Bevan: Director of Operations & Partnerships

Billie Jo has been a voice for those in need her entire life. She’s tirelessly dedicated to improving the lives of young people, particularly for the neurodiverse community.

With over 15-years experience in operations, sales and marketing at Time Warner Cable, she has a contagious energy and a passion to produce results and tackle the most complex projects for Legacy Farms. 

Billie Jo oversees the day-to-day operations of the garden, mentor oversight and volunteer coordination.  She also develops partnerships with local businesses for distributor relations. 

Billie Jo homeschools her teenage son, Liam, who has been identified with Aspergers and Dyslexia. She is an active member of Loudoun County Public School’s Special Education Advisory Committee. Billie Jo has lived in Ashburn for almost 20 years with her husband Warren Smith.

Laurie Young: Executive Director & Program Strategist

Laurie is a strategic consultant with expertise in new program development and launch. She has served in executive-level positions for Silicon Valley start-ups, developed product lines for visionary thought-leaders, and supported local organizations in pioneering new programs. She serves as Legacy Farms' Executive Director, guiding strategic vision and program innovation. 

Laurie is an advocate for progressive education and apprenticeship-style learning, with a strong belief in the uniquely valuable contributions that neurodiverse individuals bring as equal contributors to our communities, schools, and workplaces.

Her philosophical beliefs are grounded in personal experience navigating the disappointing limitations in status-quo systems of education and support services for her own son and, in response, tapping into her professional expertise to design better alternative programs with like-minded schools, educators, and therapists.

Faustina is a graduating Senior at the University of Texas at Austin, completing her degree in Health Promotion & Behavioral Science with a concentration in Community Health and Wellness.

She is also a Reserve U.S. Army Noncommissioned officer. She is completing her degree with 270 hours dedicated to Legacy Farms and their mission. Faustina is devoted to providing health equity and wellness to all high risk populations and is continuing her commitment by completing a Master degree in Public Health with a Community focus at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

She is passionate about providing community services, ridding the workforce of social stigma toward the neurodiverse community, and education. Faustina has a brother who she has helped care for her entire life that is a high functioning disabled adult with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. She experienced first-hand the lack of services in her Texas community, but found social gatherings for the neurodiverse that aided in social development for her brother.

Faustina works in the garden with apprentices daily, and is helping develop customized progress tracking, personal evaluation, and self-reflection tools.

JoAnn Tolle has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Temple University.

After working over 30 years in the healthcare computer industry, she followed her passion and accepted a position as a special education teaching assistant.

JoAnn has worked with Loudoun County Public Schools for the last three years, and during that time has collaborated with Legacy Farms’ founder, Martha Schonberger, in the classroom as well as in the garden at Legacy Farms.

JoAnn has a 28 year old son who is on the spectrum, and has taught her more than she ever imagined.

This is JoAnn's fourth year working with Legacy Farms. She is dedicated to providing in-garden support and coaching for our apprentices, ensuring that they meet their personal and work goals each day, keep the garden neat and deliveries organized…and enjoy themselves in the process of doing so!

Jen brings more than 18 years of experience developing and encouraging the academic, socio-emotional, and developmental growth of children and youth in a variety of settings. She combines her backgrounds in special education and wellness to work with youth from a holistic, energy-based perspective.

Jen is a certified Reiki Master, kids’ yoga teacher, and Ho’oponopono Practitioner. She founded Resonance Holistic Wellness to help people of all ages and their pets feel their best in body, mind, and spirit.

Currently, Jen is also the Executive Director at Think.Grow.Know Educational Services, a tutoring and consulting company. Additionally, she has taught as a Homebound Teacher, Case Manager, high school English & Developmental Reading Special Education Teacher, and elementary Special Education Teacher for Fairfax County Public Schools.

A graduate of George Mason University and The Pennsylvania State University with a Master’s in Special Education and a Bachelor’s in Human Development and Family Studies, she holds Virginia state licensure in Special Ed: Specific Learning Disabilities (K-12) and Emotional Disturbance (K-12).

Jen provides mentoring for our apprentices as they define and work on personal development goals, self-awareness, interaction skills, interviewing and resume-building for future employment.

Adam Bell: Member-at-Large, Advocate & Spokesperson

After being an ongoing volunteer, Adam Bell joined the Board of Directors in the summer of 2019. He is a lifetime resident of Leesburg, and an alumnus of Loudoun County High School. For over 20 years, Adam has been employed in the maintenance department at the Ida Lee Recreation Center. He is an athlete representative for Loudoun County’s Special Olympics supporting multiple sport teams, including: bocce, track & field, soccer and volleyball. Adam is a Choir Chaplin and an active member of First Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Leesburg. Adam is described by many as a public relations expert, devoted community member and tireless team player.

Kevin the Destroyer

Meet Kevin! He is one of the many beautiful residents of Temple Hall Farm. Kevin loves strawberries, tomatoes, and blueberries. His girlfriends love taking dirt baths in our garden, sitting on their eggs in our raised beds and, once their young are hatched, showing them around our sunflowers and zinnia beds…sometimes even while we work!

Kevin taught us a lot about sharing during the Summer of 2015. We’d come to the garden in the morning after a previous day’s hard work only to find our neat beds and small seedlings destroyed! It finally dawned on us that we’d planted our garden in his space, moving into the place he and his family used to spend most of their time.

So we learned ways to co-exist, to provide areas they liked in the garden or to work around their activities when needed. We realized that in order to have an amazing garden, we would need to work with nature. Our crops were eventually left unharmed, and we now enjoy the Temple Hall Farm together peacefully.

Now, we share the space with Kevin Jr. and his many brothers and sisters, as well as Snowflake the white peacock, Junior the cat, Dennis Hopper resident grasshopper, many butterflies, turkeys, guinea hens, sheep, goats, llamas, cows and whoever else is hanging out adjacent to the garden. They are always interested to see what we’re doing. They make us feel welcome!