Joanne Hooper bio

Jo is our Communications Manager. Her journey towards championing the benefits of community orchards is rooted in a fascination for semantics and word-craft, and a passion for identifying unusual tree species. After graduating in English and Spanish, she eventually found her spiritual home in the charity sector in 2007 and has never looked back. Jo dedicated many years to supporting refugees and asylum seekers, working both in the UK for the British Red Cross, and overseas for a grassroots humanitarian charity on the Thailand-Myanmar border. More recently, she has been working with filmmakers and photographers to communicate sustainable development projects through visual mediums, and writing for the UN Environment website. Outside of work, Jo can be found strumming her ukulele, walking in the Chilterns, and weeding on the allotment, where recent successes include growing Cantaloupe melons in the polytunnel!