Verneda Adele White

Personal Bio

Dear WWOOF Hosts, My name is Verneda Adele White, and I am a recovering New Yorker. I was not born and raised in New York City, but they say (or I say) one gets to claim being a New Yorker once you hit the 10-year mark. I am a creative, social entrepreneur, business owner, friend, daughter and a big believer that we experience so much more in life when giving back to others. I am learning however, that in order to give back to others I must first take care of myself, and give from my abundance rather than from the part of me that is running on empty. As Founder and Creative Director of HUMAN INTONATION, I have spent more than a decade seeking to make a positive impact out of my family’s personal experience with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the loss of my closest cousin and best friend to AIDS. At the age of 22, I began designing men and women’s graphic tees, tank tops, and dresses made from my own original patterns, using organic materials, to draw attention to re-building efforts in New Orleans, LA. Through fashion for social change, related community events, and speaking engagements I have utilized my brand to raise awareness for educating children in Darfur, rebuilding Haiti, and my primary focus today is on HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, and treatment. In addition to my work as a Social Entrepreneur, I have engaged in the fashion marketing, events, and brand management industries as an independent Consultant, Event Executive Producer, and do my best to live by the principles of timeliness, communication, teamwork, integrity, innovation, creativity, and wellness…yet creativity and wellness are the parts I most look forward to getting reconnected to by WWOOFing! Beyond business, I am definitely a foodie! Trying cool new restaurants is one of my most favorite things about living in NYC, however I am very excited about taking my hunt for farm to table cuisine straight to the farm, and to learn about the food that I am eating and what foods are supportive for me and others to eat, while WWOOFing. I also love traveling, community service, fashion, and having new experiences. I live an active lifestyle (exercise, dance, yoga, swimming, going to the gym, adventures), love live music/concerts, the arts, the beach, the outdoors (though I wear a TON of bugspray), and sports. Lastly, I must say I enjoy a good party, meeting new people and hanging out with my friends and family including being an auntie to my three nephews and niece.

Why I joined WWOOF

I am going to take a chance on being honest versus writing what I think my potential WWOOFing hosts may want to read. My name is Verneda Adele White, and I am on a journey to discover who I really am and who I am meant to be. While 3 months of WWOOFing may not bring about these exact revelations, I have joined WWOOF as I do believe taking an opportunity to reconnect with nature and life’s basic essentials, getting out of my comfort zone, and doing something that benefits others will be a huge step forward in my journey to connect with my true calling, my vision for the future, and the gifts I am meant to use to make a positive contribution in the world. I have had the privilege of running my own social enterprise, and have spent the last 7 years being my own boss with my event consulting firm. However, I have reached a point where the pleasure of it all only extends as far as my being my own boss. It means a lot to me to be able to be an independent person, however I have lost my inspiration and vision, and as I write this application from my painstakingly beautiful office in lower Manhattan, I know I should not be experiencing the aches and pains of stress and overwhelm I feel daily as an otherwise healthy person in her mid-30s. With the overwhelm (and overworking) has come a block in my creativity, a gnawing fear that I want to be a writer but I’ll never try to be one, and that there is more to life than the day to day of surviving in New York City. Surviving…I really would love to be thriving and when a good friend, mentor and business coach of mine shared the idea of WWOOFing with me, I found myself gravitating towards all the possibilities volunteering my time on an organic farm would bring. Not only do I find myself ready for a complete change of pace, but my interest in organic food has grown over the last decade as I continue to recover from the very real dietary challenges I have developed over the last decade due to said overwhelm and overworking. I want the opportunity to give back in a fulfilling way, and to understand what the earth has to offer us to support our bodies, minds, and spirits…in other words, what I hope to achieve by WWOOFing is to build a community, gain balance, and find that still, small voice that calls me to write.