On this episode of I Dig Your Story, I’m joined by Cheri Ruane, Chief Development Officer at Weston & Sampson—and a longtime friend, although exactly how long we’ve known each other is still up for debate. Like many friendships, I realized I didn’t exactly know what Cheri does for a living, but I knew it had something to do with landscape architecture. And honestly—do we ever really know what our friends do all day?

In this episode, we break down what a Chief Development Officer at an engineering firm actually does and how a girl from New Jersey made her way to the C-suite of a Boston-based company, with an important stop working in her cousin’s landscape contracting business along the way.

We also talk about how Cheri learns about new plants, why plant selection matters in public spaces, and the one type of plant she hopes breeders will start producing in abundance for public parks everywhere.

Learn more about Cheri: 

@work - https://www.westonandsampson.com/

Fun stuff - just Google Cheri Ruane ; ) 

In this special installment of I Dig Your Story, Ellen answers a few questions you didn't even know you had about her podcast. Such as, who is this Ellen? And what's the whole show anyway? 

In this very first episode of I Dig Your Story we chat with Diane Blazek of National Garden Bureau and All-America Selections. Learn about little Diane, how she found her way into the world of horticulture, and what it takes to keep these two vital industry non-profits running smoothly. Spoiler alert—she and I both want more hours in the day.