Trixy Struck, a New Jersey native, joined the Army National guard after high school. It was during her time at the Fort Huachuca intelligence school in Arizona where her passion for education, research and learning was reignited. During her service, she would double major in political science and Mandarin Chinese at Rutgers University. Her studies were briefly interrupted by Hurricane Sandy, where she and many other soldiers were awarded the Humanitarian Service medal for rendering aid. This disaster would mark a shift in the attention to the devastating effects of climate change.

Following the completion of her bachelor’s and her military service, Trixy yearned to return to Arizona’s beautiful, mountainous landscape, where she witnessed the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises of her life. She would settle in the state, completing a master’s in education policy at Arizona State University. Yet in 2020, just before she began her Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology, the world was impacted by the COVID pandemic. Supply chains were interrupted, food shortages began, and the world as we knew it had been turned upside-down. With the world going virtual, Trixy longed to reconnect the outside world, leading her to volunteer at local farms. Learning about both the negative impacts of soil health on arid environments and the current economic plight of Arizona farmers fueled her personal passion for land stewardship. Following the second year of her PH.D. program she decided to leave her anthropology program to pursue an Urban Agricultural Fellowship with the City of Phoenix. Following the fellowship, she accepted a role with University of Arizona as the Urban Agricultural Production Manger at their People’s Demonstration Farm.

As the founder of Small Farms Big Minds, Trixy desires to bring her unique skills into the agricultural sector for the benefit our communities. She is a classically trained researcher, and an expert in organizational theory and education. She aims to remove the socioeconomic and educational barriers that prevent farming professionals from investing in themselves, the environment, and the future of humanity.