Kathleen Lowe loved being outdoors as a child. Now, as an adult, Kathleen has founded a group called Friends of the Forest CT, so she can share that love with others.

“Anytime you get outside is good,” Kathleen says.

Kathleen hopes that Friends of the Forest will introduce women to the joys of connecting with nature in a more powerful way in order to see benefits that range from stress reduction to a wider array of creative efforts.

“Nature has always been my place of refuge since I was a little girl, playing fairies outside to gardening with my father. My hands and feet have always been tied to the earth,” she explains.

Friends of the Forest conducts a number of programs focusing on the natural world. Among the current offerings are a Nature Weaving: Weaving Among the Trees on Saturday, April 13; Honoring the Winged Ones: Sacred Feather Wand Making Workshop on Sunday, April 14; and the Mother Earth Spirit Doll Workshop on Saturday, April 20.

According to Kathleen, people learn about the programs through the group’s website and social media. Programs fill up fast, such one set for Thursday, April 18—How to Refresh, Recharge, and Protect Yourself Energetically—which is at wait-list-only availability.

Attendees come from throughout the shoreline, the state, and from New York, as well.

“The women who come are professionals. They are not crazy. All the programs sell out. The women are looking for community and looking to find out more about nature,” Kathleen says.

Kathleen is excited about Rebloom, a new, nature-based program for women who have completed cancer treatment. Rebloom offers wellness workshops, retreats, and the opportunity to form meaningful connections with others in similar situations.

“Finding a new normal is incredibly difficult,” Kathleen says.

While growing up in Cromwell, Kathleen took an annual nature walk with her father along the Connecticut River. He would ask Kathleen what she saw that was different from the last walk. He’d ask her what had changed and what was growing.

“He taught me without teaching,” she says.

Kathleen graduated from Mercy High School and then Brown University with a degree in an area that is quite distant from what she does now: art history with a concentration on 17th-century Dutch painting. She went to Amsterdam, doing an internship at the famous Rijksmuseum while considering an advanced degree in art history. Then, one day, Kathleen found herself at an advertising meeting. It interested her. After the meeting, she chased down an advertising representative in the parking lot.

“It snowballed from there,” she explains.

Kathleen worked for over 20 years in marketing and business development at advertising, marketing, and public relations agencies such as Ogilvy, Mktshr, and Leo Burnett Worldwide before transitioning to the non-profit sector. In 2018, she became the marketing director of AIM at Melanoma, a global foundation based in San Francisco dedicated to finding more effective treatments and, ultimately, the cure for melanoma.

“I love it, I love it, I love it. I love the team. Six fabulous women. I am honored to be a part of it,” she says.

By working remotely for AIM at Melanoma, in 2019 Kathleen was allowed the opportunity to move back to Connecticut from Newport, Rhode Island, where she was living at the time.

Still, returning to the state of her birth was something that Kathleen had once promised herself she would never do.

“I had grown up in a small town. I wanted a big city,” she recalls. “I left vowing I would never come back to New England. Now, I am eating crow.”

Along with finding her home in Essex, Kathleen also wanted to start her own nature-based non-profit.

“I knew I had to do something with nature, but I didn’t know what,” says Kathleen.

However, one day a forest walk that Kathleen had learned about through social media gave her a direction and, from there, “...it just clicked,” she says.

Kathleen electronically attended a six-month mindful leadership program at Kripalu, a Massachusetts organization centered on yoga, wellness, and spiritual awareness.

“I loved it. It was exactly what I wanted to share,” she says.

Now, Kathleen’s challenge is to oversee the growth of Friends of the Forest.

“I’d like it to get big, but in order to do that, I would really have to do it full-time,” Kathleen says.

Kathleen is aware of the push and pull of the demands of having full-time job and a being involved with a growing non-profit.

“I am a living contradiction,” she says. “I am torn between slowing down and getting things done.”

In addition to Friends of the Forest and her job with AIM, Kathleen has also been involved in Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue, though the horse that she worked with, Luna, had to be put down last last year after developing colic. In fact, animal rescue has been a continuing interest that Kathleen learned about from her father.

Kathleen does not have family demands on her time. When she was a small child, Kathleen decided that she would never get married.

“It drove my mother nuts. My father was proud,” she says.

Kathleen does love Barbie, but not for all the pinkness. She played with Barbie dolls as a child because the pink princess was also a career woman.

“She had a career. She went to work. She had a boat,” Kathleen remembers.

So far, Friends of the Forest has been an organization for women. No men have asked about the programs.

“But if someone did, I wouldn’t say no,” says Kathleen.

For more information, visit friendsoftheforestct.org.