Our Staff

Meet the Wild Soul Team!

Ted Packard

Program Director, Lead Instructor and Co-founder

Ted Packard is a mentor, naturalist, ancestral skills craftsman, storyteller, and musician. Since 2011, he has mentored youth in wilderness survival, edible and medicinal plants, animal tracking, bird language, and the innumerable intricacies of growing into the human body, heart, and mind. He is trained in the eight shields model, having attended Wilderness Awareness School in Western Washington and has worked in a variety of nature programs for children, both large and small. Ted believes that humans learn best when they are immersed in nature, in play, and in community.

Annika Fae

Program Coordinator and Staff Mentor

Annika grew up in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest amongst soft moss, forests of sword ferns, and towering dripping evergreens before relocating to Southwest Colorado in 2018, where she has fallen in love with this land of red/gold bones, sweeping vistas of snowy peaks and sagebrush mesas, and lightning fast lizards.
A Waldorf Early Childhood teacher by training, Annika has worked with children ages 3-7 for seven years in various settings, including her own Waldorf-inspired preschool and Waldorf schools like Brightwater and Olympia Waldorf.
Annika’s passion for nature connection began in 2012 when she joined the Art of Mentoring program at Wilderness Awareness School (WAS), followed by the 9-month Nature Instructor Training. She went on to teach at WAS and Vashon Wilderness Program (VWP), mentoring youth aged 7-12 and helping to lead instructor teams. She also worked as a camp counselor and held leadership roles at WAS summer camps.
As a mentor, Annika loves sharing the 8-Shields philosophy with new instructors and guiding them in their own growth. She has also served on the leadership teams for the Art of Mentoring and Coyote Mentoring programs. Annika is a certified Level 3 Tracker through CyberTracker having completed the tracking intensives at both Raven’s Roots and WAS.
Outside of nature mentoring, Annika enjoys creating art with clay, dancing Lindy Hop, and working as a Feldenkrais practitioner to help others heal and move with ease.

Geneva Toland

Wild Tenders Instructor

Geneva "Evie" Toland has spent the last decade farming and working in outdoor education all over the country—from the northeastern hardwoods to the pacific northwest rainforest, rocky mountain foothills, midwest prairies, and back again—building bridges between the people and the land wherever she goes. In 2018-2019, she completed the Wilderness Awareness School's Immersion program and is now trained in Naturalist studies and 8-shields mentorship, and is a Level III certified tracker with CyberTracker. After re-discovering a love for song and poetry during her time at WAS, Evie has devoted the last few years towards receiving a MFA in Poetry at the Institute for American Indian Arts and training in song circle facilitation. She now lives in the juniper and piñon pine foothills of the La Platas, homelands of the Ute, Diné and Puebloan peoples, where she teaches creative writing workshops, leads monthly Songs & Stories circles, plays with kids in the woods, and writes towards equity & justice with the organization Fierce Allies.

Lucy Weld

Wild Tenders and Fox-Walkers Instructor

Lucy Weld is a WFR certified wilderness guide, outdoor educator, dancer, and songwriter. She has worked in a range of capacities - from local Open Sky and Dragonfly School, to the backcountry of southwest Utah and eastern Sierras. She supports the natural impulses of childhood through play, mentorship, and curiosity. Lucy has worked with children of all ages, from infancy to teenage-hood, and always returns to nature as the primary setting for impact and experiential growth. She infuses her mentorship with fire skills, primal movement, games, and singing!

Ashley Grandkoski

Executive Director, Wild Soul Parent and Co-Founder

As a homeschooling parent looking for holistic and alternative educational options for her children, Ashley has been a driving force in the creation, growth and maintenance of Wild Soul. Her background in, herbalism, acupuncture, energy healing and shamanism, combined with a deeply intuitive understanding of the kind of education needed by today's children gave her an instant understanding of, and appreciation for, the 8-shields philosophy. Though administration is not her deepest passion, building an organization that supports healthy and forward-thinking ways of life certainly is. She works in service of creating the new systems that will contribute to resilient culture, robust community, thriving children and new, more sensical, educational paradigms. Her children, currently 9 and 13, have been deeply involved and influenced by their time at Wild Soul.

Kyler Grandkoski

Operations, Budget and Facilities Volunteer, Wild Soul Parent and Co-founder

Though Wild Soul was born out of our need as a family, the organization itself fit right in with much of my experience, background and passions. I grew up exploring and loving time in the outdoors, seeing it as one of the most supportive and healing parts of life - camping, rafting, snowboarding, hiking and traveling. As an adult, I've worked in the non-profit sector for more than ten years, helping with a variety of community-oriented and environmental projects. I've also volunteered in many organizations working to build community and resilience in land use, agriculture and food systems. Through my own business, I offer facilitation services, supporting planning and strategic development for non-profit organizations. I'm happy to be bringing this skill set in support of Wild Soul.