Amy Gastelum has been a public health nurse, a teacher and staff reporter for the radio show, Making Contact. She’s also mom to two kids. Gastelum earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Indiana University in 2008 and began her nursing career on the antenatal unit at the county hospital in Indianapolis. After, she continued in mother/baby care, making home visits to first-time moms in New York City and Indianapolis. In 2012, she graduated from the eight-week intensive Transom Story Workshop for radio storytelling on Cape Cod and recently completed her MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Butler University. As a freelancer, she has reported for PRI’s The World, NPR News, Undark, Side Effects Public Media, Guernica Magazine, and has taught at Indiana University and Butler University. Gastelum now owns an ecologically-minded garden design and consultation business, Velma Jean Flowers, named after her grandmothers. She is writing a book about pursuing self-realization through gardening.