Brandi Whetstone is the director of sustainability at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, or MORPC, where she has spent 16 years helping Central Ohio communities plan for a healthier, more livable future. The MORPC miniseries opens by tracing how a kid from Bryan, Ohio turned a childhood of bikes, backyard kickball, and fishing trips with her dad into a career spent protecting the places people love. Her hometown happens to be the birthplace of the Etch A Sketch and Dum Dum Pops, but it was the parks, the woods, and the field at the end of the street that shaped her. Those early roots in the outdoors became the through-line for everything that followed.

From college radio DJ to environmental policy student to community organizer knocking on doors near an oil refinery, Brandi kept following the same thread: give people a voice, and use strength in numbers to bring about real change. That thread runs through her leap to lead a small forestry nonprofit, her car-free move to Columbus by bike, and her rise from outreach specialist to director of sustainability at MORPC. The conversation draws out the lived experience behind the work while pressing on how a childhood spent outdoors becomes a career designing sustainable communities. It is also a warm introduction to the Summit on Sustainability, MORPC's annual gathering built around this year's fitting theme, Common Thread.

Episode in a Glance

00:00 Kicking Off the MORPC Miniseries
04:40 From College Radio DJ to Environmental Policy
09:53 The Oil Refinery Day That Made It Personal
13:18 Taking the Leap at Buckeye Forest Council
17:00 Finding MORPC and Never Looking Back
21:19 What to Expect at the Summit on Sustainability

About Brandi Whetstone

Brandi Whetstone is the director of sustainability at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), a regional organization that brings Central Ohio communities together to share best practices and plan for the region's growth and sustainability. A native Ohioan from Bryan, she studied environmental policy and analysis alongside political science and government at Bowling Green State University. Before MORPC, she organized communities with Ohio Citizen Action, led the Buckeye Forest Council as its executive director, and worked on water quality with the Sierra Club. Over 16 years at MORPC she has grown from outreach specialist to director of sustainability, where she leads the region's sustainability initiatives and helps produce the annual Summit on Sustainability.

Connect with Brandi Whetstone and her work with MORPC

Brandi Whetstone on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandiwhetstone

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission → morpc.org

Summit on Sustainability (register, it tends to sell out) → morpc.org/summit

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