Leadership Team
Michael Ismerio
Director
Michael Ismerio is a passionate teacher who has been teaching fiddle music to people of all ages for over 15 years. In 2008 he became immersed in the growing Deep Nature Connection movement and shifted his focus to guiding others on their journey to awareness, authenticity, and connection. Michael grew up in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, spent many years in the lush rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, and now calls Asheville home.
Michael’s website: Michaelismerio.com
Tiffany Paul
Assistant Director
Tiffany is a veteran homeschooling mom of three with nearly two decades of experience developing and leading creative and educational, classes, coops, and camps for children. She has been devoted to supporting families for most of her life in many capacities including working as a doula, parent educator, and teen mentor.
She is also an artist, naturalist, and folk herbalist with a nearly endless list of hobbies and interests. She spends her time mostly outside; growing flowers, hiking, playing with her kids, and being dazzled by everything.
She’s thankful to work at Forest Floor where we help children discover their place in nature, which she believes will create a more peaceful world for future generations.
Tiff’s Creative Learning Collective: everwildlearningcollective.com
Scott Carroll
Operations Manager
Scott Carroll first discovered his love and sense of wonder for the natural world as a child and young man growing up on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. The ponds, streams, inlets, shoreline, forests and fields were like a playground of endless discoveries, learning and connection. After years of being immersed in city culture, his passion and desire for reconnection was rekindled while participating in a traditional Native American Vision Quest. Since then he has studied and/or participated at various nature connection programs including Tom Brown Jr’s Tracker School, The Art of Mentoring, Coyote Tracks and The 8 Shields Institute. Since 2012 he has been working as a Nature Connection Mentor within the 8 shields model primarily with children between the ages of 5 and 18. He considers it a gift to be able to work with youth in this way and is grateful for the opportunity to join the Forest Floor staff.
Kerensa Bartlett
Program Director
Kerensa got her first taste of nature connection mentoring when she was a young homeschool student at Vermont Wilderness School. Her passion for sneaking, crafting, critters, stories, and firemaking later bloomed into teaching roles at expeditionary and nature based schools across southern New Hampshire and Vermont. Kerensa found her way south by way of Warren Wilson College, where she studied printmaking, worked on the forestry crew, and took advantage of the school’s paddling club and vast hiking trails. After graduation in 2019 she returned to the Northeast to teach at Vermont Wilderness School during the height of the pandemic.
In spring of 2022 she was called to return to the mountains of Western North Carolina and has been happily mentoring kids at Forest Floor, hiking, painting, and dancing ever since.
Clint Corley
Founder
Clint first discovered his love of all things wild by growing up camping with his family in the verdant forests of central Florida. Later he deepened his relationship to nature by building his own wigwam home from bark & saplings, and tracking wolves during a year-long wilderness immersion in the arboreal forests of Wisconsin. Having been deeply impacted by the transformative power of nature-connection, and further driven to help others find this for themselves, Clint founded Forest Floor to serve as a bridge between modern humans and our ancient earth-centered past.
Staff & Instructors
Callan Burton-Shore
Field Instructor
Callan grew up making fire, tracking, and sneaking in the woods at the Living Earth School in Charlottesville, Virginia. She eventually became an instructor there. She is studying regenerative agriculture at Warren Wilson College and has experience on all kinds of farms from the East Coast to the Pacific Northwest. In her spare time she carves wooden spoons, hikes with her goats, and dreams about permaculture and plants. She is honored to be able to pass on the importance of deep connection to the land to students at Forest Floor.
Breanne Jones
Field Instructor
Breanne grew up in the suburbs of metro-Atlanta where she found belonging in a patch of woods behind her home and a creek to wander. As she studied environmental science in college, she spent her free time exploring the North Georgia mountains, quickly becoming enamored with craggy boulders and rhododendrons.
Since settling in Western North Carolina, she’s found a love for community and has continued to deepen her connection to nature. She has worked as a Naturalist at Chimney Rock State Park and is currently involved with the Forest School Foundation.
Her passions include guiding youth in the forest, hugging trees, creek crawling, singing around the fire, harvesting herbs, and foraging wild edibles. She, herself, feels like an eternal student with an unquenchable thirst for nature’s boundless wisdom.
Emily Lutken
Field Instructor
Emily Lutken has had a lot of fun doing outdoor jobs over the years, starting as a Girl Scout camp counselor in 2009. Some of her favorites have included being an archery and canoeing instructor, a naturalist, and getting to work at a nature center handling native animals. She’s taken lots of kids camping over the years, and could give a TED talk on how to dry 14 pairs of wet shoes over a fire.
She got her Masters of Arts in Teaching at Chapel Hill in 2022 and then returned to Asheville and started working at Forest Floor. Some of her favorite activities to do with kids involve cooking delicious treats over the fire, wandering in the woods and finding cool plants, and lashing structures together.
Kayla Birstein
Field Instructor
Kayla is an outdoor educator dedicated to fostering personal growth and environmental connection. Born and raised near Asheville, North Carolina, Kayla grew up on a small organic farm, cultivating a deep appreciation for nature. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Outdoor Education from Warren Wilson College.
Kayla has guided individuals seeking positive change through immersive 8-day backpacking expeditions in the Appalachian Mountains. Her expertise includes backcountry cooking, wilderness survival and first aid, interpersonal communication and conflict resolution.
After working one summer at Forest Floor she knew she wasn’t ready to walk away. She loves the spontaneity, games, and community. In her spare time she loves dancing and spending time with her dogs.
Evan Alexander
Field Instructor
Evan spent much of his childhood wandering the woods around his house in Cary, NC, building forts and playing games with the neighborhood kids. He fell in love with the mountains of Western North Carolina during family camping and backpacking trips. Evan’s introduction to wilderness skills like firemaking and carving came through Boy Scouts, and he has continued to advance these skills by attending gatherings like Earthskills Rendezvous.
Evan has a deep interest in growing food, and moved to Asheville in 2012 in order to learn by experience on a variety of farms – including working with dairy goats, which is where he got the nickname Cheese. He enjoys connecting with himself by moving his body, especially running, foam-sword fighting, and playing games with friends. Evan loves that he gets to spend his days learning, running and sneaking in the woods with kids.
Liza Pierce
Pottery Instructor
Liza’s favorite smell is the campfire. She grew up around Asheville, North Carolina and spent most of her childhood outdoors, playing in the mud and water, as well as regularly hiking and camping with her family. She attended a small, nature-based school for 8 years, where she learned basic survival skills and developed a strong connection with the natural world. Having nature as her classroom and attuned teachers by her side, she was able to overcome her own challenges resulting in a lifelong love for learning and a deep passion for holding the same nurturing space for future generations. She personally understands the profound impact teachers can have on their students and is honored to be in this position.
Liza has an innate talent for teaching and easily keeps kids engaged. She seeks to learn something new everyday and naturally imparts a sense of curiosity in the children. She beautifully balances sharing knowledge with keeping the curiosity alive, always inspiring more questions/wonderings that lead to a richer understanding. At Forest Floor, Liza teaches pottery, still spending her time playing in mud and water! She encourages children to try different styles and techniques, teaching them to push their own comfort zone and guides them in overcoming failure – it’s just mud after all! When she’s not teaching, Liza runs her own small business, Little Inspired Zealous Art.
Caitlan Rafferty
Field Instructor
Caitlan comes to us from Austin, TX, with a lifelong love of nature, fostered by childhood adventures in the creeks and bayous of Southern Texas and Louisiana. After graduating from culinary school in 2005, she spent over a decade as a professional chef, including 2 years in the German Alps.
In 2017, she transitioned to nature-based early childhood education and found her true calling. Since then, she has worked in multiple nature-based programs, led homeschool pods, and earned her Child Development Associate (CDA) and Forest School Teacher Certification through FSTI in Chattanooga, TN.
Passionate about connecting children with the natural world, Caitlan loves teaching reciprocity, respect for nature, and the creatures of the forest. She brings a wealth of songs, stories, and books to her teaching and is thrilled to continue learning and growing alongside children in the forest. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dog Mellow, swimming, crocheting, birdwatching, reading, and of course still loves cooking.