President's Letter: Connections and Communications
In my first letter to you, I shared a bit about myself — a California-born, Colombian-raised woman who found her way into the world of plants purely by chance.
That introduction was the beginning of a larger theme I’ve chosen to guide my one-year presidency: Connections and Communications.
I often ask myself, “What if?” and “Why not?”
If you’ve been following along, you know my previous letter focused on the economic impact of our industry.
My goal was to deepen our understanding of who we are as part of Florida’s nursery and landscape industry, and what we each individually contribute.
As I’ve said before, we don’t know what we don’t know — and it’s through learning and sharing that we grow stronger as a community.
With that in mind, this letter kicks off a new spotlight series: Meet Your FNGLA Chapter Leaders.
In the coming months, I will introduce you to the passionate individuals who lead our chapters — who they are, what drives each of them, and what makes their chapters unique.
I hope you enjoy getting to know the dedicated people behind the scenes, the ones who keep our chapters thriving and connected.
Florida Counties Represented: Alachua, Gilchrist, Levy, Marion and Putnam counties
President Name: Harrison Love
Number of Years as an FNGLA Volunteer: 14 years
Why You Choose to Serve FNGLA: My high school agriculture teacher, Chris Wilder, pushed me to serve and get involved.
Biggest Opportunity You See for the Chapter: The Landscape Rodeo, coming in January! Come and see the equipment demo areas, and the skills competition. I think it's going to be a cool new chapter event, and a great fundraiser for the Frontrunners Chapter. There's nothing like it! More on that to come.
Fun Fact About You: I am an avid conservationist.
Fun Chapter Tidbit: Frontrunners is famous for its shenanigans! And our social gatherings are always a blast.
Florida Counties Represented: Orange, Seminole, Lake, and Osceola counties
President Name: Libbie Clark-Smith
Number of Years as an FNGLA Volunteer: 8 years (3 with Frontrunners and 5 with Action)
Why You Choose to Serve FNGLA: The people and the endless opportunities to learn. Our industry is made up of some of the most kind, knowledgeable, and genuine people.
Biggest Opportunity You See for the Chapter: Getting more people involved so we can learn from each other. We are the largest chapter in the association by numbers and this year our board is working on getting more members involved. We are looking forward to seeing those who have been members for long time get back to meeting, and connect with new members.
Fun Fact About You: I’ve been a Disney annual passholder for 10+ years and have visited 12 national parks with a goal of visiting all 63.
Fun Chapter Tidbit: In terms of traditions, we partnered with Farm Credit of Central Florida to select a member who has dedicated time to our chapter and honor them with the Gene A Batson Award every August. 2025 was our 30th year and David McDonald was honored this year. Our annual fundraiser is participating in the Bloom and Grow Garden Society's Spring Fever in the Garden festival in downtown Winter Garden. FNGLA members graciously donate plant material for us to sell, and we give portions of our proceeds to the National Horticulture Foundation and to FNGLA's Endowed Research Fund at the UF Foundation (SHARE) every year.
Florida Counties Represented: Dade and Monroe counties
President Name: Amanda Rodriguez
Number of Years as an FNGLA Volunteer: 3 years
Why You Choose to Serve FNGLA: I enjoy being informed and hearing about everything going on in the industry here in the South Florida area - and relaying it back to growers, vendors, and my employees. I also enjoy helping and engaging.
Biggest Opportunity You See for the Chapter: The best opportunity for the chapter is to keep doing what we're doing: engaging members and coming up with new ideas to help members.
Fun Fact About You: I love farming, that's for sure. And I love engaging with members of my community who are doing the same. And I love the Miami Dolphins! I also have a big family - lots of kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids!
Fun Chapter Tidbit: We're famous for our Christmas parties! And we take part in the Dade AGRI Council Farm Tour. They've been doing it for 61 years! We also have the chapter chili cook-off, too. We keep ourselves pretty busy, that's for sure!
Your FNGLA 2025-26 President,
Marcella Lucio-Chinchilla
Silver Vase (Homestead)
