Writer · Native plant advocate · Washington, DC area
A lot of plants died in the making of this.
Writing
Selected work
- The Plant Native Rocky Mountain Bee Plant
- The Plant Native Dutchman’s Pipe
- The Plant Native Five Things I Wish I’d Known When Starting My Native Plant Garden Forthcoming
- Washington Gardener Three Things I Got Wrong in My First Native Garden October issue
About
I’m obsessed with native plants
In March 2023, I started turning a shady yard in Montgomery County, Maryland, into native habitat. I’ve written plant profiles for The Plant Native and I’m working on a book about gardening with natives. I served as VP of the Wild Ones Nation’s Capital chapter and completed a climate fellowship at Terra.do. I also set up a new native plant container garden at our elementary school and consulted on the design of a new park in my neighborhood.
I’m a communications strategist and writer with two decades at organizations including USAID and the United Nations. I spent five years living in India and a decade in New York City before my husband, our daughter and I settled just outside Washington, DC, in a small town that happens to be a designated arboretum. Putting down roots turned out to be as much about what you plant as where you land.
I’m also completing a memoir about marrying into an Indian family and the years I spent searching for belonging in Jaipur. Both books circle the same question: what does it mean to put down roots when nobody taught you how?
Bio and credentials
My personal essays have been published in Struggle Magazine and Newtown Literary, and my piece in Kveller was featured in the Memoir Monday newsletter. I was an AWP writer-to-writer mentee and a member of the Queens Council on the Arts peer circle program. I’ve also been a resident at the Harlem Renaissance House on Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve received a bronze Travelers’ Tales Solas Award and a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Award.
I hold an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from The New School, an MSc in Gender, Development and Globalization from the London School of Economics, and a BA from Wesleyan University. I’m the founder of RBJ Communications, a strategic communications consultancy.
Contact
Speaking and inquiries
Talks and podcasts
I’m available for talks and podcasts about starting a native garden on almost no money. Most of it comes down to winter sowing, plant swaps, rescues and free wood chips rather than a nursery run. You don’t need a budget or a yard you own to begin.
Garden consults
I do a small number of paid consults for people staring at a yard or a balcony with no idea where to start. These work in person around Washington, DC, or over video anywhere else.
Consulting
RBJ Communications is my strategic communications consultancy, working with mission-driven organizations on climate and sustainability. I also work with communications teams on telling climate stories that land.
Reach me at info@beckybjain.com.