Maria Hines

Maria is the Founder and Executive Director of Blue Sky Minds Nonprofit (BSM) and a resident of Okanogan County, living on the land of the Methow Peoples.  In the state of Washington, she has worked in sustainable local food systems for over 25 years.  

Prior to founding BSM, Ms. Hines was a chef and entrepreneur for 20 years.  From 2006-202, she was the chef and owner of Tilth, a certified organic restaurant in Seattle, WA.  During her time with Tilth, Maria won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest in 2009, won Iron Chef in 2010, was chosen for the Puget Sound Business Journal's 40 under 40 award: making an impact on business and community, as well as the Women of Influence award from Puget Sound Business Journal.

As a two-spirit Indigenous woman from the island of Tarama, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, with Scottish, Irish, and Dutch ancestry, Ms. Hines feels deeply connected to protecting and preserving Indigenous ways of life and celebrating diverse ways of being.  Joining the L.I.G.H.T. Foundation (LF) as a member of the Council of Guides has been a natural pathway to serve as a supporter of local Indigenous communities, whose land she is living on.  Ms. Hines weaves in her experience of local community food systems, nutrition, and food justice to help guide the work of LF in the Okanogan Region and beyond.

She was a long time board member of the Washington Farmland Trust, was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a member of the American Chef Corps, represented the U.S. at the World Expo that focused on United to Feed the Planet, was a chef advisor to the James Beard Foundation's Chef Action Network advocacy program, held sustainable food system salons with the assistance of the James Beard Foundation to educate local chefs on current food system landscapes, works on food security issues, nutrition education, and more.