Our Board of Directors:

Julie Cleary comes to the Montana Fibershed with a background in manufacturing and fabrication, both on a small business and industrial level. She brings a keen eye for trends, a realistic viewpoint, and a mountain of hands-on experience in the production of soft goods for home interiors and apparel.As a fourth generation Montanan whose family was economically forced to relocate out of state when she was a child, Julie has a deep determination to see independent heritage industries thrive and excel.When she’s not spinning yarn or tying flies, you’ll find this avid angler chasing rainbows and foraging for dye plants on the banks of Montana’s Blue Ribbon rivers.

Barb French is a maker with a life-long devotion to natural fibers. She learned to sew and knit from her mom, a fiberista of amazing prowess, received a Singer treadle machine at 14 and began making her own clothes, knit a first sweater in high school, took tailoring classes at MSU, studied design at FIT, went off the deep end with spinning, weaving and dying in the early aughts, has co-owned a yarn shop, is active in local guilds, and her fiber obsession continues unabated. As a fourth-generation Montanan, Barb is delighted to be a part of Montana Fibershed, and the work to strengthen Montana's wonderful textile community.

Amanda Shine and her family live near Bigfork and raise Lincoln Longwool and Icelandic sheep, along with pastured poultry and eggs and livestock guardian dogs. She has bachelor’s degrees in biology and agriculture, and a master’s degree in agronomy. Her passion for raising grass-fed and grass-finished livestock comes from a deep love for the soils and plant communities of grazed ecosystems and the complex nutrient cycling dynamics that drive the health and sustainability of these lands. She also really enjoys flying drones and making maps. She can be found @rovingramranch and at RovingRamRanch.com. 

Julie Tome-Fahmy, is a long-time fiber enthusiast from the Appalachian foothills of Ohio. She currently resides in Hamilton, Montana and is full-time
“maker” since her retirement. When not hiking or fishing, she is making clothing and home textiles. Now, in her time of grand mothering, she has befriended “fiber artists-with
animals”, and helps with local shearing, lambing, and fiber sales; She cards and spins fleeces, forages for dyestuffs, weaves and knits. She serves on the Boards of the Montana Association of Weavers & Spinners and the Missoula
Weavers Guild. Julie believes in the aims of the Fibershed movement and sustainability in
the textile industry: She is a “farm-to-closet” consumer of local fibers, uses her
yarn stash, and supplements exclusively with Montana-grown alpaca and wool yarns; She makes, or purchases recycled, or grown- in- Montana woolens, outerwear, socks, yoga blankets, and rugs. She mends whatever
she can, and dreams of sourcing local flax and hemp for her home goods! Connecting with other fiber locavores is her mission.

Kami Noyes is a fifth-generation rancher who raises Targhee Rambouillet Sheep in the shadows of the Tobacco Root Mountains in Southwest Montana. She is a self-taught fiber artist: spinner ~ dyer and knitter. She owns Ranching Tradition Fiber and is also the main organizer of the Copper K Fiber Festival.

LaVonne Stucky lives and farms in the Gallatin Valley. Having watched many changes in her hometown area over the past few years, she is committed to the preservation of small farms and supporting others who do the same. She purchased the wool mill equipment in 2018 and opened The Wool Mill. A zero-waste wool mill, they process wool from her sheep as well as fiber from many other shepherds like herself, many of them women. Montana is her life-long home and she shares it with seasonal visitors who come to her farmstay and sleep in antique sheepherder wagons.

Helen Harris has been a maker working with fibers and fabric since she was a young child. This passion took her on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Textile Design/Studio Art from Northern Illinois University. Recently retired from a career in Marketing/Finance, Helen is now an advocate for the Montana fiber community, focusing on regenerative fiber practices. She continues to create fiber art in her studio which overlooks the Madison range of the Rocky Mountains.

Dan Crowser

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Angela Tollerson