Honoring Eliza Kerr: Board Member Emeritus
With over two decades of service to our mission, this year we honor Eliza Kerr as Board Member Emeritus for Balanced Rock Foundation.
The organizational origins of Balanced Rock Foundation stem from Wild Women Workshops (established 2000), founded by Heather Sullivan and Tana Leach. With WWW’s evolution to a non-profit in 2006, Balanced Rock was born — co-founded by Eliza Kerr and Heather Sullivan.
Serving as the first Board President, Eliza has held many integral positions including her most recent role as Board Vice President. In tribute of her many contributions to Balanced Rock for over two decades, it’s with deep gratitude and love that we honor her as Board Member Emeritus.
“My personal mission is synonymous with the organizational mission. It is an honor to work in conjunction with others to amplify a passion for connecting people to nature and spirit. It is deeply rewarding to work synergistically as a team.”
Balanced Rock’s organizational mission is to inspire health and wellbeing through deep connection to nature — a mission that runs deep in Eliza’s personal ethos.
Eliza began teaching yoga to community members in her living room in 1995, and through her heart of service she has continued to volunteer countless hours over the last 20+ years instructing the community yoga classes in El Portal and Yosemite — a donation-based program dear to her heart and one she has been passionate about preserving through the years of change and evolution.
Eliza has been a volunteer instructor and trip guide on many of our wilderness excursions and lodge-based retreats, as well as a member of Balanced Rock’s WildYoga Teacher Training faculty where she shares her skills as a yoga instructor and Ayurvedic practitioner. In addition to giving the gift of her teaching through many trips and retreats through the years, Eliza never fails to share her gratitude for all she has received through the thoughtful, inspired, and transformational programming of Balanced Rock.
Photo by Patrick Bremser
To know Eliza is to see and feel her embodiment of grace and gratitude.
Eliza shares that one of the greatest accomplishments during her tenure with Balanced Rock has been working with and nurturing an incredible group of humans (board members, staff, donors, volunteers, and participants) to co-create a vibrant community with a strong family feel.
Beyond community cultivation, her main focus has been to secure strong funding for the organization to survive and now thrive as we move into nearly 25 years of operation. Through both her generous personal contributions and the work she has done attracting and building relationships with donors, she has helped tend a collection of benefactors who resonate with the work of Balanced Rock and believe deeply in our mission.
Photo by Shawn Reeder
Eliza vows to be a forever ambassador to Balanced Rock and will continue with her parallel work as an Ayurvedic practitioner and providing retreat space through her vacation rental, the Yosemite Moonstone Retreat. You can catch Eliza as she continues to offer her wealth of knowledge and teachings through the community yoga classes in El Portal.
Thank you for your years of service and dedication, and for being a vital part of the tapestry that is Balanced Rock Foundation. We love you, Eliza!!!
