Eliah is a co-founder of North Spore and the CEO. An entrepreneur and true Mainer through and through, he is an expert in greenhouse and organic farm management and ran a small organic farm in Downeast Maine before founding North Spore. These days he oversees operations and business development. He's an avid sailor and musician and always enjoys a good business pitch competition.

Jon is a co-founder of North Spore and the head mycologist. He grew up foraging wild mushrooms with his father in the Green Mountains of Vermont, and this early interest in mushrooms inspired him to pursue a masters degree in Mycology. Before co-founding North Spore he worked as the Research and Production Mycologist for Field and Forest Products in Peshtigo, WI. As the Lead Mycologist at North Spore, Jon is in charge of the Research and Development team, maintaining our mushroom cultures and researching new strains of wild mushrooms for their potential cultivation.

Matt is a co-founder of North Spore and serves as the Creative Director. Matt developed his passion for fungi on Mount Desert Island where he frequently supplied restaurants with wild-foraged mushrooms. A graduate of the SALT Institute for Documentary Studies he cut his teeth working as a freelance photojournalist for the New York Times in Maine. He's a self-taught videographer and editor who's always pushing to learn more. His passion for good food, and good company coupled with a strong environmental ethic and a love for foraging and gardening, has underscored his commitment to the North Spore mission.

Louis heads up education and events at North Spore and has spent over 8 years growing and hunting mushrooms from coast to coast. He is the "Mushroom Man" at the Portland Farmer's Markets, leads foraging classes, and does mushroom landscaping. He loves nothing more than getting into the woods to mountain bike and look for highly prized wild foods.

Brit lives in a cozy little cottage in Portland, Maine. She shares her home with her cool husband, Brandon, as well as two four legged beasts. Her time is mostly spent making her house a home, worrying, cooking and cleaning. When time affords you can find her taking a walk in the woods, reading, or with pencil or needle in hand. At North Spore she designs booklets and draws mushrooms.

Rachael works in the spawn laboratory and assists with spawn production for North Spore. She most recently worked as a research assistant studying fungal pathogens of lowbush blueberry at the University of Maine in Orono. She previously obtained an MS at Clark University studying fungal endophytes. She enjoys reading, hiking, and all things fungal.

Grace grew up on the coast of Maine with a naturalist mother and marine biologist father. They instilled early interests in science and nature that have never left her. Following her sister’s lead, she used her biology scholarship to Hampshire College to instead pursue her other great love: art. After earning a degree in Printmaking from University of Southern Maine she spent nearly a decade as a screen printer. Ready for a change, she found a new home at North Spore where she packs and ships spawn orders. In her spare time she still enjoys making art, learning about nature and spending time with her partner and their one-eyed cat, Matilda.

Nate grew up in Portland but now resides in San Diego, California where he works remotely. In his free time he writes and records music, and loves photography, video production, biking, DJing, and traveling. At North Spore, his focus is on marketing, web design, and content creation. Nate enjoys being able to connect his loves of art and design with his love of nature. He is a proud trans man.

Bentley grew up in Winterport, Maine where he found great pleasure in identifying trees and fungi on the trails in his community. His broad environmental interest led him to pursue a Marine Science degree at the University of Maine, where he served as the President of the student body and wrote his thesis on Arctic Marine Fungi. During the week, Bentley works in the commercial solar industry, but is happy to spend his weekends here at North Spore lending a hand with production. In his free time, Bentley loves to play basketball, hacky sack, cook, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.

Rodimiro is originally from Honduras and was a university student of the International Trade School at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. He loves cooking but hasn't yet learned how to cook mushrooms, though he hopes one day to learn! He loves to dance, listen to music and do research on the politics and human rights of different countries. At North Spore, Rodi gives the final quality control check and oversees product packaging.

Noah grew up in Miami, FL, moved to Maine for school and has lived here ever since, enjoying hiking, surfing, and all four actual seasons. He's worked at a Portland-based food bank and done live sound engineering at SPACE Gallery. Since he started, North Spore has cultivated his love of mushrooms and propelled his curiosity even further. At North Spore he manages commercial spawn accounts and inventory management.

Amanda started at North Spore mid-2019 after deciding an office job wasn't for her. She now manages the team packing online orders during the week, and spends her weekends painting, baking and hiking.

DJ is a mechanical engineer by degree, handles the production improvements, equipment maintenance, and other mechanical/electrical tasks for North Spore. Winter is DJ's favorite season. The only thing that's not great about it, is that there are no mushrooms! That's why he had to find a place like North Spore, so he could help grow them inside. When he's not at work, he can be found foraging, snowboarding, hiking, snowmobiling, tearing down and building up some machine in his garage, or traveling the world (17 countries and counting)! He and his family live on 63 acres in western Maine in their owner built tiny house.

Mike has been serving the mycological cause since his interest was tickled by the abundant black trumpets and honey mushrooms of Acadia. Shortly thereafter he was arrested for foraging mushrooms in a national park (see Bar Harbor police beat for September 2006). His uphill battle since his run-in with the law has included the farming of veggies and poultry, kelp and mussels, commercial fishing in Maine and Alaska, two masters of science degrees, leading the halibut and the scallop research programs for the state of Maine, and renovating land and home with his wife and dog in Durham, Maine. Mike is chief helper for making North Spore operations run smoothly on the day to day, as well as writing grants and developing North Spore's R & D program.

Will serves as a production assistant at North Spore where he helps package and ship mushroom products across the country. A Maine native who returned after a decade away, he is happy to join the North Spore community amid a growing interest in home mushroom cultivation worldwide. When not working at North Spore he explores the coast of Maine looking for colorful birds and strange cloud formations.

Toni-Lee is a native Virginian who found her way up to Maine because of her love for potatoes and adventures. You can find her eating dirt and exploring the islands of Maine. She discovered fungi stumbling along trails, reading some books, taking a class and crawling up mountains. She has a vocation for life and good music.

Kate grew up in New England and has lived all over the U.S. including the Pacific Northwest and Montana. She also lived in Guam for one very hot adventurous year. She studied Fine Arts in Connecticut and loves all things paint, clay, metal, glass, fabric, wax...you name it. When she's not covered in paint you can find her outside star gazing, rock-hounding, fossil hunting and of course mushroom hunting while stopping to examine any and every little odd thing along the path. Part of the production team here at North Spore you'll always know she's around with her larger-than-life laugh.

Jill is originally from Alberta, Canada and is a self-described sailing fanatic. This love began early, when she spent summers on Cold Lake living in a sailboat with her parents and sister. Her U.S. journey began in California, then she headed east to Boston. And in 2020, she finally made the move to Maine with her husband and 4 rescue English Pointers to take in all the beauty and wonder the state has to offer. During the week, she heads up marketing for North Spore, and you might even see her selling mushrooms at the farmer’s markets on weekends. In addition to her love for the mycological world, she’s also obsessed with peanut butter, star gazing, and outdoor concerts.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised on the banks of the mighty Connecticut River, Ben is happy to call Maine his adopted home. After years of working in professional kitchens, Ben relishes the opportunity to refocus his efforts further down the food chain. Working with mushrooms affords him the opportunity to pursue his interest in citizen science and deepen his relationship to the landscape around him. In his free time, Ben enjoys watching old movies, folding origami, and finding something fun to ferment.