This article is eligible for the
Gordon Witteveen Award designation for the author.
“I fell in love with the golf course; it was a beautiful piece of paradise.” Andrea Li ways to improve this area so more women can benefit from being accepted into programs such as the Green Start Academy. From there, I created an online twitter account, @WomeninTurf, and a Facebook page, Women in Turf. Turf Republic is helping make my ideas come to fruition with a new community on the platform called Women in Turf. I am excited to say I have been networking with women in every facet of the turf industry across the globe. Here is a short description of Turf Republic’s goals and direction from CEO Bill Brown: Turf Republic brings solutions to a singular location across the most modern and diverse technology platform in the turfgrass industry. We made Turf Republic extremely simple. Everyday those in the turf community are charged with developing and providing solutions. Turf Republic has been built by individuals encompassing over 100 years of combined experience of bringing solutions to the turfgrass industry. Turf Republic was built to be the natural extension for the turf community: the student, the professional, the educator, Industry and even the enthusiast. We are providing the most simple yet powerful tool for turf mangers to both find and share solutions. Turf Republic is the one stop shop for technology, education, outreach, turf management and professional development. We aren’t looking at doing things better than everyone else in the industry. We are just doing things differently. – Bill Brown, CEO Turf Republic The women I have met are superintendents, assistants, teachers, scientists, soil specialist, suppliers and all-round turf geeks that thoroughly enjoy their work. I aim to inspire and promote the women in the turf industry and share their stories as they share with me, each telling their journey in our industry. We are able to relate to others who are doing the same type of work we do. I look forward to meeting all these people face-to-face one day. I hope to see more women come into the turf industry and grow into future industry leaders. I have been a social media geek
THE FAIRWAYS OF CONNAUGHT GC ARE LI’S OFFICE.
right from the get go. I enjoy the social interactions between groups of people from all over the world, each person having different opinions and goals. I am a huge fan of Instagram. This app uses photography to share a visual story of the pictures you snap. I started taking pictures of my work and turning it into a photo journal. I can look back and see what the beginning of the season looked like and compare it to what it looks like throughout the season and what it looks like when the course has been put to bed. I will always have those photos to keep and share with others. Another social media platform I enjoy using is Twitter. We all know you either love it or hate it. Each person always has a different opinion of how to utilize the platform, but since there is no real boundaries, except the 140 word limit for each post, using it can push our normal, inside-the-box way of thinking, create a virtually new way to bring people together and construct a different dimension of networking. I love what I do because I get to share my passion of working on a golf course with others and, together, build longlasting friendships along the way. Join in the conversation @WomeninTurf or our Facebook Page, Women in Turf. GM
Serving Western Canada with quality Bentgrass Sod for 18 years.
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Andrea Li, Assistant Superintendent, Connaught Golf Club MARCH/APRIL 2014 | GreenMaster 19