Making Space to Root & Rise with Erin McGuire

This month's guest, Erin McGuire, is a former academic and global research leader whose career has centered on equity in agricultural innovation systems. In 2025, when shifts in U.S. government priorities abruptly cut her federal research funding, Erin faced a pivotal moment. Rather than retreat, she chose to build. What had begun as quiet conversations about creating space for women to rest and reconnect became Root & Rise—a community-backed retreat and investment model grounded in collective ownership and shared joy. In this episode, we talk about the path that led her to this moment, mere months away from the first ever first Root & Rise summer camp in the French Countryside.

Show Notes: 

Connect with Erin and the Root & Rise community...

• on their website (https://rootandrise.com/) 
• or Instagram (@__rootandrise__/). 

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• On Instagram @writing_connections_podcast or @laura_isa_walker
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Transcript

Introduction

Laura Walker: [00:00:00] Thanks for listening to Writing Connections, a podcast for writers, retreat hosts, and creatives of all kinds. For this episode, I had a great conversation with Erin McGuire, the founder of Root and Rise in Central France. Erin and I first connected back in the fall of last year, right at the same time that I was talking to the former host of this podcast, Lisa Shaughnessy, about taking over. 

Because I can never do just one thing at a time, I said yes to the podcast and became involved in Root and Rise simultaneously. Now, I’m excited to be bringing the two of them together in this official way. So here we go.

Interview

Laura Walker: First of all, thank you so much for being here, for being on the show. Super excited to talk to you. I’ll just start off with having you introduce yourself and kind of tell your story. 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, sure. Thanks so much. Very excited to be here. I’m Erin McGuire, and I have spent most of my career in academia.

I spent about 15 years at the University of California, Davis, first as a [00:01:00] student and then as associate director and then director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for horticulture, and we worked in West and East Africa, South Asia, and Central America, focusing on fruit and vegetable research, so doing a lot of biophysical sciences but biophysical sciences in a way that had social outcomes, so focusing on nutrition sensitive agriculture, gender equity. My background is in agricultural innovation systems and making sure that we’re creating innovation that is equitable to all and beneficial to marginalized populations.

I’ve been in the gender equity space, marginalized population space, for a while, and, in the sciences, it’s a battle out there. So, 15 years definitely wears on you a bit, but I absolutely loved what I did. I’ve always been someone who, whether I was working in policy, originally for U.S. Congress or eventually in academia, was really interested in how we get [00:02:00] more healthy food to low-income populations. I was on SNAP when I was a kid, which is the food stamp program, and I felt like we just needed more fresh fruits and vegetables. So, I did that for most of my career, and that was 100% embodied in the work I did at UC Davis. 

Then, 2025 rolled around, and my lab for 15 years has been funded by the United States Agency on International Development. So, almost immediately after this new administration came in, there were two executive orders that were put out. One was on stopping foreign aid, so I knew that my program was likely in trouble, and then the other one was that there are only two genders and a whole mandate on how we were supposed to perform as women and men and mandates around diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are spaces that I work predominantly in.

Sure enough, three months later, we got a termination letter from the U.S. government for my lab to shut down, and then six months later we were entirely shut down. Two hundred scientists lost their work. We were in the middle of 25 research projects that took two years and millions of dollars to set up, and a lot of those crops were just lost in the field at the height of data collection. We just lost all of this research. It took years to set up, and our team, who’s worked together at UC Davis for a long time, was gone.

I’m still processing that loss, but in that space, I really found this dream, this fantasy, to start Root and Rise. I happened to be in France when those executive orders came out, and I was just like, “You know what? I’m so sick of fighting. I’m so sick of explaining myself to the world, which I feel like is just really basic stuff like kindness is important, creativity is important, having fun with your friends is [00:04:00] important.”

And that’s where Root and Rise came out of, this idea that, together with a lot of women, we could create a beautiful space that we all invested in, that we all co-owned, that would raise all boats, that we’d be able to finance one another in really positive ways. And that kind of got the ball rolling for Root and Rise, which is a whole ‘nother story that we’re a year into now, and we’ve been able to get 45 women investors, and we own a château in France now and are well on our way to having a summer camp this coming summer.

Laura Walker: Incredible. That idea of trying to explain yourself to the world also becomes a sort of explaining the world to the world—explaining the world to the privileged, maybe, or to the inexperienced. I’m feeling a lot of that right now with everything here in the U.S., and I have quite a few friends in Minneapolis who are watching all of this horror unfold, and— 

Erin McGuire: [00:05:00] It’s awful. 

Laura Walker: It is, and it takes a lot of conscious compassion to dig into yourself and express to other people why this is important. So I can imagine the exhaustion that comes from that after so many years doing that kind of work, and I think what you’re doing with Root and Rise is occupying a different space in the same battle in a way.

Erin McGuire: Yeah, it’s like the flip side of the coin. I feel like in my career I’ve been in fight mode and my personal life too. Just the injustice, the deep systemic injustice that is happening around the world and in the United States for a long time, and right now could not be more obvious. It’s just a constant battle—fighting for what’s right, fighting for what’s obvious, fighting for basic human decency—and I see so many amazing women doing [00:06:00] the same thing. We’re always fighting for these just causes and living and breathing in that space.

And I think when the world collapsed within my own personal space, my career, I became a black hole, and I came out the other side just being like, “I want to create something, the world I want to see. What do I want for my life going forward? I want to be in a place with people who believe in kindness and play.” We don’t have to be so hard inside. My soul is not a warrior all the time. Like, that is definitely part of me, but a big part of me is also just having a good time and being at ease and embracing parts of myself that don’t get to really see the light of day in the environment that we’re in right now, in academia or in the political environment in the United States or globally.

You’re fighting, you’re having to deal with all these big emotions of what’s happening, but then, also, how do we create something that’s beautiful? And [00:07:00] that’s really been my light during this time period is being able to feel creative and joyful and feel like I have some sort of control over my destiny and connect with other women and non-binary people has been an unbelievable, unexpected outcome from this. 

Laura Walker: I love that you used the word light because I can attest that that’s how I’m experiencing this project of yours: it’s another source of light for me in my life. I’m so excited to get to be out there this summer. It’s amazing to watch these sparks become a longer, sustaining light that ends up sustaining a lot of people, that people can gather around.

Erin McGuire: I’ve heard that from quite a few people. We all now have to live in this duality where we have two things that are true at the same time: people really suffering, and then, how do we maintain our mental health through that. I still feel guilty sometimes with this experience of joy, [00:08:00] but there’s something that we have to give back and offer this alternative experience somehow. 

Laura Walker: Yeah. So, summer camp is coming up; tell me about the kinds of retreats you plan to host at Root and Rise. 

Erin McGuire: So I’ll start with our basic summer camp, which is not basic at all. It’s essentially 12 one-week sessions, and it’s modeled after the idea of summer camp. You go to summer camp as a young person, and you get to play with your friends, you have good food, you have activities, yard games, et cetera.

We replicate that but for adult women and non-binary people. Being able to hang out, drink all the wine you want, there’ll be a pool, we’ll have a speakeasy in the outbuildings—so just sort of a playground to have fun and relax and rest. And then there will also be some other adventures you can partake in.

There’s [00:09:00] thermal waters just 15 minutes down the road or wineries, if that’s your thing. So that will be sort of the core offering, but a big part of the core offering is the creative in residence program. Essentially, we invite people who have a certain talent set, whether it’s writing like you, Laura, or if you’re an artist doing painting.

They’ll come to camp for free, participate in all the activities, but also offer workshops to campers who are there. So that’s our core function in the summertime, but we also have the opportunity to run mission-aligned retreats. Root and Rise is very much founded on the idea of equity, centering the LGBTQIA+ community, and, of course, supporting the arts in whatever form.

We really want to have retreats outside of summer camp, and this year we actually have space during the summer months to host writing retreats, specific workshops. There’s been a bunch of people that are interested in “How do you move to France?” or “How do you do this? How do you get a bunch [00:10:00] of women to invest in a property together?” They’re sharing that expertise.

I also am really interested in inviting women doctors to come talk about perimenopause, and I’d love to be able to bring people together to do thought leadership as well as the arts. So, lots of space for creatives to come and make some space for their art.

Laura Walker: It sounds like you’re in a space where a lot of new ideas are still being generated and there’s just all the potential all around you. Have you thought about doing writing or artist residencies at all, where they would be a more funded model of bringing in creatives to spend an extended period of time just working on their art? 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, we have thought about it, and we’re very open to it, particularly in the winter months, in the offseason, or even during the summer months if they don’t mind a lot of activity going on. We haven’t found [00:11:00] the exact right model but would be really interested in someone helping us figure that out. Academics have approached us to do writing retreats, and I also think it’d be great to do creative writing retreats where people come for a week. But yeah, the longer-term residency is something we’re still developing but very open to.

Laura Walker: Alright, take note, listeners.

Erin McGuire: Email us now!

One thing that is cool about the moment that we’re in that’s also overwhelming is that I do think the idea gets better and better with each person who joins our team, invests, or just gets into our orbit. We get lots of ideas through social media and email. So, yeah. Very good time to send in your ideas. 

Laura Walker: Definitely. And we’ll talk social media at the end; I want to make sure people have that information. 

So, you sort of already touched on this, but I’m wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on how you see Root and Rise supporting writers and other [00:12:00] creatives.

Erin McGuire: I did mention the creative in residence program. That’s been a core part of our mission from the beginning. I actually started my professional career wanting to be in the arts. I went to art school for photography and then quickly went into, actually, the creative writing program, and then from the creative writing program, I went into politics, which is where I ended up being rooted. But it is a core part of who we are. I think the people who have been attracted to this project are really interested in supporting the creatives.

Our creative in residence program—creatives apply, you say what your talent set is, and it runs the gamut. Writers, poets, painters, dancers, craft makers, weavers, musicians—we’ve gotten a ton of different applicants through the creative in residence program. And then, different creatives are selected, and they come to camp and are able to share their craft, and we also, of course, broadcast them through our social media channels [00:13:00] and really try to highlight their work as much as we can.

We also have gotten involved with the local art scene. At the château, you’ll see a lot of local artists’ work hanging. One of my favorite artists that we purchased art from is a 16-year-old who has this really cool way of painting portraits of gender nonspecific people that tells a story, which I really love.

So we’ve been able to bring the art into the château, and then we also will have local creatives and residents being supported. So, next month we’re having a dinner for creatives in the local area just to get to know them and then bring them on in the summer for ad hoc workshops. So really trying to create a hub here in rural France for creatives.

And then having these retreats specifically focused, whether it’s for a writing retreat or dance retreat; we have requests for, like, fetish retreats, so [00:14:00] there’s all kinds of different talent sets that are emerging that we really want to support through these retreat styles and welcoming people in and creating the space to nurture that type of dialogue and unpressured productivity.

Laura Walker: That sounds amazing. Is there someplace online where people can see who’s going to be leading what retreats throughout the summer?

Erin McGuire: Yes, absolutely. Once we finalize the creatives that will be coming for each session, we will post it on our website and do advertising around it so that people who are interested in summer camp, but also very specifically interested in the creative that’s coming, can align their travel. In the offseason, I’m really interested in larger collaborations with organizations, et cetera, so that we can work together to have very specific focus retreats too.

Laura Walker: It’s going to be so exciting to see how all of this unfolds! You mentioned [00:15:00] that the people are asking for your expertise on how to relocate to another country or how to build a team and start an organization. What advice do you have at this moment for people who are interested in starting a venture like this one?

Erin McGuire: Get comfortable with being delusional and just go for it is always my first advice. But, secondly, my process was I put something in paper. I had the dream; I had something that I really believed in. I, for a long time, believed in shared property: friends or colleagues owning property together outside of romantic status, which is usually how we own property. That dream, I think, really centered me. And then, I reached out to my closest network. You really need to get those first people who are excited and then building from there.

There’s a couple different angles you can take this from. Of course, the biggest challenge was to raise enough capital [00:16:00] to purchase the château and set it up for summer camp and, now, the space for retreats. So, from that angle, it’s really just about getting comfortable asking people for money and having your pitch down. 

The rejection and being comfortable putting yourself out there is hard, and that was very hard for me in the beginning because I’m not a fundraiser, but ultimately it ended up propelling me towards amazing new relationships and a whole new network.

Dealing with a little bit of anxiety about rejection and being embarrassed to put yourself out there—getting over that really helped me eventually put the fundraising together and the network together in order to make the château purchase. 

Laura Walker: How would you say you’ve learned to respond to that rejection? Because we know it’s very much a part of the process of building something like this.

Erin McGuire: I think I’ve been rejected a lot in life professionally, you know, I’ve [00:17:00] reached and sometimes missed, but sometimes you get it. Reaching and being successful helps you build confidence, and hopefully we’re all doing that in our life—taking on little challenges—and sometimes you lose, and sometimes you’re successful.

For this project specifically, I was dogged in my perseverance. I was like, “This is gonna happen.” I was just completely obsessed with the idea. I couldn’t survive without this happening. I could not go back to normal life. So being really drawn and believing in your vision is helpful, but a ton of people said no to me, like really good friends and family members, and I just said, “It’s okay.”

It was practice. I got to practice my pitch, I got to get feedback about why they didn’t like it, and now I have more information. It was always just about collecting more information, so every conversation is somehow successful.

Laura Walker: Absolutely. For me, that’s been a powerful part of the process too. I remember when I first started really [00:18:00] consistently submitting poetry and short stories, I was able to approach it—and I still don’t know how I captured this right at the beginning and I need to figure out a way to get back to it—but I was able to approach it in a way that made me feel like every rejection was an opportunity for another acceptance, going, “Yes, this means that it’s gonna get published someplace else!”

Rejection is not just part of the process, but it’s a part of like you were saying: if you’re able to collect feedback, that’s how you’re going to learn what you need to do to, then reach the place of acceptance. 

Erin McGuire: It’s very much like writing, and you get critical feedback on your piece; you just get more information and ultimately it’s really helpful. Not to over-glorify it, you know, it sucks sometimes, but you just keep going and it’s a numbers game a bit, and you get that positive feedback, which is so important to counter when people aren’t on board.

Laura Walker: And I think it helps too, like you were saying, to have so much [00:19:00] on the line. Not only did you not want to go back, but there really was no going back. 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, and I think that that’s also a good point. Like, I can probably say pretty assuredly, I wouldn’t have started Root and Rise if I hadn’t been basically kicked out of a job I absolutely loved. I loved my work. I loved the people I worked with; I loved the goals; I would have sat there pretty comfortably for a long time had I not been pushed over the edge.

Laura Walker: Yeah, there’s something really compelling about that idea. I’m thinking about what led me to where I am, which was a divorce from a marriage where I was so happy and my life was so good. My ex and I used to talk all the time, in fact, about how great things were for us, and then kind of outta nowhere, she was like, “Okay, I’m done being married.” And that’s sort of what pushed me over the edge. But it was through the process of losing this really meaningful relationship and then trusting that I could find joy again that I’ve been able to build a completely different life for myself than I ever would’ve been able to have otherwise.

Erin McGuire: I totally agree, and I see that there’s a whole other identity that I have become that [00:20:00] I had no idea I had in me. My whole dream was just to get where I was a year ago. That was the top of it for me. I was so impressed with myself that I had even gotten there. I was like, “Wow, great job, this is it.” And then, you know, you lose it all and you reinvent yourself, and this is a whole different version I never would’ve met. We’re better now. Not better, but just fuller. 

Laura Walker: I feel, for sure, more open than in that previous version of my life. So I think there’s a lot more acceptance, but there’s also a lot more letting people in. 

Erin McGuire: I actually feel that way too. Maybe I didn’t even realize that I was stagnant before, and now I see a whole different flowing energy that I wouldn’t have accessed before. Yeah, that’s a good point. 

Laura Walker: For sure. I’m thinking about the idea of connections, and you mentioned, in terms of advice for building something like this, that one [00:21:00] of the first things that you had to do was gather your people around you. And I’m hoping you can speak to that idea of the kinds of connections that have been important to you along this journey.

Erin McGuire: I will say, the people who first stepped up were the people who I was closest friends with and knew me as a professional. I think that really did help, that I had this whole other profession that was trusted and people saw me do well in that space. The trust points transferred over to this new venture.

And so I do think starting small and with the people that you know the best is really good advice. I know in fundraising they say that to you a lot, and I found that to be absolutely true. And then being able to adjust the idea and the business as more people came in and everyone had a different set of expertise, and doing a lot of informational interviews, so like, in the very beginning I had to talk to a lot of people about what equity meant, what debt investment [00:22:00] meant, how do we create really safe investments for people. Those were all conversations, but people want to be nice, and you just reach out to them, and you say, “Hey, I’m new to this,” and people want to give you their advice.

Those were really wonderful. And then, the circle expanded, and we were able to get some traction on social media and friends of friends, then the periphery just kept expanding and got to have a lot of cool conversations with people who were outside of my network at that point.

But without the original core network, core investors and core believers, we never would’ve gotten to the periphery, ‘cause you can’t go to someone you don’t know and be like, “Hey, you’re my first ask; can I get $10,000?” You really have to have quite a bit in the bank by the time you go to new connections.

Laura Walker: That makes sense. So it’s like you have these connections that are people who know and trust you inherently through years of experience with you, and then you have to [00:23:00] build up the safeguards legally to allow other people into that trust who maybe don’t know you as well, a way for trust to still exist even with people who don’t know and trust you. 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, and I think it would’ve been really difficult for people I didn’t know if there wasn’t money already in the bank. We had very clear guidelines even from our first investor. It’s a journey; I hope I can eventually share it with everyone in a nice blueprint.

Laura Walker: That’s the thing, though, with these kinds of experiences is they’re so meandering and recursive that to encapsulate it in a straightforward way, like “Here’s my journey. First it was this, and then it was this.” It gives a false sense of what you’re actually experiencing.

So, you mentioned equity, and you’ve mentioned that a few times, the idea of explaining that to your investors. 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, sure. I’m not a traditional investor; no one has ever come up to me and been like, “I have an opportunity for you.” So I [00:24:00] really wanted to create that type of opportunity for people like me, our entry level investors, and really just want to create something good with the small amount of wealth that you have. But that’s also a well-thought-out return-on-investment plan. The way equity works in Root and Rise is we have a multi-member LLC, so equity basically is buying a part of the company.

Laura Walker: How does this kind of equity tie in with the DEI kind of equity, opportunities for not just investors but for potential participants? So, for listeners, and maybe for people who are compelled by this idea of creating space of equity where diversity and inclusion really can thrive in a space that they’ve been forced out, what does equity mean to you, and how do you build and create that? 

Erin McGuire: The social concept of equity, not the financial concept of equity. Well, that’s definitely core to Root [00:25:00] and Rise, and that is why I think it’s so important for, honestly, more people to get financially involved with businesses that have equity as a core principle. More people that care about equity need to have equity.

We wanted to make investing in Root and Rise accessible so that we could have more diverse numbers. Most capital to start businesses go to men, so we wanted to make it women-owned, women-led. We have 20% of people of color; 20% non-binary as equity members, and that goes up as you go into the Cedar Circle range; and we also wanted to have a space that focused on queer population, queer women, non-binary, and really put our values out there clearly and draw a line in the sand. So I guess in that sense, we’ve been able to center equity in what we do, and our financial structure made it accessible for more than just the [00:26:00] typical rich person to invest. 

Laura Walker: It almost seems by centering that value, you’ve drawn in people who also hold that as a central value. 

Erin McGuire: Yes, and that was the point of Root and Rise: equity and kindness to each other and having fun in that. You know, it doesn’t have to be all serious; it’s just that we value equity and diversity in our communities. So yeah, we put that out front and center and, really, it was non-negotiable. Every investor was a conversation. We went through it; we talked for an hour. That happened with all of our investors to really make sure we’re aligned, people were believing in the same ethos that Root and Rise wanted to support. 

Laura Walker: Definitely. I’m curious—has your background in agriculture and food production fed into this current project? 

Erin McGuire: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. My first job was working for U.S. Congress. I was on a [00:27:00] politician’s campaign, and then she was elected, so I got to go to Congress with her, which was a huge coup for me at the time, and I also mentioned earlier that I was a participant in many social welfare programs when I was growing up. Working on all these policies that affected people I think really affected me ‘cause I got to see it from both ends and throughout my career.

So, from there, I was working on agriculture policy, and then I went to academia where I worked on, of course, agriculture research. And in international ag research, often it is those in the global north that are running the research programs that have all the clout, that have all the money, and they end up saying, like, “What are the challenges? What are the solutions for those in West and East Africa?”

So a big part of my research program at UC Davis was switching that: how do we get money to principal investigators, researchers in Ghana who are working on Ghana’s challenges in agricultural systems? I think we should be more locally led and more community-led, and we should [00:28:00] have more power in the community for greater things. And I think that’s what Root and Rise is, bringing people together that wouldn’t otherwise have a voice in a much larger structure and being democratic in how we run the business and taking in different ideas and creating a vision together that is of the people, for the people.

So I think that’s somewhat been a theme in my career, and you can see it arise in Root and Rise, and I’ll say that the property is beautiful. It has all kinds of fruits and vegetables on it, and I’m a horticulturist, and so I love taking care of the raspberries and the pears and the walnuts. We have beautiful flowers. So that’s been helpful too. 

Laura Walker: On this ideological level, you were able to model what you’re doing now off of the kind of research that you were doing with UC Davis, but then you also have this literal grassroots level, this ground level where you’re getting to just use your expertise with the produce that’s actually there on site.

Erin McGuire: [00:29:00] Yeah, absolutely. I just absolutely love being in gardens. I love being around vegetables, and so we have beautiful gardens with great vegetable garden space. So I’m really excited for the spring to plant.

Laura Walker: This is just getting me more energized and excited about this summer too.

Erin McGuire: Yeah, same here. I’m so excited to take your creative in residence workshop on writing because I did want to be a creative writer at one point for about six months in my young adult life, and it’ll be so fun to learn more from you this summer. 

Laura Walker: I’m definitely very excited about it. Okay, so before we wrap up, where can people find you online? 

Erin McGuire: Rootandrise.com is our website. You can check us out and book camp there, but you can also inquire about any type of retreat you might want to host at the château. You can check out the château there, and then we’re also on TikTok and Instagram, and it’s [00:30:00] @__rootandrise__ on TikTok. Molly and Jenna, who are on our team, do a great job. We have about 25,000 followers, and on Instagram I am mostly in charge, and we have about 350 followers, and you’ll get snapshots of the flowers around the property.

I’m not as good on the social media as Molly and Jenna, but you can check us out on either of those platforms. 

Laura Walker: Thank you so, so much, Erin, for your time today, especially with this time difference. I know it’s a little bit later in the day for you than it is for me here, but, yeah, I just so appreciate your time and the conversation.

Outro

Laura Walker: Cognitive scientist Maya Shankar opens her new book The Other Side of Change with a mini catalog of the kinds of changes people experience as catastrophic and life altering: divorce, medical diagnoses, death, and so on.

Then, she goes on to explain, “Those of us going through changes of all kinds are far more connected than we may have thought. We can learn from one [00:31:00] another’s stories even when they don’t look like our own.” My experience of losing a primary relationship may not look much like Erin’s experience of losing a comfortable and fulfilling career, but both losses made space for us to step into a new venture and a new way of doing life.

That said, I’m aware of and wary about the impulse to turn major loss into a platitude, which is something Shankar also addresses in her book. The reality is that post-traumatic growth is grueling and disorienting and often quite lonely work. Speaking for myself, the best I can hope for is that my journey sheds a little bit of light for others on a similar trajectory of change. I see the same drive in Erin’s story in the way she has transformed loss into a living experiment in resilience, shared risk, and collective joy through the Root and Rise venture. 

Thanks so much for listening, and join me next time when I speak to Nikos Dimitriou, host of Writers’ Retreats Greece on the Greek island of Evia. [00:32:00] Meanwhile, you can stay connected with us on Instagram at @writing_conncections_podcast.