Title: Director of Education
Company: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Location: Nokomis, Florida, United States
Tracy A. Calla, Director of Education at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in academic administration.
Ms. Calla is an esteemed horticulturist and educator who became the director of education at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, in 2024. Through her role, she is responsible for planning and scheduling classes for lifelong education and community classes. She also schedules lectures and other hands-on activities, plans, designs and implements children’s and family programs, and, among other goals, is involved in the department’s strategic planning.
Beginning her career in the industry as a sales and service manager at the Tropical Bamboo Nursery in 2007, Ms. Calla joined Marine Selby Botanical Gardens for the first time as a greenhouse horticulturalist in 2013, advanced to become the manager of school and family programs from 2017 to 2019, and senior manager of school and family programs until 2020. She then became an independent educator and therapeutic horticulture practitioner between 2020 and 2023 and simultaneously served as the director of education at Bullington Gardens from 2022 to 2023. Moreover, Ms. Calla found success as a community outreach specialist at the University of Florida, IFAS Extension, in Sarasota County, Florida, in 2023.
In addition to her full-time career commitments, Ms. Calla has served as an instructional facilitator and facilitation trainer for Project WILD with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and as a facilitator for Project Learning Tree. These opportunities have given her a better perspective on the industry and contributed to her expertise.
In preparation for her future, Ms. Calla studied at The Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in theater and horticulture in 1999 and a bachelor’s degree in landscape and horticulture at Palm Beach State College in 2012. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in cognitive science at the American College of Education. Besides her formal education, Ms. Calla holds credentials as a certified interpretive guide through the National Association for Interpretation and a horticultural therapy certificate through the Horticultural Therapy Institute, among others.
Ms. Calla remains abreast of trends in her field as a member of the American Public Gardens Association, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, the American Horticultural Therapy Association, the North American Association for Environmental Education, and the Florida Native Plant Society/Florida Wildflower Foundation. Civically, she invests time with the Carolina Horticultural Therapy Network as a founding board member and board member-at-large.
In 2019, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission honored Ms. Calla as the Facilitator of the Year for her work with Project WILD. Her expertise in horticulture, botany, plant-related science, plant science education and environmental education has been instrumental to her career success. Ms. Calla also credits her success to her passion for plants, gardens, and the community involvement that her work breeds.
Excited about the future of her career at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Ms. Calla has numerous projects she is interested in starting. Among them, she aims to introduce a horticultural therapy program. She believes establishing such a program would significantly help build mental and emotional resilience within the community after it recently faced several devastating hurricanes. Ms. Calla also intends to start a therapeutic horticulture initiative specifically for female veterans. Moreover, she would like to develop family-oriented programming for younger working families.
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