Hi everyone I'm Hillary Kerr, the co-founder and chief content officer of who

what where and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.

We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting aside their doubts or fears, and

what happens when they embark on their second life.

Today on the show, I'm speaking with the co-founder and CEO of Yard Zen, Allison Messner.

In 2018, after experiencing a devastating wildfire in their recognized how slow, difficult, and expensive the typical landscape design

process was and a light bulb went off. The two began developing an idea to

make the process more efficient and accessible,

and soon they launched Yard Zen,

a digital landscape design and build platform.

Today, the company operates in all 50 states with a network of hundreds of designers and

architects has partnered with brands like Creighton Barrel and has raised

11 million dollars in venture funding.

But before Allison was disrupting the landscape industry,

she reported as a journalist in Alaska,

worked in PR, served as CMO of the tech company Open DNS when it was acquired by Cisco for $635 million

and even started her own VC firm.

Allison's story is beyond inspiring,

and I'll let her tell you the rest of it herself.

Now, on Second Life, it's Allison Messner.

All right, Allison, you ready?

I'm ready.

...