Shelley Villalobos

"In sixth grade, I went to environmental camp for a week, in the woods near Placerville," says Shelley Villalobos, who grew up on a five-acre walnut farm near Chico, California. "I came back changed, aware that our choices matter for the planet." Villalobos played softball all through school in Chico, for one year at local Butte College, and for three years at the UO, while she completed a degree in journalism and wrote a weekly column on the environment for the Oregon Daily Emerald. After graduating in 2010, she served an internship in student-athlete development with the UO athletic department and earned a graduate certificate in sustainability through the planning department. "It opened doors for me locally," says Villalobos, who landed a half-time position as a research analyst with the school's Office of Sustainability. In 2013, she took on a second half-time job as Certification Director at the Council for Responsible Sport, a non-profit organization that promotes socially inclusive and environmentally responsible athletic events. "We certify events all over the world, based on 61 best-practice standards," she says. "We have certified 120 events since 2008." Villalobos herself was certified to teach yoga in June of 2014. She currently teaches three classes weekly, two at Mudra Yoga, 199 E 5th, and one at Everyday People Yoga, 12th and Lincoln. Fans of UO softball may recall Shelley Deadmond, as she was known before she married Alberto Villalobos in August of 2013.