Diana Heffernan Schrader is one of a kind.
I remember the first time meeting her at a school fundraiser and complimenting her on her beautiful dress and hat. She stood out for her unique style, but she also had a very strong constitution. This strength of character is what I now recognize to be the foundation for her success. It has fueled her to effectively and fearlessly pioneer and grow a sustainability program that will forever be her legacy in a community that highly values education.

Diana is much more than PV School Gardens or the Garden Bella of Instagram. She is a complicated and focused woman who always knows what she wants and has a way of figuring out how to get it. Diana knew the second that she met her husband Steve that she would eventually marry him. Diana and Steve recently celebrated their 22nd anniversary this year. They met through mutual friends while living in Hermosa Beach after college.

With a degree in Economics and Business from UCLA, she wasn’t always a self-proclaimed modern bohemian. She spent several decades in private wealth management before retiring to be a full-time mother to her two young girls, Sofia (13) and Stella (11). Trading in her 50-plus-hour work week buried in a computer screen and three hour daily commute, to log equal time in volunteer hours for her daughter’s preschool, she was looking for a way to connect with people in a community that she was living “at”, but not really living “in”.

Work was everything to her until she experienced motherhood. It now became her driving force. She wanted to meet local parents and understand her own community role through the lens of her children. In order to do this, she had to immerse herself in it. Diana had no idea that dropping off her daughter one morning and noticing a weed-filled piece of land adjacent to her daughter’s classroom would be the catalyst that would ultimately take her on a 10-year journey, starting with the task of getting accepted to The Edible Schoolyard Academy in Berkeley, CA.

Here she would learn to train her team of teachers, district food services representatives and invested parent volunteers in the development of the future PVPUSD school garden program. This experience would be her guiding compass as the organization grew. Over the past 10 years, PV School Gardens has expanded their edible education program from a single preschool to a Pre K – adult education effort, including five other school districts. Together they install and maintain partnership gardens with community gardens, restaurants, realtors, museums and resorts, host community workshops, culinary garden camps, farmers market programs and launching The Edible Home Project during the pandemic, providing edible home garden education and services, all while forming invaluable partnerships with local individuals, businesses and organizations.

The answer is simple. She tells us that her fundamental business skills have been essential to the success of running a foundation. Anyone that has worked alongside her knows her work ethic and that her community credibility exists because she walks the walk. Relying exclusively on PTA’s, partnerships, grants and volunteers that she oversees, in order to cover actual expenses and support of the teaching and garden operations, she has never asked her greater community for support money and she has never hosted a larger fundraiser to raise funds specifically for her own organization. People have gravitated towards her because they understand the value in what she is doing.

“I was really good at asking for money for every other organization’s causes that I supported, but when it came to mine, it was probably my weakest spot”, Diana said. People may have assumed that we were somehow funded by some big grant paying all the bills, but we were not. I just wanted to be present in my daughter’s lives and it wasn’t my intention to be a volunteer Director who ran a nonprofit. Once I realized the impact it was having on my community, I knew it was my responsibility to continue to raise awareness and help nurture these environmental stewards of the future. I never expected it to grow into what it is today.”

All of this has been cultivated through what Diana calls authentic personal relationships that have culminated in support for the nonprofit, around one common human denominator, food.

She emphasizes that there have been many talented individuals involved over the last decade that have contributed the layers of content to create this unique program that exists today. Her talent has been to put it together, into a model that is equally appealing to administrators, parents and students. During the pandemic, the team was reduced to two exceptional teachers: a lead educator and lead farmer, who continued to hold up the foundation of the program when nobody was looking.

The silver lining may have been that there was time to re-evaluate where the program was going and how to keep it both fresh and relevant. Thanks to the PVPUSD School Board, there was still important work going on in the gardens while students learned from home. This summer PVSG will rebuild their teaching team with skilled and passionate educators to jumpstart the school garden programs this fall.

Throughout the pandemic, she has continued to dedicate her time and ideas to further supporting community service, education and conservation and preservation efforts on the Peninsula. Currently she is serving on the PVPUSD Sustainability Committee, PVPUSD Middle School Steering Committee, PVIS PTSA as well as leading activities with her daughter’s Palos Verdes National Charity League group and cheering on her girls from the Beach FC soccer sidelines.

When asked what the future holds for her nonprofit, she shares “In the beginning, I liked the freedom of making something happen when and how it worked for me. I never wanted my efforts to become a paid job because I felt it would hinder the creative process with a lot of rules. However, I do feel that it is important that we find a long-term source to fund the people who will eventually run the organization and that there is a sustainable plan in place to take over the administration of the programs. It is time for us to find the next generation of leaders that want to build on the excellence that has been created. I see the natural progression for the PVSG program to transition into becoming a part of the fabric of a district-wide outdoor education effort, with hands-on learning and student service/leadership opportunities guiding the path, including cross-curricular connections to art, garden, environment and nutrition.”

This dynamic woman puts heart and soul into everything she does so if the next ten years are anything close to the last ten, you can bet there will be some exciting things to come.

If you follow Diana on social media, you will quickly see her creativity and attention to detail shows through in her daily life. She cultivates beauty in everything she does from her own personal bohemian style of flowing maxi dresses, hats and scarves to her uniquely styled annual New York holiday photo shoots. “The girls have fun letting me play stylist for them at our annual holiday photoshoot. It’s our favorite time of year, capturing them in a stunning artistic editorial fashion layout and sharing the magic with our friends and family. They literally become works of art.” She can let an “heirloom tomato going soft on the counter” inspire her to create a beautiful frittata at the drop of a hat, with ingredients on hand; eggs, fresh herbs, green onions, chopped garlic, red pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Her post is complete with hashtags like #foodisart, #growitorknowit, and #gardenbellaeats. The photo that went along with her description of this culinary masterpiece would make anyone want to throw on an apron, channel this home chef and host a Sunday brunch. She is consistent in her perfections and passions. It is evident this is not a show for others but a true calling to put in the extra time, and love to make all things around her aesthetically pleasing and purposeful.