Born and raised in the South,  Justin has family roots in farming and ranching.  He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in environmental studies where he began to integrate a personal, academic, and collective sense of appreciation for open spaces. He received his master’s degree from the University of Southern California in landscape architecture and quickly expanded studies beyond just landscape architecture to grazing methods, farming practices, and botany. After graduate school he went on to work in landscape architecture but quickly realized he wanted to get back to the open spaces he loves. He has since worked with environmental conservation and agricultural non profits.