local storiesMay 30, 2023

Meet Chrischele Madison

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Chrischele Madison. Chrischele was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Laticia Brice.

Chrischele, can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

My gardening journey started over 15 years ago while I was a stay at home mom. I built my first square foot raised bed with the help of my nephew. At the time, I was struggling with depression and doing my best to take care of my family while fighting to remain present. Believe it or not, God led me to start a garden. Of course, I questioned what I was being led to do because I have never grown food before. All I knew was I had to do it and I’m so glad that I did. There were so many lessons that were being taught to me in the garden. With some trial and error, research, and a lot of help from more experienced gardeners, I got the knowledge needed to plan, plant, grow, and maintain a healthy vegetable garden retreat year after year.

With the first successful harvest, I was hooked! I would bring my children in the garden so they would see where squash, tomatoes, eggplant and other veggies came from. My husband would look out his office window and watch all the vegetables grow and believe me, a garden grown tomato tastes so much better than those in the grocery store. We were all learning. Joy was coming back into my life and the darkness began to lift and I found peace while gardening.

My love of nature and a Degree in Biology just seem to be a natural fit. Gardening quickly turned into my passion and so now, I love to teach others how to supplement their food source by growing their own vegetables.

In 2015, I spearheaded a community garden with the help of some awesome friends and fantastic donors. Then several years ago, I started consulting, volunteering, and was blessed to be able to donate thousands of seeds and gardening materials to local schools, churches, urban farms, and home gardeners, and organizations. I feel that everyone should have access to fresh vegetables and I teach/coach them how to obtain it from seed to harvest.

Please tell us more about your brand, Sprouting Roots Consulting

As the owner of Sprouting Roots Consulting, LLC, my goal is to Cultivate Green Thumbs and help people grow nutritious vegetables in the space that is available to them. I love teaching individuals, families, organizations, and nonprofits to grow their own food. This is being achieved by 1:1 Consultations, Customized workshops, and In-person or Virtual training. When I consult with a new client, many times they have never gardened before or have tried it and they did not achieve the harvest they wanted. Most of the time they tell me that they don’t have a green thumb and they kill everything. Then I remind them that green thumbs are not born, they are cultivated and I started off where they are now. I understand the overwhelm, fear, and confusion they feel on where to start in growing healthy food for them and their families. I’ve been there and I will be with them through the growing process virtually or in person. They will receive tips, a maintenance plan, and text reminders when needed.

What makes Sprouting Roots Consulting different is that every part of the planning, planting, growing, maintenance, and harvesting process, I am there with them guiding them through and sharing life lessons as experienced through the garden. The whole family is taught how to start a garden even the little ones can participate. A customized plan is developed for the client and if little ones are involved there will be some STEAM lessons for them as well. Everyone grows! I do go a little deeper with biology incorporated and I keep it fun! As long as the new gardener does their part and we work as a team, there will be a harvest.

Laticia Brice and Laticia Brice Consulting have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Laticia Brice and Laticia Brice Consulting and your experience with them.

I have been working with Laticia of Laticia Brice Consulting for a couple of years now. She is the most hands-on, professional, and patient Business Coach I have ever worked with. She works with you where you are in the process of your entrepreneurial journey. She understands and gives you so much support and help! While you are learning everything regarding branding, marketing, and DIY website building, and social media engagement, etc. Laticia is so accessible and will hold your hand if you need it to guide you through.

Prior to meeting Laticia, I had no idea how to even build a website and did not want to be involved with social media. I was absolutely terrified with the thought of me even trying. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a little scared but I was able to DIY my website and start posting on social media. I still have some work to do on it but now I am more confident in doing so. It is a learning process. She is helping me to embrace social media and believe me I have been fighting it, but it is necessary and I am glad that social media is one of the many platforms that we are learning in the Digital Growth HUB.

The Digital Growth Hub (Business growth membership) is a MUST for anyone trying to do this alone. We meet weekly to tackle doable tasks that will get us closer to continually servicing our ideal clients. We are learning strategies, concepts, and systems that will help us to meet our marketing goals which will lead to profits. The training and lessons learned each week with Laticia are priceless. She knows who her ideal clients are and she has developed a system that works. As she is training and consulting with us, she is also teaching us how to do the same for our clients.