Our Team
Kirsten Dickerson
Founder + Executive Director
Kirsten is passionate about living mindfully, empowering women on the margins of society, and promoting ethical design in the artisan craft sector. She has traveled extensively (over 40 countries), building meaningful long-term relationships with artisans, designers, and local guides.
Kirsten is a visionary leader with 25 years experience in the social business and non-profit sector. She has helped to launch and grow both impact businesses and global nonprofits such as Raven + Lily and Tirzah International. She has mentored and coached female changemakers across the world. She has also helped design and renovate large projects such as retreat centers as well as the interiors of multiple homes, storefronts, and nonprofits. She has developed branding and websites for many impact businesses, and she has served as an art director and production designer for film projects ranging from commercials and music videos to features. She is currently directing and producing a feature documentary on artisans.
Her real passion lies in exploring the intersection of faith with creation care, creativity, and contemplation. She is a postulate in the Society of Saint Francis (Anglican) and actively lives out those convictions in her everyday life. Kirsten is also a nature enthusiast and former Master Naturalist as well as an active artist who loves to paint in nature and invite others to join her.
With ARTIST & NOMAD, Kirsten offers her experience and expertise to curate travel experiences, develop and source ethical products, and empower people to think about all levels of ethics involved in our everyday choices, especially revolving around the world of regenerative design + travel and the practice of intentional living.
Hope Curan
Tour Leader + Artist in Residence
Hope Curran Lundblad is a multidisciplinary artist and poet based between San Francisco and Semur-en-Auxois, France. Receiving her master's degree from La Sorbonne in fine arts and international vision and a bachelor's honors degree from UC Santa Barbara, Hope has focused on the theme of home throughout her career. Leading various artist residency and retreat programs in San Francisco and Paris through partnership with Transform Arts has given her a global creative community. She and her partner Peter now live in the French countryside, focusing on hospitality, craft, and community development through their project The Poetry Factory, sponsored through Fractured Atlas. She believes hospitality is the highest form of art.
As a team member of ARTIST & NOMAD, Hope offers her talents with photography and design to support our work with the Artisan Fund in developing collections for our artisan give-back partners. She is also co-leading the tours to Morocco and India in 2025, and in 2026, she will be leading the tours to Morocco (Feb), France (June), and the Algarve region of Portugal (Oct).
Tara Brown
Operations Manager
For over 20 years, through her company, With Creatives, Tara has worked alongside creative professionals in a variety of ways - from managing their day-to-day logistics to coordinating both in-person and virtual events - all to help them stay focused on what they love most.
As a team member of ARTIST & NOMAD, Tara helps coordinate all tour and retreat logistics, serves as the main point of contact for travelers to ensure they’re fully prepared for their journey, and helps manage overall operations for everything ARTIST & NOMAD.
On the home front, she has shared 34 adventure-filled years with her husband, Eric. They’ve been gifted with three incredible sons + three remarkable daughters-in-law, each bringing their own creativity, kindness, and artistry into the world.
Some of her favorite things are a bold cup of coffee, growing summer flowers, getting lost in a great book, dabbling in creative art forms, and cheering people on as they chase after their ideas and dreams.