Madeline Hooper

After a trailblazing public relations career that included creating and building the leading marketing-PR firm DeVries Global, and then a career as a ballroom dance competitor and teacher, Madeline de Vries Hooper immersed herself in the world of gardening. She was invited to become a trustee of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, where she has been Vice Chair for the past 10 years. She has visited many of the finest gardens in the United States and Europe and developed relationships with leading horticulturalists, garden designers, and plantspeople. However, her passion for gardening left her with many aches and pains. A friend recommended she work with a personal trainer and she learned new techniques and exercises to relieve her pain and enable her to garden more enjoyably and productively. These newfound habits were the inspiration for the GardenFit television show and workshop program. Madeline and her husband live in Columbia County, New York, where for the past 20 years they have devoted themselves to maintaining Rockland Farm, a 10-acre garden they created from scratch.