Meet Our Leaders

Maggie Muzante

Maggie Muzante has a passion for flowers, growing plants, creating gardens, photography and art. She grew up in Glen Cove, her first job was for the local beaches in the City of Glen Cove as a calm water beach lifeguard. Maggie is a Farmingdale State College graduate, with a Bachelor's degree in Bioscience achieved in May 2020. Farmingdale had a great impact and source for inspiration, stemming from the Horticulture Department, where she was a work-study student. She worked in the rose garden, sustainable garden, greenhouse, and helped every year at the annual Spring Plant sale, and still does as an alumni. Her favorite courses were biology, chemistry, botany, entomology, and ecology at Farmingdale.

After tending to her own raised beds in the front of her family’s home, Maggie gained planting opportunities for people in need of help with their garden. She expanded her expertise in creating gardens and vegetable raised beds for clients at their homes during her undergraduate studies. After graduation, her first place of employment began as an intern for the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) in June 2020. At LINPI, she learned how to grow native plants from seed, identify plants and collect seeds, and learned more about monarchs and milkweed. She reared caterpillars rescued from milkweed plants at the nursery to help monarchs safely metamorphosize. Presently, she is the LINPI Nursery Manager, where she manages the propagation of native plants and works with volunteers. Her connections brought her to ReWild, starting as the first Gardens Program Manager. She is overjoyed to design, plan and education groups about native plants and their benefits for pollinators.

Maggie enjoys traveling upstate New York, nature walks, photography, art in many forms, beach visits, swimming, music, company of friends, and collaborating with fellow horticulturists. She combines nature and art, creating herbariums with pressed flowers, flower frames, making recycled paper, and jewelry making with seaglass. She is always looking to learn new skills to expand her knowledge of horticulture.

Maggie joined ReWild in February 2023.

Peter Meleady

Peter Meleady grew up in Dublin city Ireland. His love of gardening and plants was nurtured by his mother who introduced him to vegetable gardening and the feel of the earth at a very early age. He emigrated to the U.S. in the early 90’s. He has four children and lives in Oyster Bay.

Peter holds Master’s Degree in Organic Agriculture from The University of Glasgow, an Honors Degree in Botany from Trinity College Dublin, a Diploma in Amenity Horticulture form the National Botanic Gardens Dublin, and a Diploma in Horticulture from The Royal Horticultural Society. He is an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) Certified Arborist and is licensed by the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation as an applicator in three categories.

Peter has over 40 years’ experience in horticulture and botany. He has worked for the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin and for The New York Botanic Gardens. He has participated on plant expeditions to Belize, Chile, East and South Africa.

He also has considerable experience as an independent consultant specializing in ecological horticulture/ecosystem gardening.

Peter serves as Co-chair of the ReWild Gardens Committee.

Raju Rajan

Raju Rajan is a technologist with a strong communitarian ethic. Since obtaining a PhD in Communication Networks at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he has enjoyed a long career as researcher and consultant. His entrepreneurial acumen has led him to found two IT start-ups as well as a number of community groups aimed at organizing people for systemic change.

Raju is currently active with Long Island Together, a progressive collective that organizes around education, immigration and social change, as well as ReWild Long Island, where he serves as President of the Board. ReWild brings native plants to public spaces and private yards.

An avid gardener and amateur tree-enthusiast, Raju also owns and manages Sharadavanam, a small agroforest in India dedicated to rewilding and permaculture.

Raju resides in Port Washington, NY with wife Sonia Arora, an educator & community organizer, and son Kabeera Singh, in college.

Raju is a founder of ReWild Long Island and currently serves as Board President.

Samantha Jo

Samantha Jo began her quest to find balance in our modern lives to coexist with the natural world since 2020. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Queens College, and carries an entrepreneurial spirit embedded by her immigrant parents. After working a few years in the finance industry, she leaned into her interest in health & wellness, and found a passion for sustainability in regards to regenerative agriculture, composting, and the list expands every year.

While she didn’t grow up around the garden, Samantha was eager to learn and completed her apprenticeship on an organic farm in Indiana, NYC’s Master Composter Program, and Permaculture Design Course. Samantha was inspired to teach beginners to encourage more local food production by creating urban vegetable gardens through her small business, Steady Harvest.

In her free time, Samantha loves spending time with her family, friends, and fur baby- Oliver. She enjoyed tending her garden, cooking, hiking, or simply anything that brings her loved ones closer.

Samantha joined ReWild in February 2024.