Jo

Jo with Cisco, one of the horses who helped found Tapestry’s Horse-Human Relationship Program

Co-President Joanne (Jo) L. Belasco, Esq. came into Tapestry as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Sponsored Research Officer in 1998, and served in that capacity until September of 2007 when she accepted the mantle of Co-President. She received her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in Boston in 1993 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (1990) from Boston College. Belasco, who is also a professional horse trainer, riding instructor, and clinician, initiated and developed Tapestry’s Horse-Human Relationship Program in 2001, which integrated horses, mindfulness, and Indigenous worldview to teach people about the relationship between humans and nature. Tapestry’s newest focus area, Indigenizing Environmental Law, manifests Jo’s passion to infuse the field of environmental law with the power of Indigenous worldview. Her legal scholarship focuses on the relational and healing aspects of law, particularly as they concern animals, the Land, and people. Her recent publications include “Indigenizing Environmental Law,” co-authored with Dawn Adams and published in the 2021 Compendium of Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge: Towards Inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge and Local Knowledge in Global Reports on Climate Change and Of Time, Patience, and Ceremony, co-authored with Dawn Adams and Stuart Barlo, and published in Evaluation Matters—He Take Tō Te Aromatawai 7: 2021. [Contact Jo]