MATT MATZELDELAFLOR

Mark “Matz” Matzeldelaflor grew up exploring the wilderness in the
backwoods of New Hampshire, camping, hiking through the mountains, and climbing trees until the weekend after high school graduation when he joined the Navy to become a SEAL. He served in combat deployments to Baghdad and Ramadi, Iraq, and trained the West Coast SEAL Teams in combat skills before leaving active-duty service in 2009. During his reintroduction to civilian life, he c o-founded a fintech startup in the foreign currency space and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from San Diego State University. After losing veteran friends to suicide and reflecting on the disconnection and displacement of returning veterans in society, Mark had an epiphany that led him to reconnect to his roots in nature to help solve the problems close to his heart. He founded Guardian Grange in October of 2020 to serve as a veteran-powered, regenerative healing network to help veterans heal by protecting natural resources and strengthening communities in line with his vision to build a soil-based economy with more naturally balanced ways of living to improve humanity and our relationship with the earth. Mark is committed to evolving a better reality through the creative power of imagination, conversation, and action aligned with mutual respect for the diverse people, communities, cultures and natural environments that nourish life.