From fighting food insecurity and improving childhood literacy to creating new opportunities for Tahoe’s next generation of entrepreneurs, the Marcella Foundation is tackling some big community needs with an ambitious local approach.
On this episode of Tahoe TAP, hosts Mike Peron and Rob Galloway sit down with Melissa Uppendahl, founding Executive Director of the Marcella Foundation, to talk about the organization’s growing impact across the region and the projects it has on the horizon.
Since helping launch the Foundation, Uppendahl has been instrumental in developing programs centered on food security, literacy, mentorship and youth opportunity. That includes FeedTahoe, which works to address hunger in the community; the countywide expansion of the Imagination Library, providing books to young children; and the Fannan Fellowship, designed to support and inspire emerging leaders and entrepreneurs.
Now, another major project is taking shape: The Atrium, an innovative makerspace being developed to give community members a place to create, collaborate, learn new skills and turn ideas into reality.
Uppendahl’s path to nonprofit leadership includes founding Lift Literature and working in the financial management of environmental restoration projects throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from St. Mary’s College and a Master of Public Administration from CSU Chico.
A mother of three boys, Uppendahl has built her work around a belief in big ideas — and, more importantly, creating the partnerships and infrastructure needed to make them happen.
In this episode, Tahoe TAP explores the Marcella Foundation’s expanding role in the community, the challenges of addressing hunger and literacy at the local level, and the vision behind The Atrium as it prepares to become a new hub for creativity, education and entrepreneurship.
Tune in for a conversation about turning ambitious ideas into tangible community impact — and what the Marcella Foundation has planned next for Tahoe.
1 Sept 2026
Ep. 91 - Stephanie Hampton - UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center
Lake Tahoe is one of the most studied lakes in the world, and understanding what’s happening beneath its famously clear surface is critical to protecting its future.
On this episode of Tahoe TAP, hosts Mike Peron and Rob Galloway sit down with Dr. Stephanie Hampton, Director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and a professor of environmental science and policy, for a conversation about the science behind Lake Tahoe and the challenges facing freshwater ecosystems.
A freshwater ecologist by training, Hampton has spent more than two decades studying lakes and the forces that shape their health and resilience. Her research has taken her from Lake Tahoe to Lake Baikal in Siberia, one of the world's oldest and deepest freshwater lakes, giving her a global perspective on the factors that keep aquatic ecosystems healthy — and the growing pressures they face from climate change and human activity.
Hampton's work places her at the intersection of science, environmental policy and public understanding. In addition to leading the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, she currently serves as President of the Ecological Society of America and has held leadership positions with the National Science Foundation and Washington State University.
For a region where the health of the lake is closely tied to its environment, economy and quality of life, Hampton's work offers an important look at what researchers are learning about Tahoe — and what those discoveries could mean for the lake in the decades ahead.
In this episode, Tahoe TAP explores the science behind Tahoe's clarity, how changing environmental conditions are affecting freshwater ecosystems, what researchers are watching most closely, and how scientific research can help guide the decisions needed to protect the lake.
Tune in for a fascinating conversation with one of the country's leading freshwater ecologists and get a deeper look at the science helping us understand — and protect — Lake Tahoe.
18 Aug 2026
Ep. 90 - Brooke Laine - El Dorado County Supervisor District 5
Lake Tahoe has no shortage of complicated issues — housing, transportation, wildfire resilience, infrastructure and growth among them — and when it comes to understanding how those decisions are made at the county level, few people have a better perspective than Brooke Laine.
On this episode of Tahoe TAP, hosts Mike Peron and Rob Galloway sit down with Laine, the El Dorado County District 5 Supervisor, for a wide-ranging conversation about the issues affecting South Lake Tahoe and the surrounding communities.
Laine is a Tahoe local through and through. A graduate of South Tahoe High School and UC Santa Cruz, she has spent much of her career serving the community in one form or another — from owning a small business and working in banking to volunteering extensively and serving on the South Lake Tahoe City Council, including a stint as mayor.
Today, she represents one of the largest and most geographically diverse districts in El Dorado County, stretching from the Tahoe Basin and communities including Tahoma, Meeks Bay, Meyers and South Lake Tahoe all the way to Pollock Pines.
Her regional involvement extends well beyond county government. Laine has served on numerous organizations and boards dealing with some of Tahoe's biggest challenges, including the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Tahoe Transportation District and California Tahoe Conservancy.
That experience gives her a unique view of how decisions made outside the basin can have a very real impact on the people who live here — and how local priorities can make their way into the larger regional conversation.
In this episode, Tahoe TAP takes listeners behind the scenes of county government and explores what's happening across South Lake Tahoe from El Dorado County's perspective. The conversation covers the region's biggest challenges, the relationship between Tahoe and Placerville, and where Laine believes the community is headed next.
Tune in for an inside look at the county-level decisions shaping South Lake Tahoe — and a conversation with one of Tahoe's longtime local leaders who has spent much of her life trying to make this mountain community work.
Who has been a guest on Tahoe TAP
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Brian Baumgartner
Meg Peart
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Colin West
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