Karelia joined MLC's Next Generation Advisory Board in February 2023 and after serving two terms there moved onto the Board of Directors in 2025.

She grew up outside of Cortez as a fourth-generation area local. After traveling, working, and going to school around the west for 15 years, she moved home in July 2022 to raise her girls as fifth-generation Montezuma County residents.

Karelia is passionate about community engagement and the conservation of working and natural lands; she believes that collaboration is the only way to achieve long-term goals of agricultural production and conservation.

While raising two young girls, Karelia and her husband stay busy skiing, small-scale farming, sailing, mountain biking, hiking, and camping—let's just say the Ver Eeckes are seldom bored!

She holds a Bachelors of Arts from Western Colorado University in Biology with an emphasis in Environmental Biology & Ecology and a Masters of Science from Southern Oregon University in Environmental Education with certificates in Non-profit Management and Mediation & Conflict Management.