Lacey Books ’06
Founder and Executive Director, YouthRoots
Lacey is the founder and executive director of YouthRoots, a youth development and leadership program for high school students based in Denver, CO. In the fall of 2010, the first YouthBoard of 15 students sat around a board table in downtown Denver. Now, the organization serves over 100 students in Colorado and Michigan. The organization uses an innovative leadership curriculum that she developed using the philanthropic process as the experiential classroom.
After graduating from CMC with a major in Neuroscience, Lacey married her high school sweetheart (Paul Books, CMC ’06) and they moved to Denver a week later. She got her teaching certificate and taught preschool for four years. And she worked (and continues to work) for her five-generation family business, The Everist Company, where she handles water rights for the Colorado properties, sits on the board, and helps develop high-end real estate in Summit County, CO.
When she’s not relentlessly pursuing one of those projects, Lacey enjoys spending countless hours laughing with her daughters and husband, volunteering at a local preschool, and pretending she is a world-class artist in her basement. She also enjoys anything in the outdoors.