Founder & Executive Director | Denver, CO | 2013–2017
Colorado Maker Hub
The Spark
In 2013, Elise was working as a marketing and grant writing consultant when she encountered the maker movement — a grassroots cultural shift pulling people away from passive consumption toward active creation, invention, and hands-on making. The implications were significant: more experiential STEM education, community makerspaces democratizing access to tools and technologies old and new, and a pipeline toward entrepreneurship and manufacturing that didn't require a traditional institutional path.
She didn't wait for someone else to bring it to Colorado. She built it.
Building from Zero
Starting with a volunteer leadership team assembled from scratch, Elise founded Colorado Maker Hub and began producing large-scale Maker Faire events across the state. The events grew to more than 6,500 participants and hundreds of volunteers, bringing together local businesses, makerspaces, artists, and creators of every kind — experiences designed to spark wonder and open visible pathways toward creativity and making.
Inside the Denver Maker Faire, Elise hosted the second-largest robotics competition in the United States.
As an opening fundraiser, she pioneered Sparks and Spirits — a craft distillery tasting paired with artists who work with fire, light, and sound. One featured artist created hand-blown neon glass sculpture illuminated live by a Tesla coil.
Statewide Impact
Envisioned and produced a national makerspace conference, bringing leaders from 30 states together to share models, challenges, and resources
Built pipelines to advanced manufacturing training, connecting individual creators to businesses like SparkFun Electronics and Epilog Lasers
Won the Denver Public Schools Imaginarium Award for innovation in education
Appointed Colorado's Ambassador to the White House Initiative on Making
Graduated from the Colorado Creative Industries program and designated a certified Colorado Change Agent
What It Built
Colorado Maker Hub secured $200,000 annually in sponsorship and grant funding, coordinated hundreds of volunteers and educators across the state, and helped establish a maker culture in Colorado that continues to thrive today.
The deeper throughline — convening diverse communities, building coalitions across organizations, creating public experiences that change how people see what's possible — would define everything Elise did next.