A Story from A Heartwood Employee:
“I have always had a deep love for trees. My grandfather owned a tree farm I helped with throughout most of my younger life, solidifying my love for trees early. When I was 9 my parents hired Heartwood to prune some large pecans in our backyard. As a kid who loved to climb literally everything, I was enamored. My love of trees stayed with me and became the focus of my higher education where I graduated with a degree in Natural Resource Management from WCU. After I graduated, I set out for Colorado to work for a forestry company. I loved the forest and Colorado, but I really liked the idea of treating trees as individuals instead of a stand. After a while I decided to come back home and explore other career options. PG’s brother and his family had been good family friends of ours, and when he heard I was looking for a career shift he put me in touch with PG. I started with Heartwood in 2006 as a groundman, picking up brush, chipping and raking. I then moved into climbing, bridging two of my lifelong passions. Eventually I became a crew leader and assisted with scheduling the crews. After six years with Heartwood, the west was calling me again and my wife and I moved to LA in 2012. I used the skills and work ethic I acquired at Heartwood to support myself as an arborist in many capacities. In 2018, with a baby on the way, my wife and I began our search for a larger place when we realized how expensive real estate had become and concluded that we needed to leave LA entirely. We landed on Asheville, and I reached out to PG as I knew Heartwood had opened an office there in my absence. I was welcomed back with open arms, it was truly like coming home. I am currently the Consulting Arborist for the Asheville territory. Heartwood has always been in my life, and I feel fortunate to have such a wonderful second family.”
-Tommy Masters
