Meet Taos Rockers, A Family-Owned Business

Who we are...

Cortney Stewart (left) earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology (and Biology) from NM Tech. He has 35 years of experience as a mineral landman and has traveled extensively across the western US. He is a lifetime member of the New Mexico Geological Society, a Friend of the Mineral Museum (NM Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources), and a member of the Albuquerque Gem & Mineral Club and the Los Alamos Geological Society. At an early age in his career, he contracted gold fever – fortunately it remains in remission.

Anne Brenner (right) earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance & Banking from Southern Methodist University (SMU Dallas). She has 38years of experience in private practice as a property manager (Real Estate Broker) and in custodial accounting.  Prior to establishing Taos Rockers with Cortney, Anne thought gemstones came from Tiffany’s. She has since dug her own gemstones, had them cut and set in jewelry and can be seen wearing those stones in the shop.

Taos Rockers Staff 

When you visit the adobe-and-viga shop in beautiful downtown Taos, one of our expert staff will be there to help you find what you need, or to answer questions about the minerals.

from left to right: Dane, Suni, Annya

From left to right: Deneen, Ellen, Arriyana

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Jesse Kline has been with Taos Rockers since 2011. An avid amateur mineralogist and field collector for over 30 years, Jesse knows more about New Mexico minerals and their geologic occurrence than most university geology professors in that field, and is a total WOW at identifying minerals from hand samples. 

• Since 2000 he’s specialized in creating exhibits for professional regional- and national-level mineralogical symposiums.
• He’s an artist, particularly enjoying print-making, drawing and sculpture.
• Many mineralogical specimens at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology Mineral Museum (Socorro, NM Tech) were collected by Jesse.
• He’s still an active collector of mineral specimens, and now particularly enjoys mentoring younger collectors who are willing to learn.

"The finest lab for the study of the Earth Sciences is…your own backyard. Take a walk. Be curious." – J

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Martha Sykes has worked at Taos Rockers since 2017, both in the Taos shop and behind the scenes. She produces the weekly email newsletter from Taos Rockers, and keeps the website going with new products and photographs.

Intending to be an English major in college, Martha fell in love with her geology class, and never looked back. She got her BS in Geology with Honors from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1976, and went on to get her MS and PhD in geology from Arizona State University. She found her future home (northern New Mexico) when she spent 6 weeks in Ranchos De Taos for geology field camp in 1975, and later when she worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Before returning to New Mexico, Martha acted as a one-woman geology department at Hawaii Pacific University for 9 years, ending her time there as head of research and grants administration.

Along the way, Martha became a level 4 reiki master, a certified Colette Baron-Reid oracle card reader, an apprentice to Heather Ash Amara (of Warrior Goddess fame), and was initiated as an earth keeper by an Andean q'ero in Peru. That brings her full circle back to "earth science."