Meet Your Guide

My name is Kortney Nedeau, and I grew up in the beautiful small coastal town of Kennebunk, Maine. Growing up here is special, watching the community grow, and tourism rise is exciting, it’s fun, and one things for sure - it’s not slowing down any time soon. Southern Maine specifically is known for lobster rolls, beaches, food trucks, lighthouses, breweries, museums, hiking trails, a vast array of cuisine, scenic little small ship towns, and local shops of course.

When I travel people often say “Maine, where’s Maine?” Or they’ll say “Maine, what is there to do there? Why would anyone go to Maine?” - newsflash. Every year on Memorial Day weekend you can play the license plate game and see all 50 states and half the Canadian provinces before the weekend is over. Truthfully its difficult to find a Maine license plate once Memorial Day hits, and thats not a dramatic statement. I love Maine for all four seasons, for all the weather, all the everything. Each season is so unique and dynamic in its own right. The advantage of living in Kennebunk is that we have the ocean, rivers, lakes, ponds, marsh’s and mountains within 30 minutes. Where else can you say that? I went to school in New Hampshire, they can’t say that. I grew up going to Boston every weekend and Cape Cod every summer, they cant say that. And, I’ve driven 44 states in the US, and even though I LOVED Oregon, and Colorado - Oregon didn’t have the same East Coast small town vibes, and Colorado is the furthest from the ocean of any state. Rivers and lakes are great - but waves. No competition. Traveling was important to me because I can now say with absolutely no bias, Maine is where I love to live, New England is my favorite place in America. The charm, lack of billboards, minimal food chains and not a sign for fireworks, porn and guns on every corner - if you’ve traveled around a bit you know what I mean. Maine is charming. Small. Local. Everything is small business. Everything is an individuals dream coming to life. We all help each other, and I’m so excited to share that with you.

I grew up in a split household, one household I was pretty independent - traveled a lot and cooked my own meals, made my own plans, did the day to day tasks; and in the other house - a catering company came to life in front of my eyes. I grew up interested in the unordinary. The personalized, genuine experiences, memories over materials.

After graduation, I attended Plymouth State University in New Hampshire where I played softball all 4 years, and waitressed on the side as well as working for a local theater and on off days cleaned rooms at a boutique Bed and Breakfast. My house in college was always filled with fresh produce, vegetables, and homemade baked goods - I loved to feed my friends, and campus police…priorities. We had fun, a lot of it - but my focus has ALWAYS been on taking care of those around me.

In May of 2011, I graduated from PSU and moved to Boston for my first job working for a lead generation daily deal website. It was fun connecting with local businesses and this was the start of my true appreciation for anyone but chains. I have always been committed to supporting them ever since. My company was bought, and I found myself looking for a job - this led me to Providence, Rhode Island where I worked for Fidelity Investments for 2 years, and purchased my first home.

Life has a way of working out though! Another career change, house sold, and a move to back to Maine here I am! My career has been a hodgepodge of tons of different things, always involving sales and marketing, travel, and my favorite - building relationships. After several sales contracts in Maine for different companies, I had an injury that required back surgery. Once I recovered from back surgery, I decided I would travel the country by car. From September of 2017 through Thanksgiving Day in November, I traveled in my 2012 Forester on a solo trip visiting 44 of the states. I started in Maine and made my way South to Atlanta, West through Texas and Vegas, then North to Seattle. From Seattle I flew to Hawaii for a week, and back to Seattle where I was on the home stretch. I then completed the drive east through all the West and Midwestern states. My goals on the trip were to eat at absolutely NO chains, even for coffee. My budget was $50 a day, and I brought tons of beer from New England to trade with the 125 breweries I visited on the trip. Other than breweries, I found cute little diners, cafes, hiking trails and lookouts - I never once utilized a tour or ticketed event other than for Alcatraz but only because I had no choice. When visiting each of these cities, I never utilized Yelp or TripAdvisor, or Google. I met people, locals, and took several different opinions before choosing where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. It was such an organic experience, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Upon my return home, I took one more sales contract and now since 2018 - have finally settled in working for a wonderful family owned tannery in Asia.

Working for the tannery is amazing. Essentially my job is to travel and visit 15-18 customers quarterly throughout the US and work with their designers and developers on shoe design and creation. 3-4 times a year I will travel throughout Asia to factories checking on quality, and of course spending time in our tanneries as well. My job has taken me to 18 cities, some I never would’ve traveled to or explored regularly. I’ve become a travel snob in the best way, meaning that I only want unique experiences that you can’t find by a simple Google search.

Back in Maine, for years I’ve been “the planner” - everything my friends group and I do, usually I planned, prepped and implemented - even down to the details of my wife and I’s wedding this past July. When people are coming to Maine, or their family is coming to Maine, they always ask for recommendations - and I always have itineraries ready to go depending on the type of group thats visiting - after years of doing this, my friends pushed me far enough to jump and “make this a business”

Enter, The Maine Resource LLC. In Fall of 2019 I decided to finally bring the business to fruition and started the process. Planning for an April/May 2020 launch and then Covid 19 says boom go the dynamite. So here we are. March of 2021, a year later. The vision I have is still very specific, exciting - even more so than before all of this - and that is to provide you with the most unique,, relaxed, and memorable experience here in the place I proudly call home. When you book with me, you will live your trip like a true local.

If you live here already and you need an event planned or handled, I’m your girl. I’m happy to consult on really any event, project, fundraiser or need. This is FUN for me, I’m not here to have this business make me rich or pay the bills - but as my wife and I attempt to start a family - I want to know that I have something else in the works that keeps our family ahead, and always keeps all of your families happy.

I genuinely look forward to working with you in a very specific way, and hope that I can offer whatever it is that you can dream up. The world is your oyster, welcome to Maine. Lets party!