I’m a trained conservationist with a decade of international experience involving wading through wetlands to identify macroinvertebrates with government, bushwacking through bamboo to collect data on panda feces for academia, scuba diving in seawater to plant coral reefs with a non-governmental organization and educating college students in experiential environmental science for a startup.

My dedication, resilience and passion for protecting biodiversity as a faculty, student, researcher, and practitioner has catapulted me across four continents and reached beyond my wildest dreams as someone who grew up in small-town coastal Maine. I’m grateful and privileged to have had so many opportunities to connect with nature, wildlife and remote communities across the globe through the incredibly unique lens of an interdisciplinary scientist.

All of these experiences, along with my interest in innovative, pioneering strategies that partner closely with local communities to solve the nature crisis, led me to nature-based solutions. I currently work full-time on high integrity, community-centric blue carbon projects in West Africa that protect and restore mangrove ecosystems. These days I find myself behind a desk with the intent to reach a broader audience of global stakeholders and persuade them that nature can save itself sooner rather than later, if we give it the chance.