Even though I grew up in New York and far from the ocean, something about the ocean casted a spell on me since I was young. To learn about our mysterious blue planet, I would read books by Dr. Sylvia Earle and Jacques Cousteau and watched ocean documentaries. At age 16, I visited Honduras (where my mom is from) for the first time and got my Open Water PADI certification. After discovering the underwater world in real life, I confirmed my ocean passion into a lifelong dedication to protect our shared blue planet.
From volunteering at my local nature center to doing neighborhood cleanups in high school, I moved on to study Natural Resource Conservation at the University of Florida with a minor in Extension Education where I continued cleanups with students as the president of the school’s Surfrider Foundation chapter. My summers included marine science field and lab research as part of the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, which leverages diversity in the field of conservation. I also served on the Youth Leadership Council of EarthEcho International, an ocean youth non-profit co-founded by Philippe Cousteau, with whom I still collaborate with.
In 2018, my life transitioned to Europe to puruse a master’s degree as a full scholar of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Program for the Marine Environment Resources (MER+) program studying in Spain, France, and Belgium. I then worked as a Marketing Associate in a climate non-profit called Emergent for 2.5 years while continuing to build social media content on ocean/climate and sustainability storytelling and action. My content went “viral” with the #TrashChallenge campaign created to motivate followers to pick up trash in their communicaties as a virtual and global effort to take action on plastic pollution.
Currently, I live in Barcelona (though I’m frequently traveling) and work as a freelance communication strategist and content creator focusing on storytelling to scale ocean education, action and impact. My passion is connecting people to the ocean by simplifying marine science and biology, as well as climate-related challenges and solutions. I’m often scuba diving, going to music festivals, cooking vegetarian food, and, well, picking up trash!
