I have spent over 25 years working at the intersection of nature, community, arts, and advocacy. My focus throughout, has been on justice in the outdoors, building healthy communities, and living sustainably on this earth. In addition I am an artist, writer, and performer whose work reflects my wide range of lived experiences and explorations in this space, as a child of two continents, and a jill of many trades.

I draw on my experiences as a non-profit founder, a movement builder, a youth worker, an outdoorswoman, an educator, and artist to help organizations reach their goals. I have experience working in both the public and private sector, from the grassroots level to the international policy level, in the U.S. and abroad. I am accountable to the communities I serve.

I have worked for the past three years as a community organizer, focusing my work in Oakland’s San Antonio Neighborhood, where I was the founding coordinator, and strategic advisor to Friends of San Antonio Park, a coalition dedicated to building the power of working families in determining the future of the park and neighborhood. In Oakland’s biggest budget deficit year in four decades, we secured 4 million dollars for a park improvements envisioned by community members.

I am the founder and former Executive Director of Salted Roots, formerly operating under the name Brown Girl Surf. I conceived, developed, and launched Brown Girl Surf’s community programs, which over 9 years have grown into the Salted Roots grassroots community movement that has significantly shifted surf culture in the state of California and successfully advocated for critical reforms in public access to state beaches, while welcoming hundreds of girls, women, and non-binary folx of color to see themselves as surfers and ocean stewards. Prior to that I developed and managed several innovative youth programs in Oakland in partnership with United Roots, Urban Peace Movement, Urban ReLeaf, and Growing a Global Heart, and also worked as a naturalist in the Marin Headlands with Naturebridge, an outdoor recreation guide for East Bay Regional Parks, and a program designer for Oakland Parks and Recreation. As a teaching artist, I have led youth percussion classes with Boomshake, and have guided youth hip hop artists to create collaborative performances and workshops throughout Oakland. I have worked in national parks, in local community gardens, in play yards, and in grade school classrooms, as a full time teacher, a science specialist, and an urban forester. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University, a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale’s School of the Environment, and a Certificate in Digital Video Production from New York University.

Earlier in my career, I worked extensively in Asia. First as a program officer for the IUCN’s Asian Forest and Wetlands programs, and then later Thailand’s Pattani region, documenting the stories of communities whose livelihoods have been impacted by environmental degradation. This work resulted in an internationally broadcasted short documentary, The Recruit, and a book, Just Enough, available through the University of Washington Press.

My work has been featured in the SF Chronicle, NBC Bay Area, PBS Northern California, Al Jazeera English, The Root, East Bay Express, High Country News, KQED, and on NPR’s Tell Me More with Kelly Corrigan. I have been recognized as an ESPN W Everyday Hero, and as an Audobon Toyota TogetherGreen Fellow.