When I was in 3rd grade, I was horrified to learn about the deforestation and destruction of wildlife habitat occurring in the Amazon Rainforest. That year, I requested for my birthday that I receive gifts in the form of donations to Amazon Rainforest restoration. Then, I watched Blackfish when I was 12 along with Cowspiracy at 16. I came out the other side knowing I'd spend my life fighting for animals, and years later, it's still the reason I want to be a lawyer and effective communicator.

At 16 I started working in professional kitchens in New York. Kitchens teach you to move fast and stay calm while everything's on fire (sometimes literally). They also teach you exactly where food comes from, which is where I started caring about the whole food system behind the plate.

So I went and studied it. I earned my B.A. in sustainability sciences with a biology minor from Baldwin Wallace University, where I built air-quality sensors by hand for my capstone, began an award-winning hydroponics project and helped design a food-waste app that won both phases of an EPA grant.

Following graduation, I took the scenic route in search of work I felt fulfilled by. From a farm in the Hudson Valley, to a wildlife rehab center in Ohio, to an environmental lab in Seattle, to a summer educating in Denali National Park with grizzlies for coworkers.

What sets me apart as an effective science communicator is that I also grew up in the arts, and that half of me craved somewhere to express my creativity. I found it in communications.

The job allows me to utilize my obsession with data and my love of writing get to create and achieve ambitious goals. I'll audit 2,000+ posts before I change a single thing, and then I'll create a result impossible to scroll past.

Policy is where it all comes together for me. You need the data to make the case and the writing to make anyone care. I've testified at EPA hearings, sat across the table from Senate offices and corporate lobbyists, and written for people who'd never read a policy brief in their lives.

Right now I lead audience strategy at FERN. Before that, I ran content for the international Animal Advocacy Careers and communications at Real Change News in Seattle. I also sit on ProVeg International's Youth Board, am an alum of the Phoenix Zones Initiative's first leadership cohort, and a full-scholarship grad of ICARE's course on food systems law.

Next stop, someday: law school.

Off the clock, you'll find me enjoying time in nature with my fur babies. I am happiest among the trees.