Meet the 2024 Leadership Team

Starting at Yale University as an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major, Adé is currently pursuing both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Biology at Southern Connecticut State University. Adé’s interests include evolution, paleontology, and science communication and outreach. He has worked at the Yale Peabody Museum as both a collections assistant and tour guide, observed the feeding habits of common terns in Maine with Project Puffin, excavated fossils in Arizona’s Painted Desert, and currently runs the YouTube channel Adasaur, focusing on prehistoric life and highlighting the diversity of the ancient past and the people who research it.

Emma is an artist whose work centers around the relationship between humans and nature. One of the main focuses of her work is wonder; she believes wonder has the capacity to bring people out of despair and open their eyes to new possibilities. Emma works in community-based nonprofits in Buffalo, NY. She tries to frequent her local nature preserve to keep her own sense of wonder alive and hopes to soon become a naturalist and share that wonder with others.

Ayanna (she/her) was born and raised in the US Virgin Islands but moved to the US mainland to attend Tuskegee University. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science, Ayanna has traveled across many states working on projects in restoration, land management, and research. As a wildlife conservationist she enjoys wildlife surveys the most, “nothing more interesting than watching different animals behavior”, she said. In her spare time, she loves taking weekend trips to public lands, hiking and bird watching, while also traveling the world to experience diverse cultures and ecosystems.

With community unification, coordination, and facilitation skills in her toolbox, Lillian is an emerging leader in the fight toward the metamorphosis of Mother Earth and our cultural lens on the treatment of nature. She take pride in sharing fortifying experiences outdoors for all ages that serve dual purposes: educational and extensions of what the individual needs most. Her love for birding ignited during her 3-year tenure, coordinating and implementing Openlands’ outdoor education program Birds in My Neighborhood. Currently as the Water Trail Specialist at Openlands, her bird nerd flies freely as she connects to birds and black birders through the roles of being a Black Birders Week planning committee member, Chicago Audubon Society board member, and social media nature educator.

Lola Neal (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Biosciences at The Rockefeller University in New York City. She studies the deadly Aedes aegypti mosquito, particularly how its egg-laying behavior is regulated, a crucial component of their ability to spread diseases. Outside of the laboratory, she is an avid nature lover, enjoying hikes and birding, of course. Within this sphere, she wants to promote accessibility to outdoor spaces and activities for those that have been historically marginalized in this context, particularly Black people. Lola hopes to combine her love of science and nature with her love for sharing stories through science education and communication efforts. As a member of the Black Birders Week planning team, she wants other black nature enthusiasts, or those that are exploring a newfound interest in the outdoors to feel comfortable, safe and welcome while engaging with the natural world. She is on Twitter: @laurennealneuro and on Instagram: @lolainreallife_

Deja is a Geospatial Analytics Ph.D. student, bird guide, and public STEM figure at NC State University. Her work prioritizes investigating environmental data gaps in low-income and minority neighborhoods and connecting communities with participatory science as a tool for creating community connection, awareness, and advocacy. With a B.Sc. in Natural Resources and an M.Sc. in Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation Biology, she uses her training to connect people across North Carolina with neighborhood nature through a variety of virtual, in-person, visual, and auditory experiences.

Jen holds a master’s degree in creative arts therapy and is currently working towards her licensure as a mental health counselor. In 2019, she was inspired to create an artist’s collaborative to combine her professional and creative arts identities. This collaborative ultimately became Warrior Dreamzz LLC a team of visual visionaries who specialize in the film art form Eco-Cinema. Their films sit at the intersection of entertainment, education and advocacy.

Marcus Rosten is a Naturalist and Environmental Educator focused on conserving the ecology of Western New York by connecting people to their environment and empowering them to join in improving our shared ecosystem. Since graduating with a degree in Environmental Education and Interpretation from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, he’s served as an interpretive park ranger in our national parks and forests, taught place-based environmental education programs and led stewardship projects with non-profit organizations and worked as a fish and wildlife technician conducting wildlife surveys, managing habitats, and monitoring invasive species for state and federal agencies. Currently, he is an Environmental Educator with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Buffalo, NY, and serves as a board member for the Western New York Land Conservancy and Buffalo Ornithological Society.

Dara has an affinity for watching organisms interact with their environment and is currently researching meaningful ways to connect historically excluded populations to natural and cultural resources through funded placemaking projects. She has had the pleasure of interpreting wildlife at the Smithsonian National Zoo, conducting microsurgery on passerine birds in tropical primary and secondary rainforests, walking rehabilitated mountain lions in Bolivia’s Amazonian jungle, and fighting invasive/non-native plant species in Florida’s panhandle. Driven by the desire to deepen her awareness of the world, yet cognizant of the role systemic racism plays in ownership, access, and the perceived threat of violence in outdoor spaces, Dara’s latent introduction into meaningful scientific inquiry as it relates to coexisting organisms resulted in a fascination with the natural world that transcended into deep questioning concerning issues of access, opportunity, visibility, and narratives.