River Mizell

My career as a conservation advocate started as an accident when I needed work to pay for college and an opening for a SCUBA instructor came available while living in Okinawa, Japan. From there I began teaching the marine animal SCUBA classes. With no professional experience in marine sciences I began to look at why I fell into the position of educator. The conservation world is filled with incredibly intelligent people who often, in their excitement, speak above the heads of the general public. Recognizing this problem I continued to develop my skills as a conservation and environmental translator. Ive worked with numerous non-profits to hone in on their core messaging and then developing methods to get this message across to those who need it most. From Conservation Photographers to Mothers Advocating for Climate Solutions I have embedded myself in places where the work is vital and all thats left is engaging the public. At the core of this work is attempting to get conservation messaging accessible to underrepresented communities. As a deaf non-binary soon to be biologist, I hope to see myself reflected in these conservation spaces as we grow to recognize the strengths in our differences.