Artivist Series - Amanda Leland
Amanda Leland, Exec. Dir Environmental Defense Fund, organization focused on climate change, healthy oceans, and more discusses her new book Sea Change, a true story about unlikely allies in pursuit of achieving sustainable fisheries. The book is a narrative of a real Gulf Coast fisherman and Amanda’s pursuit to help find a path forward that would enable fishermen to keep fishing and have a healthy, vibrant ocean for all of us.
Artivist Series -Sophie Maycock
Sophie Maycock, shark biologist, SharkSpeak & Shark: The illustrated biography, guest Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater.com. representative Sharks Educational Institute, dedicated shark research, conservation and communication
Artivist Series - Stephanie Elzondo Griest
Stephanie Elzondo Griest is a professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the author of six books and her latest book is Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life.
Stephanie is well acquainted with the healing powers of storytelling and of water. She has traveled the globe speaking with many creative people. Her curiosity and energy has taken her to 50 countries and 49 states collecting material for her stories.
Artivist Series - Shelby Thomas
Shelby Thomas’ organization Ocean Rescue Alliance International works to restore marine ecosystems. The non-profit constructs artificial reefs that become living sculptures. They’ve installed more than 300 modules, some in the form of mermaids, off southern Florida. They are ideal spots for coral restoration, marine life, for research and tourism. Shelby is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series on womenmindthewater.com.
Artivist Series - Susan Baur
Susan Baur is founder of Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, a group of women aged 64 and up that dive for sunken garbage in ponds. Their work restores the ponds and enhances the lives of the women. It’s physically demanding work but the women are rewarded with camaraderie, self-satisfaction, and cookies.
Artivist Series - Todd Medema
Todd Medema, the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast, is author of How to surf a hurricane, an ecothriller. We talk about many things including technology, scifi, and climate change. He advises us to recharge and connect with nature, join communities with similar values and start taking action. For Todd, writing his new novel was a way to make a difference.
Artivist Series - projectLIMB
Gabriel Forestieri and Meredith Sallee are partners in life as well as projectLIMB, their dance company that explores the relationship between humans and water. Their dances are performed while freediving, meaning they move underwater relying on the air contained in their lungs. On this edition of the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast the couple discuss how they came to dance underwater and the work involved in creating these mesmerizing performances.
Artivist Series - Krista Shoe
Krista Shoe is founder of Mother of Corals, an organization based in Panama involved in coral restoration and education organization. Mother of Corals others to learn and participate in coral restoration and conducts its own coral restoration to combat rising ocean temperatures.
Artivist Series - Arielle Moody
Arielle Moody worked in the beauty industry for more than 15 years, before she started her own company. Mama Sol was a collaboration between three women who wanted to protect themselves, their children, and the planet from the harmful petrochemicals found in many commercially available sunscreens. Mama Sol’s tagline is: “For all mamas, Mother Earth included.” In addition to protecting the skin from the harmful rays of the sun, the sunscreens are also less harmful to coral reefs.
Artivist Series - Jada Alexander
Jada Alexander has a deep reverence for the ocean. Her personal journey as a young Black woman has left her with emotional scars and is how she came to understand that the ocean is more than a place to catch a wave. Jada is the founder of the Daybreak Beach Club. Daybreak teaches participants to enjoy, respect and protect the ocean while discovering that the ocean provides a path to healing and personal growth.
Artivist Series - Kathryn Pharr
Kathryn Pharr is the leader of a global community of women who focus on issues related to water. Kathryn believes that water is a source for female empowerment. She founded the Community of Women in Water as a global network which now counts more than 1000 members. Their focus is empowering women who work professionally in WASH (i.e., water, sanitation and hygiene). The Community of Women in Water wants women to be leaders in WASH on the local to global levels.
Artivist Series - Lisa Tossey
Storyteller and communications specialist Lisa Tossey is communications specialist for Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit that uses cutting edge technology to transform data into information that encourages fair and sustainable use of ocean resources. Lisa feels very fortunate to be working with a creative and resourceful team. Her job is to provide an interface for the public to be able to assess complex data in a digestible and engaging way in order to look at complicated aspects related to issues related to fishing on the high seas. Lisa is also an artist in her own right. In the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast we explore her work with Global Fishing Watch and her work as an artist. She does it all in service of the ocean, her happy place.
Artivist Series - Oriana Poindexter
Artist Oriana Poindexter free dives off the California to collect seaweed and uses a mix of traditional and alternative photographic processes (photography and photograms) to reflect their beauty. She finds inspiration in nature and believes that every person can find beauty by interacting with the natural world.
Artivist Series - Seth Glier
Musical artist Seth Glier is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Seth gets inspiration from the natural world and says the ocean brings him comfort and often provides a narrative for his music. His music reminds us that we have the ability to positively influence the world. Seth has worked as a producer, music director, and studio musician. He has collaborated with such renown musical artists as Tom Rush, Nick Carter, and Cyndi Lauper. Seth has been nominated for a Grammy and is a five-time Independent Music Award winner. He characterizes music as an empathy machine and feels incredibly lucky to be part of it.
Artivist Series - Manuela Zoninsein
Manuela Zoninsein began her career as a journalist in China. While there, she witnessed a shift from reusable to single-use water bottles. The Brazilian-American’s love for the beaches of Rio de Janeiro and her experience and academic studies at the MIT-Sloan Executive MBA program, led her to found Kadeya, a company with a mission to replace single-use plastic bottles by developing an innovative vending machine that will ultimately reduce the plastic pollution crisis.
Artivist Series - Suzette Bousema
Suzette Bousema has breathed in air from 20,000 years ago. She is an emerging Netherlands-based visual artist. Suzette collaborates with environmental scientists to explore present day ecological crises. She engages audiences by using a variety of techniques including photography, glass blowing, and weaving to create experiences for our senses and assist us in wrapping our minds around big, abstract concepts. Suzette has garnered attention through international exhibitions and media coverage in such places as the Netherlands, New York, Kuwait, and France. On the podcast we discuss her project to photograph ancient polar ice cores, create her own climate archive with glass bubbles, and an engaging photograph she took of two men in business attire standing in the ocean. This photograph is Suzette’s way to engage her audience in a conversation about sea level rise and more.
Artivist Series -Sarah Cameron Sunde
Sarah received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for her nine-part series 36.5/A Durational Performance with the Sea. This work has been performed on six continents in places as far flung as New Zealand, Kenya, and New York City. Sarah’s intention is to connect humans with water and the impact of climate change. During each site specific performance she stands in the water for a full tidal (12.5+ hours). The rise and fall of the tide on her body is reflective of what has occurred in nature in the ancient past and will continue to do so unrelentingly into the future.
Artivist Series -Tracy Metz
Tracy Metz is a journalist, author and podcast maker. She also is the director of the John Adams Institute, an independent foundation in the Netherlands, that brings the best and the brightest of American thinking to the Netherlands. Tracy is passionate about the interplay between urban issues, architecture, and the natural environment, particularly water. Her book Sweet&Salt: Water and the Dutch, investigates the change in the country’s approach to water management in times of climate change. Her podcast Water Talks addresses global issues with water – too much, too little, too dirty and too unequal. Water Talks grew out of the United Nations conference on water held in NYC in March 2023.
Artivist Series - Holly Rankin aka Jack River
Holly Rankin is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist series on WomenMind theWater.com. Holly is an Australian singer/songwriter/festival promoter, and an activist in the areas of environmental and social justice. Also known as Jack River, her music often deals with difficult topics, like personal tragedy, climate change, and social justice. Holly believes transforming such messages into music has the power to inspire action.
Artivist Series - Kara Dodge
Kara Dodge is a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center in Boston. The Center is the research arm of the New England Aquarium. Kara’s specialty is the ecology of marine animals and more specifically sea turtles. There is artistry to Kara's scientific research and her use of cutting-edge technology like satellite tagging and drones. She works to enrich our knowledge of sea turtles and the impacts of humans on them.