Stephanie Wear is the director of coral reef conservation for the Nature Conservancy. She’s a marine scientist that began working with the Conservancy in 2001 in the Caribbean Program, where she managed all conservation projects for the US and British Virgin Islands.
Stephanie’s work focused on developing a network of marine and terrestrial protected areas and she was instrumental in establishing the USVI’s first territorial marine park. While in the Virgin Islands, she worked with local fishermen, NGOs, government agencies, community leaders, and stakeholder groups to get them involved in solving their local conservation problems. She currently supervises Reef Resilience, a global coral reef conservation program with TNC that operates in over 70 countries.

I spoke with Stephanie about the most important species to conserve, her motivation and advice for aspiring conservationists.



MyConservation Heroes - Interview with Stephanie Wear

Jonathan Hoekstra is a senior scientist on the Nature Conservancy's Central Science team and the director of conservation science for The Nature Conservancy's Washington State program. Jon is a global science leader who collaborates with experts from around the world to develop innovative, practical solutions to conservation problems based on top-notch science and real-world experience. Previously Jonathan served as the science lead for the organization's efforts to restore the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and also has at various times directed the Conservancy’s Global Climate Change Program, Emerging Strategies Unit, and Global Habitat Assessment Team. He is the lead author of The Atlas of Global Conservation and more than 30 other scientific publications. You can follow him on Twitter @JonHoekstraTNC.
Jon was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to discuss his responsibilities, the necessity of conservation and his passion for salmon, among other topics.


MyConservation Heroes - Interview with Jon Hoekstra

M. Sanjayan is the Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy. He has a faculty research appointment at the University of Montana and is a Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He is currently studying the nexus between conservation efforts and poverty alleviation. His scientific work has been published in journals including Science, Nature, and Conservation Biology.
Sanjayan’s work has received extensive media coverage from Delta Airline’s Sky Magazine to The New York Times and he was recently profiled in Outside. He is a frequent guest on
television including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the Today Show on NBC. He has also appeared on the David Letterman Show. He has been featured in numerous documentaries (BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel during highly rated Shark Week) and most recently hosted and narrated a 4-part series on Energy for Discovery Channel (Powering the
Future). Sanjayan is a popular speaker with notable appearances at the Aspen Institute Ideas Festival, Clinton Global Initiative, and TED Global in 2010.
I spoke with Sanjayan about his inspiration, the most pressing environmental issues and the importance of social media in conservation.


MyConservation Heroes - Interview with M. Sanjayan

Danielle Brigida is a self-proclaimed wildlife geek and works as the Digital Marketing Manager for the National Wildlife Federation. She actively engages a wide range of constituents using a mixture of online tools and social networking sites. An early adopter of social media with creative, engaging campaigns, Danielle has been recognized as one of the 75 Environmentalists to follow by Mashable and a featured Changemaker by Change.org; A Measurement Maven of the Month by Katie Paine. She’s a sought after speaker with more than 20 appearances over the past year. She's spoken at conferences such as South by Southwest (SXSW), PR News Digital Media Summit, Blog World, Nonprofit Technology Conference, Netroots Nation, as well as several webinars. 

MyConservation Heroes: Interview with Danielle Brigida

Good World Games was founded in 2010 with the goal of creating socially conscious social games. We are building a movement dedicated to helping important global causes through fun and educational games offered to a wide and engaged audience. Our first game MyConservationPark is now available on Facebook at http://fb.me/myconservationpark.
Our games have been featured in publications such as the Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Grist Magazine, National Geographic, Forbes Magazine, CrispGreen, and Inside Social Games.
We recently started a podcast called MyConservation Heroes, where we interview conservationists and environmental activists in the field. We'll be using Soundcloud to share and broadcast these conversations.
