New Water Hub Communications Associate Sade Moore shares her experiences and passions for environmental justice and storytelling.
What’s your name, pronouns, and title?
Sade Moore, She/Her/Hers, Communications Associate
Where do you call home?
Richmond, Virginia
What brought you to this work and why does water matter to you?
I’m a city girl who wasn’t always passionate about the environment. As a poet, I’ve always been passionate about the connective power and collective imagination found in storytelling. I’ve worked with various land management agencies and nonprofit organizations and I continue to see the need for whole narratives to be amplified. It’s the drastic need for narrative shifts and safer spaces outdoors for POC that keep my curiosity bubbling in this space as I continue to learn, heal, and deepen my own connection to this wildly beautiful planet.
What would the world be better with more of?
More wanderers, creative healing energy and tree canopies intertwined with books, lots of books. *Smiles* I truly believe that wandering and willful solitude and stillness can be vital to collective impact and the collective imagination found in just being…
What did you do before you came to the Water Hub?
I learned about the Water Hub through the Greening Youth’s Foundation’s (GYF) revolutionary hiring experience, “The Bridge Project.” Prior to joining the Water Hub, I was a Communications Assistant with the Georgia Mountains Children’s Forest Network (GMCFN), led by Public Affairs and Environmental Coordinator, Judy Toppins. Here I gained invaluable experience working with some incredible humans bringing the outdoors to the classroom through their Forest For Every Classroom (FFEC) initiative and the Next Gen Forest Ambassador program. Prior to working with GMCFN, I was a featured wellness writer for the OMNoire Breathe Tribe, spearheaded by Christina Rice. I was also a Communications Assistant with the U.S. Forest Service in Lakewood, Colorado and Washington D.C. During my time with GYF, I developed a passion for environmental justice, a frustration with the same ‘ol climate narratives and the realization I do belong in this space, even when it doesn’t feel like it. I belong here and I am supported.
I am continuously inspired by storytellers and creatives in between depressive and optimistic spaces! Needless to say, I love deep inspirational stories, stories that go against the grain and stories of joy found in intentional collectives of humans.
Where’s your happy place?
Whether writing under a shady canopy of trees, journeying through worlds found in literary works — Toni Morrison’s “SULA,” Maya Angelou’s “All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes” and current reads like Dr. Carolyn Finney’s “Black Faces, White Spaces” and “The Deep” by Rivers Solomon — or traveling solo 8,892 miles overseas to study Communication Arts in Salaya, Thailand on a green campus, my happy place is found in exploration. I am also happiest in super colorful spaces like flower gardens and over-the-top candy stores!
What’s the best advice you were ever given? Who was it from?
I received the best life advice from my life mentor Kannika Spp, “life is here, like Buddha says, everything is nothing…stay wild!” After working with Kannika on a documentary project about creating Kannika arts&crafts, focused on employing women and rebuilding communities after the 2011 flooding in Thailand, I was super grateful that I got to experience Thailand through the lens of wild women.
We’d never guess that you…?
I am super chill like the Lord Buddha on the outside, but on the inside I am a whimsical spirit who lived for Lisa Frank as a kid. It’s that childish spirit that keeps me grounded and curious! I am always open to building and connecting in this space. I can be reached at my work email, [email protected], or my personal email, [email protected]. I intend to learn, create fearlessly as a writer and poet, and I am dedicated to the healing process that the universe is currently dragging me (and us) through. *awkward laugh* Peace, love and all of those good, good things. *smile*
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