I joined the Water Hub team a few weeks ago and am excited to introduce myself to our community of western water communicators, advocates and partners. Hello! ?

While I now call Denver, Colorado home, my love of water and the outdoors goes back to growing up on the east coast in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. In elementary school, I spray-painted “Chesapeake Bay Drainage: Don’t Dump” on the storm drains in my Maryland neighborhood and listened to goofy children’s songs about stormwater runoff and blue crabs. More often than not, our family vacations involved camping in national parks. 

As I learned about the climate crisis, the more urgent it felt to work toward a world powered by renewable energy. Goofy songs turned into protest chants and I wanted to turn being a self-described treehugger into a career.

This past decade, I’ve worked as a campaigner, advocate, and communicator working to protect clean water and public lands, fight new oil and gas projects, and build support for climate solutions all across the country. 

Before joining the Water Hub, I served as the communications director for GRID Alternatives, a national clean energy equity organization. At GRID, I worked with incredible colleagues to bring stories of a just energy transition to life. It was inspiring to share stories of communities fighting against decades of disinvestment, creating economic opportunity and livable communities through clean energy.

I see so much of the same opportunity in the water world. A warming world is changing how much water there is, where it’s stored and flows, and how safe it is to drink or swim in. We’ve got a big choice in how to respond. We can invest in climate-smart solutions, in infrastructure that works with nature rather than against it, and in an approach that ensures the folks who are closest to the issues have seats at the table or, better yet, are leading the process. 

That’s why I’m so excited to be part of the Water Hub’s mission to tell more hopeful and human stories about water in the west. Water justice, climate justice, and energy justice are inextricably linked. The more we can connect the dots, telling stories of the world we want to live in across movements, the more change we can make.

My door (or email inbox or Zoom line) is open! Please reach out if you’d like to strategize about the water stories you’re telling or you just want to say hi.