Michelle Welsch
Michelle Welsch has advised Fortune 500 brands, produced large-scale events, and has raised over $700,000USD for various social causes. Her experiences in government, private, academic, and public sectors have provided her unique insight to help businesses and entrepreneurs refine communications and strategy.
After founding Project Exponential, an invite-only dinner series, she helped bring solar to a monastery in Nepal. Her experiences teaching English to Buddhist monks led to the establishment of Khata: Life, a nonprofit encouraging education and leadership. Her attention is now focused on the Learning House, a community center she built from the ground up to foster creativity and learning.
Michelle earned her masters from Columbia University in New York City and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Colorado. She considers Seth Godin one of her greatest teachers.
3 words to describe Nature?
Wild. Inspiring. Free
3 things Nature taught you?
To pause
To be grateful
To listen
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Wonderland Lake in Boulder, Colorado -- so many memories here.
Phewa Tal (Fewa Lake) in Pokhara, Nepal -- a place I visit to ground myself and find perspective.
Central Park in New York City -- the perfect spot to unwind and remember what is important in life.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Insignificant, in awe, and thoughtful
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Curious and filled with wonder
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Energized yet apprehensive
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Thankful and at peace
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
A bit of grumbling can be relaxing; louder booms unsettling!
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Depends where I am, but howling wind tends to make me anxious.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain-Forest combo
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Growing up in Colorado, nature was always important to me. We didn't have a lot of money, but my mom made sure we took advantage of our "backyard playground." From fishing to hiking, picnics in fields, or drives up into Estes Park, I was fortunate to learn early on that nature isn't something to fear but something to respect and embrace. I could spend hours in the grass watching clouds pass. No matter where I have lived --- New York City, Nepal --- nature has been my grounding point, the place I return when I need clarity or inspiration.
Sonia Beeksma
Sonia Beeksma is a traffic anchor and segment reporter for CTV Morning Live in Vancouver.
The award-winning broadcaster joined CTV Vancouver in 2016, but her career started in 2009 after completing the Broadcasting and Performing Arts program at Columbia Academy and the journalism program at BCIT.
It was her internship at eTalk Toronto that not only fuelled her interest in the entertainment world but introduced her to the hard work it takes to be in media.
She soon returned to Vancouver and worked as a news reporter and anchor for both TALK-1200 (RJ AM) and news station CKNW 980.
Her radio days were numbered as she was snatched by Global Television to become the weekend weather specialist and feature story reporter. Her performance was not only noticed by her colleagues and competitors but also by the BC Association of Broadcasters whom would soon award Sonia with Broadcaster of Tomorrow award.
She then joined CTV Morning Live as a traffic specialist and entertainment/fashion reporter. Sonia is described as an incredibly versatile broadcaster having hosted entertainment stories, fashion, community and feature stories.
She is very active in the community and emcees a variety of charitable events.
When she’s not in front of the green screen, Sonia’s world is her 8-year-old daughter. And when she does have some spare time, she likes to weight train and get outside for fresh air.
3 words to describe Nature?
Liberating. Calming. Intriguing
3 things Nature taught you?
Constant confirmation that there is a God (Creator)
Us humans are such a small part of the equation on this earth
To slow down and be present
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Crescent beach (local)
Sunshine Coast hikes (around BC)
Road to Hana in Maui
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Overwhelmed with peace
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Comforted and a little indecisive if I want to dive in and see what wildlife awaits.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Powerless
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Invigorated, sunset means I get a good night’s sleep, sunrise means I have the entire day ahead of me to accomplish so much!
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Utter fear, that is some force that would make the hair on my back (if I had any) stand up.. lol
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Very refreshed, makes me feel like the air is cleaning itself out. In my field when there’s an air quality advisory in effect, you need that wind to come and blow out the bad air. So when that happens, we all take a deep breath in and say, fresh air!
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Definitely an Ocean and Mountain person. By the ocean in the summer and on the mountain in winter.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10. Nature teaches us so much, it helps us slow down, it not only cleans our lungs but I think it’s healing to our soul and spirit.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I grew up in New Delhi where it rarely rained, so when it did 3 or 4 times a year, all the kids would come out and play cricket in the rain. Memories I will cherish forever.
Shari Sant Plummer
Environmental philanthropist and ocean activist Shari Sant Plummer is President and co-founder of Code Blue Charitable Foundation, Secretary/Trustee of the Summit Charitable Foundation, founding board member of the Sylvia Earle Alliance, board member of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and former Vice President of Seacology. Shari is also a member of the Ocean Unite Advisory Board, WWF National Council, and Nature’s Best Photography Advisory Council. A proponent of impact photography and filmmaking, she served as board chair of the International League of Conservation Photographers for five years and is currently an affiliate.
In addition to her philanthropic work, Shari also produces documentary films including the Emmy award-winning Netflix documentaries “Mission Blue” (Executive Producer), and “Chasing Coral” (Associate Producer). She is also Executive Producer on the award-winning films “Anote’s Ark,” “Sharkwater Extinction,” and “Ghost Fleet.”
A graduate of NYU, Shari worked as Senior Stylist and Design Director for Ralph Lauren in New York for nine years, then as Visual Director at Esprit. She later founded the environmental lifestyle store, Worldware, in San Francisco in 1994. She sold the business in 2001 and now devotes herself full-time to conservation work, with a focus on producing impact media to inspire change.
An avid diver, photographer and ocean activist, Shari travels extensively throughout the world promoting ocean conservation and environmental awareness and lives in New York and California with her husband Dan and their dog Brody.
3 words to describe Nature?
Miraculous. Humbling. Fragile
3 things Nature taught you?
Respect
Love
Resilience
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Cocos Island, Costa Rica
Millennium Atoll, Kiribati
Our farm in the Catskill Mountains, New York
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Curious, energized, alive!
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Comforted it’s still there!
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Afraid and exhilarated
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Reverent awe
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Apprehensive.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
..like diving under the covers!
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Definitely ocean
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
Is this a trick question? More than 10!
Share with us a childhood nature memory.
Body surfing is a tradition in my family, so at an early age, I regularly braved the icy waves in Santa Cruz, where we had a beach house.
I would run intrepidly into the frigid sea, dodging the crushing turbulence of the waves by diving deep beneath them. I loved the feeling of the oceans power passing over me, almost as much as the thrill of catching a ride!
One day after diving through several waves, I surfaced to realize there were no more waves coming. I had inadvertently moved into deep ocean and was now caught in a riptide which was rapidly pulling me out to sea! I was alternating treading water and trying to swim back to shore when a vigilant stranger noticed and swam out to rescue me.
Though It was a frightening experience, it didn’t deter me from continuing to spend long summer days salty and sunburned in the waves, nor did it diminish my love for all thing’s ocean. But, it was a valuable lesson in humility, and in respect for the ultimate power of nature.
Gianna Marino
Gianna Marino is the New York Times bestselling illustrator of Don't Let Them Disappear, written by Chelsea Clinton and author/illustrator of over a dozen children books, including: Zoopa: An Animal Alphabet, One Too Many, Meet Me at the Moon, Too Tall Houses, Following Papa's Song and Night Animals.
She was born in San Francisco and spent her early years galloping horses through Golden Gate Park. Her explorations expanded after graduating from high school and in order to afford her many journeys, Gianna had several jobs at once: apprenticing a muralist, a jewelry designer, a product designer and driving horse carriages through the park. Gianna explored many corners of the world, from Africa and Asia, to the South Pacific and Europe, to crewing on sailboats in the high seas.
Gianna finally landed a full-time freelance gig designing toys for children, but after several years in a corporate box with no windows, she left for good and began painting, illustrating and writing books for children. She works on her books in Northern California, but still finds time to step into nature.
3 words to describe Nature?
Powerful. Nurturing. Endless
3 things Nature taught you?
Humility
Peace
How to be still and silent
3 most treasured Nature spots?
I won't list specifics, because I don't want to expose a quiet place.... But my treasured spots are forest, desert, water
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Like I just took a deep breath
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like walking forever
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Like I should run if it is erupting!
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Peaceful and present
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
In awe
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like nature is speaking
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
100
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
When I was 10 years old, I was riding my bike through Golden Gate Park. A man and his daughter came up to me, saying they had just found a little duckling and didn't know what to do with it. I put the little bird in my pocket and took him home. In that moment, my life changed and so began the caring of lost little birds.