Nina Jensen
Nina Jensen is the CEO of REV Ocean and is a tireless champion for promoting environmentally responsible solutions for the world's ocean. She started this position in 2018 after 15 years of positive impact in WWF-Norway (as Secretary-General since 2012). Nina holds a Master’s degree in Marine Biology from the University of Fishery Science in Tromsø, and has a background in communications and marketing from Ogilvy & Mather. Nina is a board member of The Business for Peace Foundation, The Technology for Ocean (C4IR Ocean) Foundation, The Brain Tumour Association, Ocean Wise, Aker Offshore Wind, Aker CarbonCapture and Project Energy PER-A. She was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014. She is also on the Executive Board of Norway’s Polytechnic Society, and part of Friends of Ocean Action and an advisor to the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.
3 words to describe Nature?
Life. Support. System
3 things Nature taught you?
What makes life worth living
Nature always finds a way
Human nature is the most destructive force of nature
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Lofoten islands
Sipadan Island
Madagascar
When you look at the OCEAN, it makes you feel...?
Happy
When you see a FOREST, it makes you feel...?
Relaxed
When you see a VOLCANO, it makes you feel...?
Excited
When you see a SUNRISE or SUNSET, it makes you feel...?
At peace
When you hear THUNDER, it makes you feel...?
Alive
When you hear the WIND HOWLING, it makes you feel...?
Small
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean😊
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
My favourite childhood activity was swimming and snorkelling in the kelp forest, exploring the amazing beauty and wonders of our ocean and always discovering something new. It was a very welcome escape from the hectic city life in Oslo, where I grew up.
Cecilia Vanman
Cecilia Vanman worked as a footwear designer in the fashion business, when she took up scuba diving and freediving as hobbies. These interests and her love for the sea grew into such major fascination, that she decided to study marine biology, eventually graduating with a MSc Distinction in Marine Mammal Science in 2005.
Today as an Expedition Leader and Marine Mammal Biologist, Cecilia Vanman has planned, led and participated in expeditions and scientific projects in the Arctic and Antarctic, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea, Scandinavian waters, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. She has circumnavigated the British Isles, Spitzbergen and Iceland and has led three expeditions through the Northwest Passage.
Cecilia has also created the logistical frame work for film productions as an expedition leader for the likes of Disney Nature, Leonardo di Caprio and National Geographic Society. One of her greatest passions is science communication and bringing stories home from her expeditions in remote places to wider audiences through public talks. Cecilia is also a freelance photojournalist and her coverage includes reportage work with the Danish Navy Seals, the Danish Helicopter Rescue Service, the Danish elite unit Sirius Sledge Patrol in NE Greenland as well as articles on sustainable living, freediving, scuba-diving and natural history filmmaking.
Cecilia was invited to join Women Adventurers Club, Denmark in 2011 and 2015, she became the first Danish woman to be appointed Fellow of The Explorers Club
3 words to describe Nature?
Powerful. Healing. In trouble
3 things Nature taught you?
Curiousness
Patience
Interconnection
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Island of Langeland in Denmark
Disko Island in Greenland
South Georgia in the Southern Ocean
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Free and humble
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
If a busy volcano: like I should enjoy its’ beauty, but have a plan for a quick exit
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Electrified and alive. But depending on the situation in the field, perhaps quite vulnerable.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Thrilled in the beginning and I love the power of it all. After days of howling winds during field work, however, I can become almost overcome with a sense of restlessness. It can also add to cabin fever, which is good for no one in a remote camp. At sea, howling winds mean stormy conditions, which are never desirable.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I am an ‘Ocean-person’ through and through and while I enjoy being there and traveling through them, I could never live in a landlocked country. The Ocean represents freedom and independence to me. More than any nature scape it puts me in my place as a human.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10 and beyond.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Taking the family rowing boat, piling it high with cushions, blankets, my favorite book at the time and an anchor to go to a spot to read; there to be gently rocked by the sea and watching the soaring birds above in between. This escape to nature meant the world to me at a time when things could be difficult at school. Looking back it also set me on a path…
