Women Mind the Water Podcast

Nicole Schmitt is the executive director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. She discusses beluga whales and why the Cook Inlet population is classified as endangered. She also talks about the pros and cons of working in Alaska, the largest state. It is 2.5 times larger than Texas, the second largest state.

Sarah Adams, program manager for Maritime Blue’s Quiet Sound, works with maritime vessels to develop and implement voluntary measures in Puget Sound aimed at protecting resident southern killer whales, an endangered population numbering less than 80 individuals.

Rosie Poirier is a marine scientist, underwater photographer, and an artist. She speaks about how art can encourage public engagement and specifically how art can engage the public's understanding of the ocean.

Seth has worked as a producer, music director, and studio musician. He has collaborated with such renown musical artists as Tom Rush, Nick Carter, and Cyndi Lauper. Seth has been nominated for a Grammy and is a five-time Independent Music Award winner. He characterizes music as an empathy machine and feels incredibly lucky to be part of it. Seth gets inspiration from the natural world and says the ocean brings him comfort and often provides a narrative for his music. His music reminds us that we have the ability to positively influence the world.

J talks about his work and explores his connection with the ocean. J has always been emotionally attached to water. He can go way back to his childhood where he remembers always being the first one in the water. He grew up wanting to be a problem solver, someone who wanted to roll up his sleeves and get the work done. In college. J has found that nature has helped him be connected, to feel awe and wonder and joy and peace and freedom. He believes we need to provide opportunity for young leaders give them space to restore themselves...

Carlos Mallo Molina discovered a passion for the ocean that led him to found Innoceana, an organization with a mission to protect critically important areas of the ocean. For example, in Costa Rica, he is investigating the stresses of global warming and working with the local community to protect the coral.

Bonnie Blaylock author of The Water Women, a novel that explores the bonds between mothers and daughters. The threads they create from mussels are woven into a special cloth, an activity that binds the women to one another.

Maya van Rossum is the Delaware Riverkeeper, founder of Green Amendments for the Generations, author of The Green Amendment: The People's Fight to Secure a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment and a lawyer. She has devoted her energies to securing that every state has a Green Amendment, an assurance of a healthy environment by enshrining them in a state's constitution.

Indigenous Hawaiian marine science factors in humility and community Kaileia Duriano

Kaileia Duriano is an Indigenous Hawaiian trained in Indigenous cultural practices as well as academic marine biology. She discusses Indigenous and academic ways of knowing and how to use this information to maintain Hawaii's natural beauty and abundance.

Susan Gardner, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Susan Gardner, Director of the Ecosystems Division for the UN Environmental Program

Susan works with the United Nations Environment Programme, where she helps navigate the complexities of international environmental issues. For her, stronger environmental solutions require broader participation, shared knowledge, and a willingness to listen across cultures, communities, and countries.

Megan Smylie, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Megan Smylie, Sea Otter Program Manager, Aquarium of the Pacific

Megan Smylie is the Sea Otter Program Manager at the Aquarium of the Pacific. She coordinates the Sea Otter Surrogacy Program, a program aimed at rehabilitating orphaned sea otter pups and successfully reintroducing them back into the wild.

Andi Cross, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Andi Cross, trade strategist, venture capitalist, scuba diver

Andi Cross designs solutions for corporate groups. Her company Edges if Earth works with individuals and communities to advance nature-based solutions and to bring these perspectives to corporate decision-makers. Andi offers actionable strategies to achieve tangible changes for organizations on the front line of the climate crisis.

Ashley Kidd, co-founder and conservation program manager of the Sunflower Star Laboratory in California, drew upon her experiences with public aquariums to explore the feasibility of restoration of the Sunflower Sea Star, a critically endangered marine creature. the Sunflower Star Laboratory has become a source of hope that sea stars and the kelp forests that depend upon them will once again be a key feature of the nearshore community in the waters off the West Coast.

Ashley Kidd, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Ashley Kidd, cofounder and manager Sunflower Star Laboratory

Christian Agregado of Project Lawud, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Christian Agregado of Project Lawud, dugong conservation

Project Lawud is a Philippines-based group concerned with the survival of the dugong, a relative of the manatee. Project Lawud is building awareness of this endangered marine mammal and strengthening conservation of Sarangani Bay, the dugong’s critical habitat in the Philippines ‍

Rebecca Aguilar, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Rebecca Aguilar, documentary films

Rebecca Aguilar works for the Oceanic Preservation Society, a movie production company located at Skywalker Ranch in the San Francisco Bay area. Rebecca is currently involved with post-production work on the film Speaking with Giants, a film about whale communication.

100th episode, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Pam Ferris-Olson, founder/podcast maker

Wo(men) Mind the Water has produced more than 100 episodes. The Artivist Series has talked with guests from across the globe. Guests speak about their connection with water, particularly the ocean, and how their work relates to this connection. The podcasts are meant to entertain and encourage action to protect one of our most valuable resources – the ocean.

Patrizia Zelano, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Patrizia Zelano, photographer Download

About Patrizia Zelano

Patrizia Zolano is an acclaimed Italian photographer who lives in Italy near the Adriatic Sea. Her work focuses on more than water, but natural light is a unifying feature in all her photographs. Her work invites viewers to look beyond the immediacy of the image. On the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast, we focus on her series Acqua Alta a Venezia (High Water in Venice), a series inspired by the 2019 flood that caused great damage in Venice. Patrizia's photos of waterlogged books is a reminder that beautiful things can arise from...

Patrizia Zolano's work focuses on water and natural light in her photographs. We focus on her series Acqua Alta a Venezia (High Water in Venice), a series inspired by the 2019 flood that caused great damage in Venice. Her photos are a reminder that beautiful things can arise from adversity. The images of books depict both destruction and transformation.

Parisa Golchoubian, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Parisa Golchoubian, art entrepreneur/marine plastic pollution engineer Download

Parisa Golchubian uses art to create an artistic ecosystem in which to live and solve marine plastic pollution. We talk about her art, storytelling, AI, and creating an artistic ecosystem.

Angèle Etoundi Essamba, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Angèle Etoundi Essamba, photographer

Angèle Etoundi Essamba is a Cameroonian-born photographer who has been proclaimed one of the most accomplished African female photographers of her generation. We explore her Women of Water series which focuses on Ganvié, a lake village in the Benin Republic, a country in West Africa.

Amanda Leland is Exec. Dir Environmental Defense Fund. Her book Sea Change is a true story about unlikely allies in pursuit of achieving sustainable fisheries. The book is a narrative of a real Gulf Coast fisherman and Amanda’s pursuit to help find a path forward that would enable fishermen to keep fishing and have a healthy, vibrant ocean for all of us.

Amanda Leland, Women Mind the Water Amanda Leland, Exe. Dir EDF, author Sea Change Download

Sophie has been involved in shark research and communication and her book Shark: The illustrated biography features the life histories of a select group of sharks and among other things examines the roles sharks have in art, music, spirituality, and mythology. She is also founder of the website SharkSpeak.

Sophie Maycock, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Sophie Maycock, shark researcher/author Download

Stephanie Elzondo Griest, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Stephanie Elzondo Griest, author storyteller Download

Stephanie Elzondo Griest is a professor of Creative Nonfiction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and writer with books like Art Above Everything: One Woman’s Global Exploration of the Joys and Torments of a Creative Life. Stephanie has traveled to 50 countries and 49 states collecting material for her stories.

Shelby Thomas is founder of Ocean Rescue Alliance International. Her non-profit constructs artificial reefs that are living sculptures, some of them in the form of mermaids, in the waters off Southern Florida.

Shelby Thomas, Artivist Series, Women Mind the Water Shelby Thomas, ORAI, reef restoration Download

Susan Baur is an author, clinical psychologist and founder of Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage. She leads a group of women aged 64 and up to remove sunken garbage from ponds. Susan founded the organization because she wanted to help the turtles in the ponds.