Women Mind the Water

Patrizia Zolano, an acclaimed Italian photographer, invites viewers to look beyond the immediacy of the image. Her series inspired by the 2019 flood in Venice share images of destruction and transformation.

Artistic entrepreneur Parisa Golchoubian is a global nomad. She creates art, represents other artists, and has tech startup designed to solve marine plastic pollution. She talks about art, storytelling, AI, and technology.

Renown photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba . Her camera tells story of Africa, women, and strength.

Amanda Leland, Exec. Dir Environmental Defense Fund, organization focused on climate change, healthy oceans, and more discusses her new book Sea Change, 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.

Sophie Maycock, shark research/conservationist, website SharkSpeak , author Shark: The illustrated biography, guest Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast on womenmindthewater.com, UK representative Sharks Educational Institute.

Stephanie Elzondo Griest, professor of Creative Nonfiction UNC Chapel Hill, author six books has traveled to 50 countries & 49 states collecting material for her stories. On Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast she talks about her stories, women interviewees, and the connection between water and people, about the Mohawk Akwesasne on the St. Lawrence and Mexicans on the Rio Grande River.

Shelby Thomas, Ocean Rescue Alliance International, restores marine ecosystems. The non-profit has installed more than 300 modules, some in the form of mermaids, as living reefs off southern Florida. They are ideal spots for coral restoration, marine life, research and tourism. Shelby is the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series on womenmindthewater.com.

Susan Baur is founder of Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, a group of women aged 64 and up that dive for sunken garbage in ponds. Their work restores the ponds and enhances the lives of the women. It’s physically demanding work but the women are rewarded with camaraderie, self-satisfaction, and cookies.

Lily Niederhofer, competitive swimmer/octopus advocate, conceived open-water swim, to raise awareness /money, to stop world’s first industrial-sized octopus farm. The preteen speaks to students and lawmakers hoping to block commercial octopus operations. Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Podcast series speaks with the Lewis Pugh Foundation Environmental Sports Champion and Young Planet Leader.

Todd Medema, the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast, is author of How to surf a hurricane, an scifi ecothriller. We talk about many things including technology, scifi, and climate change. He advises us to recharge and connect with nature, join communities with similar values and start taking action. For Todd, writing his new novel was a way to make a difference.

Gabriel Forestieri and Meredith Sallee are partners in life as well as projectLIMB, their dance company that explores the relationship between humans and water. Their dances are performed while freediving, meaning they move underwater relying on the air contained in their lungs. On this edition of the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast the couple discuss how they came to dance underwater and the work involved in creating these mesmerizing performances.

Krista Shoe is founder of Mother of Corals, an organization based in Panama involved in coral restoration and education organization. Mother of Corals others to learn and participate in coral restoration and conducts its own coral restoration to combat rising ocean temperatures.

Arielle Moody worked in the beauty industry for more than 15 years, before she started her own company. Mama Sol was a collaboration between three women who wanted to protect themselves, their children, and the planet from the harmful petrochemicals found in many commercially available sunscreens. Mama Sol’s tagline is: “For all mamas, Mother Earth included.” In addition to protecting the skin from the harmful rays of the sun, the sunscreens are also less harmful to coral reefs. Important because it has been estimated, that roughly one fifth of the world’s coral have died in the past three years.

Jada Alexander has a deep reverence for the ocean. Her personal journey as a young Black woman left her with emotional scars. She has come to understand that the ocean is more than a place to surf. Jada is the founder of the Daybreak Beach Club. Daybreak teaches participants to enjoy, respect and protect the ocean while discovering that the ocean provides a path to healing and personal growth.

Indira Brook, the latest guest on the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast, is a manager at Roatán Marine Park. The marine park is a non-profit dedicated to the protection of the Caribbean island located about 40 miles off the northern coast of Honduras. Indira’s work for the Roatán Marine Park involves working with people to protect coral reefs, mangroves and other marine species. Roatán’s coral reefs are second only in size to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Indira is currently working with others to institute an island-wide ban of sunscreens containing petrochemicals. Coral bleaching and deformity in the development of fish are attributable to the petrochemicals in sunscreen. ( https://womenmindthewater.com/featured-guests)

Kathryn Pharr is the leader of a global community of women who focus on issues related to water. Kathryn believes that water is a source for female empowerment. She founded the Community of Women in Water as a global network which now counts more than 1000 members. Their focus is empowering women who work professionally in WASH (i.e., water, sanitation and hygiene). The Community of Women in Water want women to be leaders in WASH on the local to global levels.

Lucy Hunt is the founder of Sea Synergy, a Marine Awareness Research and Activity Center situated on the southwest coast of Ireland. Lucy is passionate about the ocean and has been working for more than a decade to make meaningful experiences so that others may discover the rich diversity of the marine environment. Lucy offers a range of workshops and activities for people of all ages to help them get to know the waters that border Ireland. For her tireless work Lucy Hunt has received recognition by His Royal Highness King Charles.

Storyteller and communications specialist Lisa Tossey is communications specialist for Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit that uses cutting edge technology to transform data into information that encourages fair and sustainable use of ocean resources. Lisa feels very fortunate to be working with a creative and resourceful team. Her job is to provide an interface for the public to be able to assess complex data in a digestible and engaging way in order to look at complicated aspects related to issues related to fishing on the high seas. Lisa is also an artist in her own right. In the Wo(men) Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast we explore her work with Global Fishing Watch and her work as an artist. She does it all in service of the ocean, her happy place.

Joselyn talks about her new novel Pearce Oyster. She discusses the story's setting in Louisiana during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill disaster, still the worst in history. She also talks about how she came to be in Louisiana in 2010, what sparked her interest in oyster farming, and how she went about writing her novel. She provides an overview of oysters and farming them. We also discuss how she went about writing her novel, from story idea to finding the best approach.

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 says life on land was fine, but it was complicated and being in the water made him feel at home. 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 went about assembling a problem solver toolkit. And what he learned is that the emotional piece, the human dimension,s so important. He gives examples and says we need to do a much better job working with young people, the people who we’re relying on to solve the problems the tools to stay emotionally, mentally, socially, spiritually strong, to help them succeed. J has found that nature has helped him be connected, to feel awe and wonder and joy and peace and freedom. J believes we need to provide opportunity for young leaders to get in the water, to give them space to restore themselves and be energized to come back and do the work