People

Nearly 20 years ago, Christy took her first job in environmental education at a conservation summer camp, and she hasn't looked back. She has worked in universities, international nonprofits, local organizations, state agencies, and private companies—always with an eye toward helping people build environmental literacy and meaningful connections to nature. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida and a Master's Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University. When she's not working, Christy likes to swim, surf, and play with her family on the beaches of South Florida, where she lives and works.

I've always loved nature and getting outside. As a former elementary teacher, I think it's important to educate our youth about the environment and empower them to make sustainable changes. At MAEOE, I work with schools and ee providers across the state and together we are greening MD!

environmental educator for Pierce County, Washington.

My passion is helping environmental organizations create conservation movements that grow.

I am a teacher at a project based charter school where we use our environment to help students learn. I live on a micro farm where we use regenerative practices and are working to remove invasives and plant using some permaculture ideas.

Tania Marien is a podcast host and environmental careers correspondent. Her projects draw on her experiences working as an independent environmental education professional, first as the full-time editor, educator, and bookseller at ArtPlantae and now as a podcast producer, writer, researcher, and network builder. Her current project explores how freelance environmental professionals contribute to environmental literacy. She believes that independent professionals are overlooked and that their professionalism and contributions to lifelong learning need to be recognized. Documenting their work is important because it fills the knowledge gap about how people learn about science and the environment outside of the classroom.

Tania is a contributor to The Carbon Almanac (Penguin Random House, 2022) and Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (Springer Nature, 2024).

Megan Fink serves as the Partnerships & Policy Manager for the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). Working in the field of Environmental Education for over a decade, Megan brings a robust, place-based, outdoor education background to the NAAEE team. She has built enduring working relationships across the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the Mid-Atlantic region. As a graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Science and Biology, Megan began her career as an Environmental Educator at the North Carolina Aquariums before joining the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) in 2011. Through several program management positions with CBF she led students, teachers, school administrators, and environmental professionals on ecological, cultural, and historical investigations of the Bay. She also managed a statewide leadership program for high school students, teaching them how to become environmental advocates at the local, regional, and national levels.

Megan earned an Executive Master of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability in 2020. In 2022-23, she served as Education Director for the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park, supervising 15 Environmental Education Programs and expanding their reach to 14,000 participants annually. She also initiated and managed a project to launch a brand-new, nature-based preschool and served on the Maryland State Department of Education’s Workgroup to develop statewide Outdoor Preschool licensing standards. 

Throughout her career, Megan has designed programs that inspire participants to act on behalf of their local natural resources and enhance people’s understanding of and connection to the natural world through compelling environmental education experiences. In her spare time, she can often be found hiking, gardening, paddling, and spending time with her loved ones, including her dog, Ruby, splashing around the Bay watershed!