Introducing Our 2026 Coastal Leadership Program Cohort

We’re excited to introduce the 2026 Coastal Leadership Program cohort. Starting this July, a gaggle of early professionals with backgrounds spanning environmentalism, training, and the humanities will likely be dedicating 4 and a half months to diving into the various facets of coastal conservation.

Between night classes with visitor audio system within the Audubon Middle at Debs Park and out within the discipline with our partnering organizations, the cohort members will deal with deepening their data of coastal habitat restoration, chook identification, coverage, and local weather change, whereas constructing the skilled abilities that make long-term stewardship attainable.

Hold studying to affix us in celebrating the launch of our new CLP cohort and get to know them!

Stephanie Hu is an artist from the South Bay who spends her free time birding on the Decrease LA River. She co-leads a highschool mentorship program that brings college students to the LA River and helps community-based organizations in Southeast LA by means of artwork. Stephanie is all in favour of exploring how the built-environment shapes how birds and people co-exist. She’s excited to construct her coastal ecology data and join with others who care deeply concerning the coast.

Abigail Garcia is from the San Fernando Valley and not too long ago graduated along with her B.A in Biology from Kenyon School. She was first launched to coastal conservation throughout a fellowship on the Massachusetts Audubon Society the place she assisted with Saltmarsh Sparrow conservation efforts. She finds birding as a approach to keep linked to dwelling wherever she goes. She is worked up to find out about coastal ecosystems near dwelling and construct neighborhood with different younger adults all in favour of birding.

Anya Jiménez is a filmmaker, ecologist, New Yorker, and drag king who believes everybody ought to shave their head at the least as soon as. A few of her favourite reminiscences as a conservationist embrace banding Darwin’s finches within the Galápagos, learning ocean storytelling aboard the R/V OceanXplorer in each Indonesia and China, and dealing as an environmental communications photographer for the Wrigley Institute for Setting and Sustainability on Catalina Island. Anya is new to birding, so she’s very excited to be taught from her new friends and assist educate her neighborhood concerning the significance of environmental stewardship for our stunning coastal birds.

Olive Gaetz is a Texan-turned-Californian at the moment working as a graphic designer and freelance artist in Pasadena. Many childhood summers spent at her native Audobon Middle in Dallas sparked a lifelong fascination with birding that continues to present itself by means of her art work, curatorial initiatives, and love of exploring new environments. In 2025, Olive introduced “Indicators From Above”: an independently curated artwork exhibition from the collections of Scripps School that research the worldwide significance of birds from cultures all over the world. She hopes to proceed growing initiatives like this that mix her passions of artwork, birding, and neighborhood: displaying how we’re all linked by means of the pure world. As somebody not too long ago acquainted with California’s shoreline and the dangers the ecosystem faces, Olive is keen to be taught from the Coastal Management Program how you can use her creativity to develop efficient conservation initiatives and outreach campaigns, integrating her experiences in design, event-planning, and public talking.

Xitlaly Uribe is a first-gen Mexican-American queer neighborhood advocate {and professional} enthusiastic about fairness and concrete inexperienced areas. She at the moment coordinates applications that help immigrant and low-wage employees, specializing in well being, wellness, and workforce improvement. Exterior of labor, they take pleasure in biking and volunteering at animal shelters. Guided by their motto, they’re dedicated to social justice and fostering inclusive communities.

Ciel is a queer, Latine linguist and budding naturalist born and raised in Los Angeles. After becoming a member of the Metropolis Nature Problem in 2025, Ciel was captivated by birding and has since taken up wildlife images. They’re excited to be taught extra about environmental justice, stage up their shorebird ID sport, and assist join extra Black and Brown of us with inexperienced areas.

Andrea is a first-generation school scholar at Pasadena Metropolis School who’s at the moment learning biology and hoping to pursue a bachelor’s diploma of Animal Biology and a minor in Wildlife Conservation. Rising up in Los Angeles, she has skilled and seen traditionally marginalized communities, together with Latino immigrant communities, face exclusion from the outside and limitations to accessing outside areas. This expertise motivates her to assist shut the outdoor-equity hole and advocate for outside accessibility and environmental justice. She’s most excited to reinforce her abilities in analysis and public talking, be taught extra about chook species and migration, and higher perceive the consequences of urbanization.

Gabriella (she/her) is a neighborhood educator of Zapotec heritage who goals to make use of storytelling as a software to construct stewardship of the land. She loves spending time connecting with the pure world by means of mountain climbing, biking, and exploring parks. She is most enthusiastic about constructing a studying neighborhood alongside different chook lovers and studying extra concerning the Southern California coastal panorama.

Ray (they/them) is a Viet and trans printmaker enthusiastic about neighborhood constructing. Within the final yr, they’ve found a deep ardour for birdwatching, tidepooling, and ocean-exploring. By means of the Coastal Management Program, they hope to be taught extra about shorebird life cycles and how you can host informative, accessible occasions the place folks can take part in coastal restoration and shorebirds!

Laurel Tamayo is a filmmaker and influence producer enthusiastic about harnessing the facility of leisure to encourage local weather resilience. Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, she loves the ocean, tide pooling, and photographing shorebirds. Final yr, she surpassed her objective of recognizing 100 new chook species! By means of this program, she is worked up to deepen her understanding of native chook conservation in Los Angeles and discover the intersection of birding, youth, and psychological well being.

Funding for Audubon California’s 2026 Coastal Management Program cohort is generously offered by the California Coastal Fee by means of a grant program made attainable by gross sales of the WHALE TAIL® License Plate and donations to the Shield Our Coast and Oceans Fund on California state tax returns.