Amara Ifeji
Anna Sommo
Olivia Griset
Ray Mills
Directors
Red Fong
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Director of Policy and Advocacy
Amara Ifeji is an internationally awarded non-profit leader in climate and environmental justice. Amara contributes to and advances legislative and policy solutions focused on systemic transformation to ensure equitable access to the outdoors and climate justice education for ALL youth. In high school, her barriers to access to environmental learning compelled her to lead community science learning efforts for students of color like herself. As the Director of Policy with the Maine Environmental Education Association, Amara mobilizes youth-led, grassroots movements to advance state and federal environmental education policies, recently contributing to securing over $2 million for climate education professional development in Maine. In recognition of her work, she was named a 2021 National Geographic Young Explorer and 2022 Brower Youth Awardee.
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Director of Schools and Community Partnerships
Anna grew up in Appleton, Maine. Over the past 20+ years she has found that she enjoys working with others to build systems towards a more just world. She believes strongly in the power of environmental education to help people connect with each other and nature and has held positions in residential outdoor education and garden- based education both in Maine and on the west coast. She loves to learn and work with schools and community partners to support opportunities for environmental education (EE) for all Maine youth. As part of the MEEA team she aims to create a more just, equitable and inclusive EE sector in Maine. Anna enjoys riding her bicycle, working in her garden and cooking up meals from what she grows for her family and friends.
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Executive Director
Olivia Griset (she, her) serves as the Executive Director of the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA). MEEA is Maine's statewide network that supports educators, youth and individuals in building environmental awareness and action by centering equity and advancing systemic change_._ Olivia works in collaboration to innovate solutions that result in more equitable, sustainable, and healthy Maine communities. Olivia is deeply engaged in movement building at national and state level holding leadership positions at the North American Environmental Education Association and at the Maine Nature Based Education Consortium. Olivia’s experiences as a fisheries biologist, as a rural public high school life science teacher, community-based environmental educator, and family nature club organizer lend a unique perspective on environmental education movement-building. While a classroom teacher Olivia was recognized as a National Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educator, one of only 5 in the country in 2009. When not working on environmental education and equity projects you can find Olivia playing music, working in the garden, or skiing through the woods with her partner Todd and their daughters Lucy and Charlotte and puppy Cora.
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Director of Operations
Red is one of the co-directors of MEEA and a co-facilitator of the Relearning Place Program. From a small farm town in Nipmuc Territory in Berlin, MA, their love for the land stems from early childhood experiences with a hiking-oriented family. Their work with systems change focuses on community relationships with local environments, decolonial/queer approaches to conservation, Indigenous sovereignty, and empathy-based networking. They frequently facilitate cross-racial meetings with an emphasis on emotional processing.
These days their time outside is spent running with friends, road biking, and taking hammock naps.
Meet our Staff and Board
At MEEA, we prioritize a strong diversity of perspectives and lived experiences while ensuring we maintain youth leadership throughout our staffing structure. We also operate using a Shared Leadership model on our 4 Director team to make decisions together and practice the types of relationships we want to see in the world!
Emory Harger
Contractors
Staff
negina lawler-naluai
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Changemakers Program Coordinator
negina is a queer, Black, and Native Hawaiian person who is currently based in the Greater Bangor Area. While they have worked both professionally and voluntarily in advocacy, they developed their passion for environmental advocacy and justice through friends and colleagues, and exploring and appreciating the outdoor spaces around them. negina spent the beginning of their life in Hawaii and was taught to understand that nature is not something we are superior to, but something we exist with and are a part of. Living in Maine has given them the opportunity to connect to the land in a healing way. Having access to these spaces and this knowledge lit a flame in them to preserve them for generations to come. In wake of the climate change, Negina felt moved to pursue a role with Maine Environmental Changemakers because of their focus on equity and elevation of BIPOC youth voices. negina has worked in the fields of mental health, racial justice, and policy work and is most excited to combine the skills and knowledge they have developed to find points of intersect between these issues and environmental justice
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Communications Contractor
Emory Harger (they/he) currently lives on Penobscot land in Waldo County, Maine, where they work part-time as a vegetable farmer in addition to their work with MEEA as the Communication Contractor. Their roots are in community storytelling, where they’ve used their toolbox of documentary filmmaking, photography, audio, and writing to amplify narratives that help create community change.
From 2020 to 2022, they reported on environmental pollution as a producer for Business Insider's video series World Wide Waste. Emory also directed two short films _OUTSPOKEN (30 min.) _and A Space For Us (19 min.) that follow the lives of LGBTQIA2S+ people carving space for themselves in their communities. The films have screened across the country in partnership with PBS, film festivals and organizations like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, universities, and church groups. Their work with the Center for Investigative Reporting on female incarceration in Oklahoma was nominated for an Emmy, and in 2018 they received an Emerging Video Journalist award from the Society of Professional Journalists. In their free time, you can find Emory gardening, surfing, hiking, and attending any community events they can find!
emory@meeassociation.orgItem description
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Item descriptionRay is primarily of Wabanaki and Franco-American descent and grew up in Oxford County, Maine along the Androscoggin River. In 2021, she graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Native American Studies. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability. Her passion for the environment stems from the lessons she learned from her family about maintaining a reciprocal relationship with the land. Her undergraduate studies complimented this passion and has led to her focus on climate change and environmental justice. As a result, Ray felt motivated to pursue this Changemaker Residency to further her knowledge and build upon her passion for climate change mitigation and implementing strategies to work with nature, rather than against it.
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Sulwan (she/her), is a first generation Sudanese refugee in Portland, Maine. Sulwan graduated from Bowdoin College in 2022 with a B.A. in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and concentrations in Africana Studies and Sociology. Sulwan fled the Darfur genocide with her family in 2001, relocated to Egypt, and eventually settled in Portland, Maine in 2003. Her passion for environmental justice is deeply connected to her identity as a displaced person, she is feeding this passion through her work as the 2024-2026 Community Initiatives Resident for The Nature Conservancy and Maine Environmental Education Association. Through her work, Sulwan hopes to deepen her understanding of the intersections of environmental justice, migration, and community health. She aims to apply her insight to cultivate practices that positively impact BIPOC and low-income communities in Maine.
Luke Sekera-Flanders
Audrey Hufnagel
Kaya Lolar
Sulwan Ahmed
Will Lehan
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MYCJ/Changemakers Liason
Luke Sekera - Flanders grew up in Fryeburg, along the Saco River. He has been involved in water justice advocacy since 2012 as a founding member of Community Water Justice, a network of communities across the state resisting water privatization and working toward just and responsible relationships between communities and the water bodies and sources they rely on. Luke is also a member of the Maine Youth for Climate Justice coalition, the Maine Environmental Changemakers Network, and works with other environmental organizations across the state.
lukesekera.flanders@gmail.com
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Listen Project Fellow
Audrey is a high school senior at Lincoln Academy and climate justice activist. She has grown up along the Damariscotta River where she first developed a love for nature and a passion for environmental advocacy. Audrey is a member of Maine Youth for Climate Justice, and has advocated for climate legislation including the Pine Tree Amendment and climate education bill. She is also a NOAA Young Changemakers Fellow and a member of the Maine Climate Council Energy Working Group. Audrey is super excited to be a MEEA fellow for this project!
audreyhufnagel@gmail.com
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Kaya Lolar is currently a six month contractor doing Policy & Advocacy work with MEEA. She is a citizen of the Panawahpskek Nation and is on track to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology and English from Harvard University in the spring of 2025. She was born and raised on the banks of the Penobscot River at Alenape Menahan, or what is now called Indian Island, and her lived experiences as a Panawahpskek citizen have driven her lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship and advocacy. Kaya has a passion for writing (especially creatively) and greatly values the power of storytelling as one of many tools to share traditional Indigenous knowledge as it pertains to our ever-evolving environment.
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My name is Will Lehan, and I recently graduated from Boston University with a degree in International Relations. Growing up in Bangor, I developed a love for nature through exploring the City Forest and Acadia National Park. At BU, I was an Outing Club Trip Leader and completed a capstone project on reducing Boston's traffic through carbon taxes, tolling, and MBTA improvements. Currently, I'm a MEEA fellow, excited for this summer's project and the fall gathering!