Nakasi Fortune

Nakasi is toggling between and among roles as a learner, a teacher and a questioner within the environmental space and beyond. What this means is that she is constantly exploring, sharing and challenging ideas, systems and norms. This is new to and for her, especially within this context.

As a learner, she spends her time stretching across disciplines, from natural resources to education to leadership to social justice. Nakasi does her best to seek out multiple perspectives and voices because, after all, that is where true richness and understanding live. Just as she learns about other things, it is important for her to self-reflect and learn about who she is in relation to everything else.

In her role as a teacher, she works across ages, backgrounds, and communities to shape environmental education experiences that inspire awe, curiosity, and environmental stewardship. It is important for her to (co)create and curate spaces and experiences that encourage critical thinking, creativity, compassion, and general respect.

Perhaps most importantly, Nakasi is a questioner who refuses to accept the status quo without careful examination of all its parts. She is now in a lifelong process of interrogating the underlying assumptions and power dynamics that shape the environmental discourse and, really and truly, our entire lives. Beyond interrogating, she has a responsibility to dismantle oppressive structures and systems that continue to perpetuate harm and inequality.

At the heart of her practice (and it continues to evolve) lies a belief in the power of relationships, care, and love. Nakasi thinks environmentalism should not just be a scientific or academic endeavor but a deeply relational and ethical pursuit that demands empathy, reciprocity, and solidarity.

Academically, she holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Education from Sterling College, certification in Project Management, and she is a current graduate student completing an M.S. in Natural Resources. Nakasi's lived experiences and interactions with others and the more-than-human world, however, continue to be her greatest teachers and inspirations.