“One of the most creative minds I know, Carol has a singular talent for conceiving of big-picture plans and finding innovative ways of realizing them. She consistently overdelivers on expectations.”
More than 20 years of experience in sustainability communications.
Left with lingering regret that I’d stayed in college rather gone to crew for a bareboat charter company, post graduate school, I decided to pursue the peripatetic path of travel writing. The pay was pathetic, the perks were perky, and the real plus was not describing windswept shores or racing rapids but sharing the stories of people struggling to protect their bucolic homes. As I soon learned, the world’s most iconic natural places too frequently teeter on the precipice of destruction.
Travel writing evolved into environmental reporting—a write-up of the Yucatan’s resorts segued to interviews with local activists, campaigning to protect the areas subterranean limestone rivers. River rafting in Costa Rica led to a story on the traditional medicines of the indigenous Bribri.
Ready for a steadier job, I went to work with the then-fledgling Rainforest Alliance. While I started out producing stories on certified farms, community forestry concessions and women’s weaving cooperatives, it wasn’t long before big companies joined the Rainforest Alliance’s business-friendly approach. As the organization grew, I went from drafting newsletters and annual reports to producing videos, digital campaigns and leading a team of creatives. We partnered on promotion with corporate VPs and CEOs at Lipton, Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and hundreds of other companies contributing to social good.
Eventually, missing the roll-up-your-sleeves early days of the organization, I moved on, took every strategic and creative lesson I’d learned and jam-packed them in to a new experience with a small sustainability nonprofit.
New brand, website, content, campaign in less than a year. While grueling, I did discover I wanted to do it again and again. And ever since, I’ve been helping nonprofits, philanthropies, communities and universities to protect vulnerable people and places by shaping and sharing their stories.
Want to talk about how I can help you craft a compelling narrative to catalyze change?