Sophie Guarasci worked in the world of fashion and finance before becoming a licensed veterinary tech. She works at the Marine Mammal Center, the nation’s foremost marine mammal hospital located just north of San Francisco. Sophie oversees the clinical and surgical treatment and husbandry of seals, sea lions, and sea otters. It’s her dream job, even though there are times she has to make difficult decisions about the treatment of severely ill animals. Sophie believes that people wherever they live should care about these marine animals as they tell us much about what is going on out there in their home the ocean, which is tied to human health. And for her, every time the Center is able to release an animal back into the ocean, Sophie feels hope that she is making a difference.

Women Mind the Water

Sophie Guarasci

Angela grew up in Wyoming and originally went college to be study journalism but pivoted to law when she heard about Napster and the potential it had for dispossessing musical artists from their artistic property. Angela believes that when a system is broken and you have an idea of how to fix it or change it or make it better, it’s worth it to step in and make it happen. After she was introduced to sailing and she saw the massive super yachts with their huge sails, her creative mind took hold. She learned that some of the material is extraordinary and yet it had a limited life span. She wanted to make a positive difference with the decommissioned sails that otherwise ended up as landfill. Angela has invested her own human capital and worked with architects and others to find ways to use the sails for humanitarian purposes. One of the first projects for Sail to Shelter is installing sails in Maui to answer a number of different issues. Maui suffered a devastating fire in August 2023,

Angela Abshier

Suzette Bousema is an emerging Netherlands-based visual artist. Suzette collaborates with environmental scientists to explore present day ecological crises and engages audiences by using a variety of techniques including photography and glass blowing to help understand abstract concepts. On the podcast we discuss her efforts to photograph ancient polar ice cores , to create her own climate archive with glass bubbles, and how to personally cope with big ecological issues.

Suzette Bousema

Merle Liivand is an aquapreneur, plastic pollution reduction advocate, Guinness World Record holder and mermaid. The Estonian-born swimmer holds several Guinness World Records her latest was achieved on April 15, 2023, in a little over 14 hours. Merle swam 50 kilometers using a monofin, a record setting swim for the longest distance swum using a monofin. It's a feat because she swam the distance without using her arms by undulating her lower body up and down mermaid-style.

Merle Liivand

Katie Horning is a water steward based in Michigan. She serves as Chair of the River Days Festival in Midland and is a leader of the online platform Rivers are Life. She works to build awareness of and connection with rivers and inspire action to protect, preserve, and explore them by promoting the stories of River Heroes. Katie believes highlighting their projects is an impactful way to showcase the value of rivers.

Katie Horning

Sarah received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for her nine-part series 36.5/A Durational Performance with the Sea. This work has been performed on six continents in places as far flung as New Zealand, Kenya, and New York City. Sarah’s intention is to connect humans with water and the impact of climate change. During each site specific performance she stands in the water for a full tidal (12.5+ hours). The rise and fall of the tide on her body is reflective of what has occurred in nature in the ancient past and will continue to do so unrelentingly into the future.

Sarah Cameron Sunde

Bonnie Montelone is a researcher, environmental science-educator, film maker, artist, and co-founder of the Plastic Ocean Project, a non-profit seeking science-based solutions to the global plastic pollution crisis. Bonnie has collected marine plastic on a global scale. She is affiliated with the Environmental Studies Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where she works as an Adjunct Instructor of Plastic Marine Debris Field Studies. She also serves as an advisor for students conducting research on marine plastic. Additionally, Bonnie is an artist who uses the plastic she’s collects to create visual stories about her research.

Bonnie Monteleone

Tracy Metz is a journalist, author and podcast maker. She also is the director of the John Adams Institute, an independent foundation in the Netherlands, that brings the best and the brightest of American thinking to the Netherlands. Tracy is passionate about the interplay between urban issues, architecture, and the natural environment, particularly water. Her book Sweet&Salt: Water and the Dutch, investigates the change in the country’s approach to water management in times of climate change. Her podcast Water Talks addresses global issues with water – too much, too little, too dirty and too unequal. Water Talks grew out of the United Nations conference on water held in NYC in March 2023.

Tracy Metz

Holly Rankin is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist podcast series on WomenMind theWater.com. Holly is an Australian singer/songwriter/festival promoter, and an activist in the areas of environmental and social justice. Also known as Jack River, her music often deals with difficult topics, like personal tragedy, climate change, and social justice. Holly believes transforming such messages into music has the power to inspire action.

Holly Rankin aka Jack River

Kara Dodge is a research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Research, the research arm of the New England Aquarium in Boston. Her specialty is the ecology of marine animals, more specifically sea turtles. Kara uses cutting-edge technology like satellite tagging and drones to enrich our knowledge of sea turtles and the impacts of humans on them.

Kara Dodge

Hannah St. Luce-Martinez, well-versed in Belize’s natural and cultural resources, is the latest guest on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series. She describes Belize, its natural resources, conservation and biodiversity, and the importance of promoting inclusivity and empowering youth and women.

Hannah St. Luce-Martinez

Hoku Cody, a Native Hawaiian, seabird biologist, and life-long ocean lover, protector, and advocate advocates for community stewardship in actions, that revitalize traditional rights within Hawaiʻi’s natural and cultural resource management industries. Hoku works with the National Ocean Protection Coalition to create and support marine protected areas and have the Pacific Remote Islands designated a National Marine Sanctuary.

Hoku Cody

Vicki Nichols Goldstein is the latest guest on the Women Mind the Water Artivist Series podcast. Vicki is founder of the Inland Ocean Coalition. Her impressive credentials include a master’s degree in marine policy from Yale University and working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to co-write documents for the designation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Vicki served as the Executive Director of the California-based Save Our Shores. When she moved to Colorado, she founded the Colorado Ocean Coalition and in 2017 Vicki rebranded it as the Inland Ocean Coalition. Inland Ocean Coalition empowers citizens wherever they live to be leaders and make positive contributions to ocean protection.

Vicki Nichols Goldstein

Rebecca Rutstein, an accomplished artist who has received many awards and been involved in numerous public exhibitions, is the latest guest on Women Mind the Water Artivist Series Podcast (womenmindthewater.com/featured-guests). Rebecca’s career has taken her to remarkable places including the high seas and the ocean floor. In all, her artwork strives to build connections with nature, inspire wonder, and foster environmental stewardship.

Rebecca Rutstein

Lisa Scali considers herself a foodie and a lover of the ocean. She is more than a co-owner of Ocean’s Balance and a chef, she is a proponent of eating more sustainably by consuming seaweed. Lisa who has lived in Paris and New York, two of the world’s best-known cities for foodies, now lives in Portland, Maine where she leads a culinary trend to encourage Americans to eat more seaweed, a plant that is farmed and harvested from the ocean.

Lisa Scali

The Women Mind the Water podcast engages artists in conversation about their work and explores their connection with the ocean and how it influences their art. 

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Women Mind the Water

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