Azul Announces Programming Staff Promotion & New Staff Hires
Online Link: (English) | (Español)
For Immediate Release
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Media Contacts: Betsy López-Wagner, López-Wagner Strategies, betsy@equitablecomms.com
Lucila Garcia, López-Wagner Strategies, garciaoneil@gmail.com
Azul Announces Programming Staff Promotion & New Staff Hires
The California-based grassroots ocean justice-focused organization is promoting a woman of color leader – it also recently hired three women of color as it continues to advance its organizational growth and environmental justice roots
WASHINGTON, DC (November 10, 2022) – Azul is announcing the elevation of Latinx leadership and the expansion of its bi-coastal team – the second round of promotions and hires for the grassroots environmental justice organization in 2022 alone.
Founded in 2011 to bring Latinx perspectives and participation to ocean conservation, Azul has advocated for more than a decade to advance environmental justice and equity-focused policies in the state of California, across the nation, and its work is being recognized at international levels.
“Our growth and commitment to the communities we support and work alongside is unwavering, and these staff hires, and leadership promotion reflect our strategic direction – we will only continue to grow as we advance ocean justice now and in the future,” said Azul’s Executive Director and Founder Marce Gutierrez-Graudiņš. “These strategic changes are a reflection of our growth and our commitment to continue growing in the future.”
Azul’s growth follows a decade of instrumental successes including the California plastic bag ban, shark fin ban, and in expanding access to the state’s coasts, while also being part of a coalition to stop a dirty, privately-owned desalination plant, from being built in Huntington Beach – while also redirecting funds away from affordable and low-income housing – and that’s in California alone. Under the leadership of Gutierrez-Graudiņš, Azul continues to be the only ocean conservation organization in the nation to focus specifically on working with Latinx communities.
The promotion of Karla Garibay Garcia to Senior Conservation Manager – a new role at Azul – signals the success of Garibay in her two years supporting the organization as a policy lead and lobbyist, prior to her transition to project manager in September 2020, and now in assuming the head of Azul’s conservation programming, Gutierrez-Graudiņš said. Azul has also added three positions: a digital strategist, administrative executive assistant and a marine conservation fellow.
Garibay Garcia works with BIPOC communities at the intersection of marine conservation and environmental justice. Previously, she lobbied and consulted for Sacramento-based environmental nonprofit organizations. She worked on international climate, air quality, and tropical deforestation policy with the Environmental Defense Fund, taught marine biology at the Ocean Institute, and conducted research at the Salk Institute of Biological Sciences. In recent years with Azul, she supported the publication of Azul and UNEP’s report, Neglected: Environmental Justice Impacts of Plastic Pollution. In her new role, she is directly responsible for managing Azul’s conservation and environmental justice science-based policy campaigns at the state and federal level.
“As a Mexican immigrant with deep cultural ties to the ocean, working for a Latinx-led and serving environmental justice organization focused on ocean stewardship means everything to me,” Garibay Garcia said. “This promotion allows me to incorporate my passion for social justice and science into equitable policy solutions that my community can understand, while addressing their needs and reflecting their perspectives. I am lucky to be part of such a nimble, ambitious, and diverse team.”
Azul is also announcing the hiring of Jessica Itzayana Vazquez Mesta, Priscilla Miller and Katherine Muniz. Vazquez Mesta is the organization’s Digital Strategist, focusing on digital engagement through a community organizing lens, while Miller was hired in August to support leadership initiatives and offer high-level administrative support. As for Muniz, she is a RAY Fellow at Azul. Her two-year paid fellowship aims to increase and facilitate conservation career pathways, according to the Environmental Leadership Program, which manages the program.
Vazquez Mesta, with almost a decade of experience, has worked on various policy campaigns, including education, healthcare, immigration, racial equity and LGBTQ equality, and tribal sovereignty. Her work has focused on using digital tools to amplify the work on the ground, from direct actions in the halls of Congress to teacher walkouts at the state legislature. She joined Azul in late June and has been a key staffer in elevating Azul’s policy priorities and recent polling across its social media channels.
“As a Mexican immigrant and community organizer, Azul’s mission and vision for a gente-powered movement spoke to me; I’ve seen firsthand in my own home how our culture can inspire our conservation efforts and how our people are environmentalists in their actions, even if they don’t label themselves as such. I am humbled to join the team and honored to play a role in carrying out this mission,” Vazquez Mesta said.
As for Miller, who joined Azul in August, her professional experience and administrative support is centered around her desire to advocate for the environment and learn something new every day. A Computer Sciences major, she sought to change paths and ensure she could work and support people from all walks of life. Working in ocean conservation is natural for her, having grown up in a small coastal town where she spent most of her free time at the beach – which is still her favorite place to be and thing to do.
“Having most of my fondest memories being at the beach, I feel honored to be part of an organization that is committed to protecting our ocean for many generations to come,” said Miller. “I believe Azul’s work will inspire many and I love the opportunity of being a part of that.”
Muniz, a first-generation graduate of Wellesley College, focused her bachelor’s in Environmental Studies looking to be a part of conservation efforts that are inclusive and collaborative. Starting her career following her mid-September hiring, she hopes to grow and learn more about ocean justice and conservation, and share her learnings in her Latinx household and community.
“The work environment at Azul is an inspiration for me because I am surrounded by a group of professionals who come from a background similar to mine and encourage me to take on challenges and see failure as a tool for growth,” Muniz said. “Growing up on the west coast, I’ve always been drawn to the beauty, power, and nourishment of the ocean, and working in a space that prioritizes protecting these resources through the value of Latinx conservation traditions has made me see the true potential of the future.”
Next up for Azul following the success of their Latinos and the Ocean public opinion poll, advocacy campaigns, and year of growth is hiring for a California Policy Associate in Sacramento and a National Policy Associate in Washington, D.C. Each staffer will work closely with Gutierrez-Graudiņš and report to Garibay Garcia to create, draft, develop, and advocate for policy solutions that support the achievement of Azul’s marine conservation goals, while building on the organization’s success.
Karla Garibay Garcia
Promoted to Senior Conservation Manager
Jessica Itzayana Vazquez Mesta
Joined as Digital Strategist
Priscilla Miller
Joined as Executive Assistant
Katherine Muñoz
Joined as RAY Fellow
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Azul is a Latinx-led grassroots environmental justice organization focused on stewardship to conserve the ocean and coasts. Follow Azul on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at @AzulDotOrg, or on its website at www.azul.org.