A couple months ago, I recall myself sitting in my dorm room. Laptop in hand, I was vicariously searching for summer internships to apply for. I was a first-year computer science major with not a lot to show for it but my coursework and participation in a few significant events. Needless to say, finding opportunities that I was qualified for became a daunting task. After some hours went by, I stumbled upon the Greening Youth Foundation website. To be completely honest, I almost clicked out of the browser as soon as I'd opened it. Environmental? National Parks? Those weren't words I thought of when looking for internships related to computer science. Fortunately, my conscience got the best of me and I proceeded to browse around the website. In doing so, I came across their job and internship listings. A listing for a technical intern immediately caught my eye! This is what I'd been searching for! I read the description for the internship and applied. Some may have called me crazy, a girl from Nashville, Tennessee applying for a 10-week internship program in Wyoming. Nonetheless, I took up the challenge and took a chance. I'm so grateful that I did. If I hadn't found the Greening Youth Foundation, I would have never known that the environmental field has roles for everyone, regardless of their studies. More importantly, I would have never known that a graduate from my current institution, Spelman College, Angelou Ezeilo had founded the organization.
Seven weeks into the program, I had the opportunity to meet Angelou in person. A New Jersey native, she greeted me enthusiastically. She had come to visit me at Yellowstone National Park, where I'd been stationed for the summer. She and her husband, the creator of my internship program, commanded the room. Their visit touched me as it showed that they truly cared about the people in their organization. Soon, they were on their way off, with Angelou telling me that she wanted me to go outside of my comfort zone and go camping. Luckily, I listened and it was a fantastic experience. We checked back in the week later and the rest is history.
I wanted to interview Angelou because she is beyond inspiring. A black woman in the field of environmental conservation is hard to find. A black woman and the founder of her own environmental education organization? Even more hard to find. Mrs. Ezeilo is a front runner, a game changer, and truly passionate about bringing change to the issue of diversity in the environmental field.
Alright, let’s get started. You are the founder and CEO of Greening Youth Foundation. First, I want to say that that is super phenomenal! What inspired you to create this foundation?
My background is law. I’m a lawyer by trade. However, at a young age, my parents would take me from New Jersey to a 40 acre property in upstate NY. It was there that I fell in love with nature. My parents fostered a love that I still have to this day. Through growing up with them and going to college, public interest has always been instilled in me. Spelman College encourages us to be change agents and I ran with that.
Through going to law school, my eyes were open to this cool field. I realized that there was such a big void in the field when it came to people of color. I started off working for the Department of Agriculture doing farmland conservation. That really wasn’t it. It wasn’t it for me. It didn’t connect me with people that looked like me. As a result, I moved to another job, a NGO (National government organization), the Trust for Natural Land. That was where I cut my teeth because I really began to see all the opportunities that existed within the field, but still noticed the void of people of color, mentors for myself. You know like I would be the only little brown girl at meetings and conferences. I was like, “What the world? Why am I the only one here?”
Right, because there had to be others like you who were interested as well!
Exactly! At that point, I was very much interested in doing this work. I came to Atlanta and my dad had gotten ill. He’s doing good now, thank God. It was there that I had my realization. I was working on the beltline and I told myself that I can’t keep complaining about there not being enough people in the field, especially when we’re being directly affected. I knew I had to do something about it. That’s when I started GYF.
Wow, that’s incredible. So inspiring!
I know! I felt like the stars and the moon had aligned to make this happen. The fact that I had a legal background helped so much with lots of the work that we had to do. Reading and negotiating contracts, you know building relationships. It was like everything came together to help propel this business. Everything came together to propel this dream of exposing diverse young adults to careers in conservation.
What were some challenges you faced along the way of starting Greening Youth? Or even, what are challenges you faced after its creation?
Face challenges? Aw, man. Did we ever!
Basically, people would look at me and my team like “What are you doing?” “Why are you in this space?” We weren’t something you’d necessarily see. It was true. It was rare to see us in the environmental education scheme. It was also rare to see us in the youth corps--- people of color, that is. Even to this day, we are one of the only African-American led youth corps in the country. We’re number one for diverse internship placement on federal lands. So it’s not like a whole lot of progress has been made, unfortunately. There are organizations popping up in Latino communities, Native American communities, a couple African-American communities, but it’s still an anomaly. It should not be. Those are the obstacles we continue to face now, is making it culturally relevant for communities of colors to be doing this work.
Do you think your identity as a black woman affected the challenges you faced? I mean, you’re the CEO, the front runner. How did people take that?
I would say, initially, yes. It’s still yes behind the scenes, but in front it’s weird. A weird thing happened when the Obama administration came into play. He, as well as Secretary Jewell, started acknowledging the importance of diversity in the outdoors. They put it on the forefront. Then it became popular, again it was weird. Suddenly, we became like the popular girl at school. Everybody wanted to partner with us, wanted to do things with us! It was because working with us, me even, involved working with a diverse organization, a woman’s organization. All of the boxes checked.
Basically, you had the whole package!
Ha, I know right!
So, moving forward. I know you went to my current institution Spelman! When did you graduate?
Yes! I was an English major, Class of 1992.
At Spelman, did you ever imagine yourself doing what you’re doing now?
No, not really. Initially I was a drama major, believe it or not. Then I went into English where I got really focused on becoming a lawyer. You know, that really became my focus. I had no clue that it would lead me to this.
Additionally, how do you think your career path has differed from others working for environmental causes?
I think it’s different for me because of my connections to communities of color, also even Spelman’s connections. I’m sure there are others out there who are just as passionate about making sure diverse people of color are aware of these opportunities. That passion, I say, is what makes me unique. It’s not just trying to do this because diversity is “in”. Diversity and inclusion have become buzz words. But this is something that keeps me up at night. Like, I’m so passionate about it. I mean, I lived it! I didn’t even know about this field, this profession. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were educated, but this wasn’t something they’d told me about. I just think that so many young people are missing out on this opportunity because they just don’t know about it. That’s a lot of the college bound people, but there’s those who aren’t college bound. I feel like this is a pathway that could change the trajectory of their lives. There’s work! There’s camaraderie that comes from working on teams.
With such a high unemployment rate for black boys and girls and the way that environmental degradation continues throughout the country, people ARE needed. I can’t for the life of me understand why people don’t see this is as a solution.
I so agree. I definitely was ignorant about the opportunities for students in the environmental field.
Do you have any advice for Spelman students? Entrepreneurial, because you know, you did found this outstanding organization? Or even life advice moving forward.
I know it’s cliche to say follow your passions, but it’s really true. Everyone may have this idea for your career, but it’s really important at college to tap into what YOU are truly passionate about. Once you tap in, even if it isn’t initially the career you start with, I guarantee you’re going to come back around to that passion. That passion will be what makes you a change agent in society.
Whatever you’re passionate about, like I said earlier, is what keeps you up at night. It’s what keeps you motivated day to day. You can hone into that passion at an early age, that way you’re given more time to perfect whatever it is that your contribution will be to the world.
That is so powerful. I definitely needed to hear that moving into the next semester.
Okay last question! How can we give back to the environment, even if it may not be included in our career path. What can we do to give back?
Great question. I recognize that not everyone is going to be pursuing the conservation careers that I talk about. At the very least, however, I ask my Spelman sisters to be aware. Be really aware, environmentally aware. Everything that you do, do it from a sustainable lens, whether it’s law, architecture, or planning. Whatever it is, if the lens is sustainably responsible, environmentally responsible--- then I’ve done my job. If everyone does that one thing, then a huge difference is made in how we leave the planet for the next generation. So even if you’re not pursuing a direct environmentally related career, know that we all have to be responsible. Little differences are what matter.
There’s a tale that my shero of all time always talks of. Dr. Wangari Maathi was the first Kenyan woman to win the Nobel Prize for her environmental work, specifically on a project called the Green Belt Movement. When I went to hear her speak, she told a tale of elephants and these other animals watching a hummingbird put out a fire. They asked the humming bird how it planned to put out this ginormous fire. What was giving it this encouragement? The hummingbird replied, “one drop at a time”. As you know, a hummingbird can only hold so much water in its mouth. It’s determination is what put the fire out. The point is if you’re determined, no matter how little your contribution, you CAN make a difference.
I so love that! Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you!
It was my pleasure!
You can keep up with Angelou and Greening Youth Foundation by checking out their website: https://www.gyfoundation.org/. For students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities, be sure to stay updated as her HBCU Internship program accepts students of all classifications and majors.
