Let's Talk Hyenas with Jana Woerner

In this podcast, I'm chatting with Siana Phillips, the head of Impact at Ocean Sole, here in Kenya. She shares her incredible journey, growing up in Samburu County in Kenya where she developed her creative mind and love for community. That path later led her to Ocean Sole where she is using her skills and experiences in grassroots conservation to community empowerment and education. Listen in and hear more about Ocean Sole, a Kenyan Organization turning flip-flops in art while working hand in hand with the local people to achieve their mission in Education, Community, and Conservation. Enjoy and be inspired to take action💚🎙️

A survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM), Sereti Nabaala turned her personal experience into a mission to protect and empower young girls. In 2019, while still in university, she founded the Matasaru Ntoyie Pastoralist Foundation, which has since supported the education of FGM and forced marriage survivors, provided menstrual hygiene supplies to over 2,000 girls, and empowered young mothers with skills and reproductive health knowledge. With seven years of experience in grassroots activism, policy work, and community engagement, Sereti is a powerful voice for gender equality and a symbol of resilience. Today, she joins us to share her journey, the challenges she has faced, and her vision for a future where every girl has the right to education, choice, and dignity. EnjoyEnjoy🎙️💚

Hello Good people!! In this new episode, I'm chatting with Jana Woerner, a Ph.D student with the Mara Hyena Project at Michigan State University where she studies the hunting behavior of spotted hyenas and its impact on their space use and movement decisions.We talk about her childhood, career, fieldwork, her time at the Mara Hyena Project, all things hyenas, and her mentorship work. Enjoy and be inspired💚🎙️

In this new podcast, I'm chatting with Rebecca Stephens, MBE, the first British woman to summit Everest and the first British woman to climb the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. We talk through her childhood and upbringing in the UK, her experiences summiting Everest and what being on top of the world for five minutes felt like, her time leading mountaineering tours across the World, and how those contribute to local tourism and conservation efforts. We also dive into climate change and its impacts on glaciers and high-altitude mountaineering, as well as her leadership coaching and consulting journey and the lessons she applies from her experiences on the mountains. Enjoy and be inspired💚🎙️

I’m super thrilled to introduce to you our next guest on the Pod @lydiatiller, the head of the human-elephant coexistence program @amboseli_trust Lydia joined @amboseli_trust in January 2023 to focus on human-elephant coexistence and connectivity in the Amboseli ecosystem. over a decade@savetheelephants in Tsavo, Kenya as their Research and Science Manager, where she coordinated field research and managed an elephant tracking program. In this episode, we chat about the following: Lydia’s upbringing, her career life, and how her childhood shaped the person she is today How she got started working with and for Asian elephants in Thailand, Why elephants? What makes these majestic creatures special Biggest threats facing elephants and all about coexistence in an ever-increasingly changing landscape Her biggest challenge and most rewarding success in her career so far How she is empowering and mentoring the next generation of conservationists and so much more. Enjoy and be Inspired💚🎙️

Gender Bias, discrimination, harassment, inequity in pay, cultural constraints are just but some of the overarching and adverse impacts of gender-related challenges that women go through in the conservation realm. Less than 1% of landowners in the Maasai Mara Conservancies are women. Aside from harmful gender norms such as early childhood marriages, female genital mutilation, and teenage pregnancies, these are over-normalized in the community. As Angela points out, this makes it hard for real, meaningful change across the landscape. Meet our next guest Angela Sanau Paswa Senior Programmes Officer, Gender @mconservancies Her passion is driven by strengthening women's empowerment by working with communities to enhance internal governance structures and promoting inclusive spaces for women in conservation. Enjoy and learn💚🎙️

In this new episode, I'm chatting with Nashipae 'Nash' Orumoy, the Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). We talk through her upbringing in Ngong and Kajiado, her career path moving from banking & insurance into the conservation world, and what her typical workday looks like in her current role. We also dive into how AWF is building on Africa's perspectives in conservation through storytelling, the need to have locally driven and produced stories and communications as a strategic role, that is rooted in what people believe in. Listen in to the end to hear her special advice to young people who are looking to have a positive impact in their respective fields. EnjoyEnjoy🎙️💚

In this new Podcast, the first one of the year in 2025, I'm super delighted to be chatting with Jane Nashipae a former accountant who was married in the Maasai Mara and found her big passion for serving and leading her community in tree planting initiatives. Her Community-Based Organization, an extended arm of House in the Wild called Women in the Wild, is a 35-member CBO working to restore degraded ecosystems along the Mara River while creating sustainable livelihoods for the community. From organizing beading initiatives to partnering with Kenyan Originals (KO) to bead the Mara Gin Lead, to donating libraries for school-going children to learn more about coexistence and wildlife conservation, Jane and her team are doing it all. Enjoy the podcast and be inspired to make change wherever you're planted🎙️💚

In this Podcast, I'm talking with John Mwakima, a Community Leader whose passion for the carbon market was sparked by witnessing its transformative impact on his rural village, making him a fervent advocate for climate action and sustainable socio-economic empowerment. We talk more about John's Journey as a community leader, the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project, its positive impact on the local community, and how it's tackling climate change. We also dive into how corporations can join in to support and fund efforts on the ground for climate action.

In this episode, I'm talking with Grace Wanene, the Founder of Drawing Dreams Initiative, a Youth-led grassroots conservation organization focusing on menstrual health & hygiene education, teenage Mamas empowerment, and youth development. We talk through her upbringing and how her love for children and people grew from a young age, her Miss. Tourism pageant days, and how that shaped her path in modelling and breaking the ceiling to form the Drawing Dreams Initiative. We also dive into some of the programs she helps to run, their impact, sustainability, and scalability across Kenya plus so much more. EnjoyEnjoy💚