Meet the 2025 Young Adults Advisory Council

Meet the seven powerful young leaders on the 2025 Young Adults Advisory Council. Among other things, the Young Adults Advisory Council helps guide the planning, production and facilitation of our Nature Everywhere Conference and other key pieces of our 2025 Nature Everywhere vision. 

This year’s Young Adults Advisory Council members include:

Rachel Metz, she/her

Rachel Metz earned a Master of Science in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in 2022, specializing in environmental ethics and science.

She currently holds the position of Assistant Director at the California Nature Art Museum in Solvang, recently earned an environmental educator certification through AEOE (Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education), serves on the education committee for Channel Islands Restoration, and is especially passionate about marine and coastal conservation. In her spare time, she enjoys nature journaling, reading, painting, hiking and tidepooling with her two young daughters, Tigerlily and Fawn.

Vinisha Browne

Vinisha Browne is a first generation Caribbean-American born and raised in Maryland. With strong roots in the islands of Anguilla and Antigua yet growing up in the U.S., she works closely with the idea of intersectionality.

Volunteering, researching and mentoring in nature conservation as a young adult instilled the desire to share her love of nature through ecology work and youth engagement. She has worked in five national parks so far and will graduate with a B.S. in Environmental Health & Safety in 2025.

Samantha Gallant

Sam enjoys a long campfire, a sunset walk in the city, and a backcountry meal that tastes better because she’s camping.  Sam currently works as an environmental educator and a coordinator of a free, community, conservation-related paddling program at a local nonprofit, but has lots of prior experience in wilderness education and youth development. 

Her interest in outdoor education is first and foremost rooted in fostering joy, rest, and accessibility in outdoor spaces. Sam believes in the uprooting of norms that tell us outdoor recreation and knowledge can only come from certain activities in certain places, and makes a continuous effort to always expand and examine her own definition of “nature,” “outdoor recreation” and “outdoor knowledge.”

Lydian DiDonato

Lydian is a passionate advocate for youth access to green spaces and a dedicated educator in urban forestry. She is currently a Youth Education and Engagement Intern for the City of Austin, where she develops and facilitates educational programs on the environmental, social and personal benefits of trees. As a committee member for Emerging Green Leaders, she works to create pathways for youth to access nature-based professions.

She is pursuing a degree in Youth and Community Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on environmental education and community engagement.

Cadence Muelken 

Cady is from Lakeville, Minnesota, but is pursuing her Masters in Public Health at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. She aims to create equitable opportunities to expand public health education in low-income areas that emphasizes the cultural nuances that each population holds.

Environmental wellness is interconnected with this goal and is vital for community success. She hopes to incorporate both these goals in a future career in global health. In her free time, she loves to kayak, watercolor and hang out with her dog, Bella.

Rowan Koester-Jess, she/they

Rowan (she/they) grew up exploring Madison’s city parks as well as visiting the woods, prairies, and lakes all around Wisconsin. These early introductions to the outdoors created a love for being and learning in nature and a passion to make sure these opportunities are available to all.

Rowan has a degree in Outdoor Education with an emphasis on equity and inclusion from Northland College. Rowan is currently an Environmental Educator at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and is loving spending time playing, learning and exploring the outdoors with students. In their free time Rowan loves to garden, swim, cook and craft!

Siri Nycklemoe, she/her

Siri Nycklemoe (she/her) is an environmental educator at Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Madison, Wisconsin. She has a background in child development and previously worked as a Certified TimberNook Provider for Edina Public Schools. In her free time, Siri enjoys cross-country skiing, cooking and camping with her husband Sam and their basset hound pup, Luka.

Erin Turpin, she/her/ella

E (she/her/ella) is an avid gardener, intersectional environmentalist, and a connector by nature. She enjoys helping people connect to nature and each other, and spends her professional time in the Office of Strategic Planning and Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology. She loves cooking family recipes, dancing in the woods, and spending time with her turtle and two cats.

The Children & Nature Network’s annual international conference brings together leaders from a broad range of disciplines, all committed to the health and well-being of children and communities. Click here to learn more about the Nature Everywhere Conference.

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