Would you like to work with Carissa Cabrera?

hello@futureswell.org

A Local & Global Solutionist

Since 2018, Carissa has focused on building legacy impact programs for our ocean in partnership with nonprofits. In 2019, she developed and secured sustained funding for the first in-water marine debris removal program dedicated to fishing gear on Oʻahu, which continues to clean Hawaiʻi’s coastal ecosystem to this day. She went on to publish research on marine debris entanglement patterns in Hawaiian seabirds.

After founding Futureswell in 2020, Carissa began to scale solutions independently. She received a grant award from Gilette Venus, and hosted virtual Women Wavemakerʻs Workshops designed to empower young women to begin their ocean conservation journey during the pandemic. The sessions connected over 200 women across five countries. In the same year, National Geographic Society awarded her to build ocean literacy curricula to support hybrid learning. The lesson plans have reached thousands of students globally and are taught in classrooms today.

In recent years, Carissa’s environmental communication work has led her to participate in multiple conservation expeditions as an educator and storyteller. She joined National Geographic Society and Ocean Exploration Trust aboard the E/V Nautilus to study dolphin communication, build and distribute ocean exploration lesson plans, and share the story of the expedition to Hawaiʻi students. As part of Lenovo’s Work for Humankind program, Carissa traveled to the remote island of Robinson Crusoe in Chile to consult and collaborate with community organizations and the local government on effective conservation practices - from financing solutions through tourism to grant writing workshops to save their endemic, endangered species.

Carissa’s work in her own community continues to be her favorite. She is passionate about breaking down barriers to conservation careers, and works as the Head of Development for Kuleana Coral Restoration. Most recently, her and the team launched and led COAST, an 8-week fully funded incubator to train Pacific Islanders in coral restoration, gain in-water dive certifications, and connect with mentors to build their conservation career locally.

She is an active policy advocate, having worked as the project manager for Hawai’i Green Fee to pass an ambitious conservation financing bill. She coordinated a coalition of more than 50 organizations, led communications, and worked alongside stakeholders such as the Governor and multiple State agencies to bolster support.

In addition to her consulting and programming expertise, Carissa is a frequent public speaker and writer, teaching others how the ocean can be integrated into all niches of environmental work. She regularly hosts workshops, panels, and keynotes to a diverse set of audiences from Harvard University to Aspen Future Leaders to K-12 classrooms.

Education Background & Academia

Carissa began her marine science journey in Arizona after being awarded academic scholarships to attend college, including the Arizona Board of Regents High Honors Tuition Scholarship and Cesar Chavez Latino Leadership scholarship. She went on to gain Bachelor of Science in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Marine Science from the University of Arizona, while serving in leadership roles within the Marine Awareness & Conservation Society on campus and managing programming, education, and development. Under her leadership, the organization became a registered nonprofit, raised thousands of dollars for endangered marine species, and institutionalized ocean literacy principles in Tucson classrooms and museums through K-12 lesson plans.

Carissa went on to pursue a Masters of Science in Marine Science at Hawaiʻi Pacific University, where she studied cetacean stranding causes and patterns in the Main Hawaiian Islands. During her time there, she founded the lab’s education branch by building programming, curricula, and leading staff training. She also worked under NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, where Carissa helped support stakeholder engagement on the delistment of the endangered North Pacific stock of humpback whales. After two years, she graduated summa cum laude in 2018 as valedictorian of her graduate cohort.

Carissa currently resides on Oʻahu in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi with her partner, Alex and rescue dog, Riley. In her free time, Carissa enjoys surfing, water coloring, rock climbing, and most recently, pottery.