Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist with a thriving passion to conserve oceans over the globe, ensuring their wildlife is safe and far from the threat that humans pose. Ayana established a number of organisations to aid in the conservation of ocean wildlife, earning Ayana the reputation of a passionate environmentalist who is determined to see the longevity of our Earth.

Ayana began her conservation journey with the Waitt Institute, after obtaining a BA in environmental science and public policy. She co-founded Blue Halo Initiative, a project which saw the first successful ocean zoning effort in the Caribbean, resulting in one-third of Barbuda’s waters becoming protected. Ayana was so passionate about the movement that she had created that she went on to lead the growth of the movement, launching it in Curaçao and Montserrat. Alongside co-founding this she also acted as Director of Science and Solutions, a role which required her to manage a number of ocean grants.

Policy positions have also been prominent throughout Ayana’s career, having previously worked at the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Volunteering is also a key passion of Ayana’s, with all volunteering pivotal to building communities. In particular, Ayana acted as a co-director for March for Science where over 1 million people worldwide were inspired to support science in policymaking. As well as volunteering Ayana is a board member of World Surf League’s PURE, Environmental Voter Project, Scientific American, Science Sandbox, Billion Oyster Project, Oceanic Global and Azul.

A budding mentor, Ayana is determined to inspire the future generation of conservationists and marine biologists. In order to create this inspiration, Ayana founded Ocean Collectiv as a place to come up with conservation solutions and strategies. She also founded Urban Ocean Lab, a place to discuss the future for coastal cities, and Team Ocean NYC.

Ayana is highly regarded in the environmental section, with her work being featured in Outside Magazine, Nature Magazine, The New York Times and The Atlantic. Another passion of Ayana’s are coastal communities, she frequently builds solutions for their oceans centralised on justice and climate crisis. Her work as a conservationist had not gone unnoticed, being named “the most influential marine biologist of our time” by Outside Magazine.