FishWise Welcomes Brynn O’Donnell

My name is Brynn O’Donnell, and I recently joined FishWise as a project manager to help lead the Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT) initiative!

Somewhat ironically, I gained a sense of environmental awareness and concern through environmental documentaries playing out on a television screen. This concern led me to pursue my undergraduate degree in environmental studies from New York University, located in the heart of bustling Manhattan (another rather ironic trajectory for my environmental career).

My passion for oceanic conservation was solidified during an internship with the Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans campaign, working to address inadequate traceability in seafood supply chains and widespread fish mislabeling. I have also worked in the other half of the aquatic field as a freshwater ecosystem scientist conducting research across the United States. Most recently, I completed my masters in biological sciences from Virginia Tech, where I studied how freshwater ecosystems respond to disturbances.

Before pursuing graduate school, I worked as a project manager at Virunga Fund Inc., an environmental nonprofit working to conserve Africa’s oldest and largest national park. I believe in science accessibility, and have worked to practice science communication by publishing blog posts, giving public lectures, and also launching my own podcast on the human relationship with water. Throughout my experiences, I have developed a passion for working at the interface of science, communications, and project management, and am thrilled to apply these skills to further SALT’s mission.