Sam is half Filipino, half British and raised in Singapore. Trained as a marine biologist, Sam has a deep background in environmental education, professional development training and multi-disciplinary approaches for conservation. Her experience spans from fieldwork to capacity building and policy development at the regional scale.

 

Sam has been working across the Indo-Pacific region for over 15 years with local and national governments, NGOs and the marine tourism industry to reduce threats to the marine environment and wildlife. She specialises in adapting scientific findings to guide decision-making, policy and behaviour change for conservation outcomes.

 

Sam thrives when she is teaching or coaching. Her beginnings in environmental education established a thread that runs throughout her career including running bespoke professional development training and coaching programmes for early-career conservationists. Having experienced burnout, Sam now combines her experience and coaching mindset as the co-Founder of the Blue Capacity Collective under the Fish and Fisheries Lab and her individual consultancy. Sam’s mission is to take these lessons learned to help academics, NGOs and professionals improve their leadership skills, systems, processes and policies to avoid burnout and build supportive team cultures for effective and long-term conservation outcomes and careers.

 

She was selected as a Kinship Conservation Fellow in 2016.