Jade Begay: RM’s Inaugural Sustainability & Justice Communications Fellow

July 21, 2015

When we decided to launch our Sustainability & Justice Communications Fellowship program at Resource Media, we did so knowing that we already had a great candidate in our midst.  Jade Begay had been interning with Resource Media during the final year of her Masters program in Environmental Leadership at Naropa University in Boulder.  Her internship focused primarily on supporting Women at the Center, our multimedia platform funded by the United Nations Foundation Universal Access Project that strives to tell the inspiring, interconnected stories of women’s reproductive health and rights, empowerment and environmental sustainability.  Jade helped research, develop and distribute content over the platform, culminating in a just released video titled “I Love my IUD” which spotlights the Colorado Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies, an unconventional and wildly successful program.  You can see more of Jade’s video handiwork on La Madre Tierra, another multimedia platform Resource Media launched to highlight Latino conservation leaders and Latino-led conservation organizations in the U.S.

Our goal with the Sustainability & Justice Communications Fellowship is to empower young professionals on their career path and also to continue our own organizational journey to become a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming organization.  We are currently in the second year of a diversity and inclusion initiative that we believe is both a strategic and a moral imperative if we are to keep pace with the changing face of America.

A key element of this initiative is the establishment of a paid fellowship program that is built on the premise of two-way learning. By partnering with organizations already building strong leaders in diverse communities, and emerging individual leaders themselves, we can give and receive valuable perspectives and experience that benefit both parties.  We were delighted that Jade agreed to help pioneer and shape this new program, and she is already making valuable contributions to the work we do and the journey we are on as an organization.  You can check out Jade’s bio here, and stay tuned for more news as we grow this program in the future.