Ayana Johnson

Executive Leadership Program - Amsterdam Class 05

Ayana Johnson
Founder
I am based in: New York

I'm a Ph.D. marine biologist, policy expert, conservation strategist, and Brooklyn native. In 2017, I founded Ocean Collectiv, a consulting firm that creates and amplifies solutions for a healthy ocean, while centering social justice. I also teach at New York University as an adjunct professor and volunteered as co-director of partnerships for the March for Science. As an Executive Director of the Waitt Institute, I co-founded the Blue Halo Initiative and led the Caribbean’s first successful island-wide ocean zoning effort. Previously, I worked on ocean policy at the EPA and NOAA, and was recently a TED resident and Aspen Institute fellow. I blog and tweet about how we can use the ocean without using it up on the National Geographic blog and on Twitter.

I was nominated to become a THNKer by Katherine Maher