Week 1 – Natalie Henry Bennon

I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, near Annapolis, MD. My father was not in the Navy; he was an engineer. My mother was also not in the Navy; she was a college English lit professor turned standardized test prep instructor. And neither were environmentalists, but the beauty of the bay outside my back window lit a fire inside me and led me to that path.

I had plans to become an environmental journalist and I was hired as a reporter for an online news service that covered environment and energy news for Congress, agencies, industry, and NGOs. I liked it. But I met my husband and we moved to Portland because we wanted to live in the West.

So I became a grant writer for The Nature Conservancy. I had two kids. And my job was so comfy that I did little in the way of career advancement. Then I got laid off because, like journalism, grants are also changing. So I decided I needed to really jumpstart my professional life, which is why I came to the Strat Comm program.

I do hope to make more money in my career in the future. But I am really driven by mission. I am interested in how the conservation movement can improve their messaging. Or how the pro-choice movement can adjust messages to reduce stigma toward abortion. And, I have family with severe mental illness and addiction, so I could be happy working to raise understanding about mental illness and addiction. None of these things is going to make me rich.