About Me

Hi, I’m Hannah Jo (she/they). I grew up in Oak Park, Illinois (Chicagoland!) with two older siblings in a mixed-race household. I am a Black woman with both African-American and European-American heritage.

I completed my Bachelor of Science in Earth Systems at Stanford University in 2014. After graduating from college, I spent five years working in the fields of sustainable food systems, environmental conservation, and youth leadership development. During that time, I met diverse, radical, and inspiring professionals who taught me about Black and brown people’s relationship with the land, both in terms of resilience and oppression. I am so grateful to the mentors and peers who brought me into racial equity organizing work which is now a crucial part of my life journey. Shout out to The Common Market, AIESEC-Colombia, Student Conservation Association, Northside Valley (St. Croix, USVI), and Chicago Botanic Gardens, a few of the organizations I had the pleasure of working with.

Currently, I am a social sciences PhD student and environmental justice scholar in the Natural Resources Science and Management program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I am a student researcher with the Kawe Gidaa-naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin Collaborative, a tribal-university program practicing community-driven research methodologies to protect Manoomin (Psiη/Wild Rice). I am also a former fellow with the CREATE Initiative, where I worked on community-ecology initiatives in partnership with the Gullah/Geechee Nation in St. Helena, SC and Nassua County, FL. I am advised by Dr. Mae Davenport, Professor and Director of the Center for Changing Landscapes.

I am a scholar-activist struggling for causes such as anti-racism policies at the University, dismantling of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, and legal personhood rights for Mississippi River. I love biking, baking, traveling, and eating really good food. I also have a real positive obsession (thank you Octavia Butler) with plants! 🌱😃

Funding awards:
2021-2024: National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
2019-2021: Diversity of Views and Experiences (DOVE) Fellow, University of Minnesota