Staff

Sarah brings 15 years of experience developing and managing science-based education programs, as well as ecological research and conservation projects around the globe. She has worked in a wide variety of contexts and ecosystems, from urban forests in Boston, MA, to agricultural communities in eastern Colorado and rural villages in east Africa. In 2009, while conducting fieldwork for her PhD in Ecology in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania, she founded a non-profit there dedicated to protecting elephants and improving human livelihoods. Sarah believes passionately in the importance of connecting people with nature for the benefit of both, and she is especially focused on ensuring people from traditionally under-resourced communities share in those opportunities. Sarah is a Colorado native and loves hiking and backpacking with her rescue pitbull, Winston.

Christine has worked in San Diego County for the past 25 years in the field of natural resource conservation. Recently retired from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department), she also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Christine’s fieldwork focused on rare and declining bird and plant species, while her regulatory experience focused on the implementation of the Department’s Natural Community Conservation Program. The transition from a career in wildlife biology to EDI Conservation Director seemed like a natural progression, as Christine strongly believes that we must invest in and empower children if natural communities and the wildlife they support are to endure.

Simon Breen (he/him/his) has worked to provide transformative, equitable access to outdoor education and recreation in San Diego County since 2014.  He's an advocate of thinking globally and acting locally, and fostering environmental stewardship via experiences that build a lifelong connection to nature.  As EDI's Education Director, he oversees the organization’s endeavors to engage students, families, and communities in the outdoors.  Simon's academic background has spanned natural resource management, wildlife conservation, environmental education, and anthropology.  He holds dual masters’ degrees from Cornell and Oxford Brookes University, and a bachelor’s degree from San Diego State.  He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, where he promoted environmental education, agricultural extension, and community outreach.  In 2021, he received the Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s “Educator of the Year” award.  When he's not bringing people to nature with EDI, he enjoys adventuring outdoors in his free time with his wife and their shaggy rapscallion of a dog, Maui.

Seekey has been an environmental educator/field instructor since 2013. She enjoys introducing students to nature and natural resources via hands-on activities. She tries to instill a sense of awe, wonder, and appreciation of the outdoors in hopes that the youth of today will care about it and foster preservation of more open spaces in the future. Seekey has a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Urban Planning from CSU, San Bernardino. She previously worked as an environmental consultant conducting field work and writing biological-related reports for a private consulting firm in San Diego and as an environmental planner for a county planning commission in Maryland. She is an active docent for San Diego Natural History Museum's Whale Watching program during the gray whale migration. When not instructing students or whale watching, Seekey loves to putter around in her garden, preserve her harvests (pickles, jam, salsa, etc.), scuba dive, and travel around the world with her husband.

Ashley (she/her) is a San Diego native with a background in Horticulture and Business Administration. She earned 3 Associates Degrees and 4 certificates from Cuyamaca College. Her passion for the outdoors roots back to childhood as she was often found in the garden with her mom. She is equipped with years of experience with plant nurseries and distribution, floral design, office administration, and volunteer work for multiple organizations around San Diego. She is thrilled to be a part of the EDI family, and contribute her love of organization, commitment to the environment, and excitement for nature to our community!

A zoologist and biologist by education and by nature, Duffy, as she is known, grew up in the wilds of Southern California and Baja, seeding her passion for the region's diverse and unique flora and fauna. She has served as a field researcher for studies of the Mediterranean scrub of California and the tundra of the North Slope of Alaska. Duffy put India ink and Rapidographs to mylar as a scientific illustrator in college, and presently illustrates children's books with wild and fanciful critters. She is also an active naturalist guide for San Diego Natural History Museum's Canyoneer program.

Grace is a long-time lover of the earth, and has been hugging and climbing trees as long as she can remember! Hailing from North Carolina, she came to California in 2017 to earn a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After graduating in 2021, she moved to San Diego shortly after to pursue a career of caring for people and nature. Grace has worked in nature and with kids for as long as she can remember, holding positions such as camp counselor, gardening apprentice, elementary school fundraising leader, and more. Her favorite job was in college, where she rode a specialized tricycle around campus to sort the recycling and compost in each waste bin to help her school meet their zero-waste goal. She is passionate about empowering children as well as adults and is so excited to be able to do so at EDI! 

Ashley is a science illustrator and naturalist from San Jose, California. She earned her Bachelor of Science in ecology and evolutionary biology from University of California, Santa Cruz and her graduate certificate in science illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay. Projects from her artistic career include illustrations for published research, an insect field guide, a children’s book, and many botanical and zoological portraits. She draws most of her inspiration from the various habitats she has visited and species she has encountered throughout California. Ashley is a docent at the San Diego Natural History Museum where she enjoys teaching about the local species of San Diego - alive and extinct. She is thrilled to be a field instructor for EDI and to inspire students to find wonder in the natural world around them.

Dana is a Psychology Major at Southwestern College, where she plans to earn her Bachelor of Psychology in 2025 once transferring to SDSU. She is fluent in Arabic and has worked with children for 3 years, with a focus on teaching and assisting those with behavioral, mental, and developmental disorders at public schools, private schools, and behavioral therapy clinics. Dana’s passion for teaching is as strong as her admiration for nature. In her free time, she is gardening and participates in outdoor activities such as hiking, outdoor bouldering, and mountain biking. She is delighted to be a part of the team and to help create positive and meaningful learning experiences for students.