Board of Directors

IG: @bellalack
TW: @bellalack

Bella Lack is a teen conservationist who began campaigning work at 12 years old. She became an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, Save The Asian Elephants, RSPCA, and the Jane Goodall Institute in order to help spread the message (especially to youth) around the necessity for taking action to protect remaining wildlife. She delivers speeches in order to aid this goal, including at the People’s Walk for Wildlife, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018 and she delivered a TEDx talk in Brighton in 2019. Last year she worked on a feature-length documentary—starring primatologist Jane Goodall—in order to uplift solutions to the sixth mass extinction crisis. Bella is currently writing a book called Children of the Anthropocene to highlight the youth who are combatting the environmental crisis, feeling a need to focus on the path ahead and create a new narrative rather than just rail against the current situation.

Bella has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since its inception in May 2020 and co-founded the Reserva Youth Council in early 2019.

IG: @calliebroaddus

Callie Broaddus is the founder and executive director of Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, and was recently named to the inaugural class of the Explorers Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World the World Needs to Know About. Prior to launching Reserva, Callie was a Senior Designer at National Geographic Kids, where she worked for seven years, cementing her passion for wildlife photography and youth education. She has worked around the world, photographing rhinos in Botswana, documenting sea level rise in the Marshall Islands, and leading Reserva’s participation in research expeditions in Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia.

As an advocate for conservation, Callie has addressed the UN at COP25 Madrid, Kenya’s First Lady and Environmental Minister at Wangari Maathai Day in Nairobi, and hundreds of classrooms online. She is a member of the Rainforest Trust Council and the Cool Earth Advisory Board and serves on the Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants Board of Directors as Secretary. Callie received her BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia.

Callie has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since its inception in May 2020.

Ella is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist…and stand-up comic. Her debut book The Handshake: A Gripping History (Profile Books) is a Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year and covers the history and anthropology of the handshake. Holding a BSc in Genetics from University College London, an MSc in Taxonomy and Biodiversity from Imperial College London/Natural History Museum and currently undertaking a PhD in Neanderthal rates of evolution at University College London. Ella is an expert in her field, specialising in Neanderthals and caves. She can be often found on expeditions in hostile, disputed and unstable territories.

Ella almost exclusively works in places it is hard to get insurance, such as Iraq, Yemen, Nagorno-Karabakh and places she can’t publicly admit to. From heading up exploratory expeditions to joining cave excavations, the conditions can be unusual, from avoiding landmines to wearing a burqa for security reasons. She believes that this is a risk worth taking because huge parts of the planet’s scientific potential are being ignored due to instability. She argues that realistically, these places will become the frontline of science and exploration. She also believes that development is not just about aid, it is also about science and empowering locals.

Ella also performs as a stand-up comedian, using comedy not only as a coping strategy but as a tool to make science more accessible. She performs internationally from the Bloomsbury Theatre to the National Geographic main stage in DC and has taken 4 stand-up shows to the Edinburgh Fringe. She was a 2019 TED main stage speaker where her TED talk has been viewed more than 2 million times. She was also a TEDxNashville speaker and is a Keynote speaker at various international and corporate events. She is a regular at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, recently performing two stand up shows, ‘Nature’s Worst with Ella Al-Shamahi’ and ‘Stand up at Seven with Ella Al-Shamahi and Suse Steed’.

In 2018 Ella was the presenter and associate producer for BBC Two’s science series, Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors, as well as Horizon: Body Clock – What Makes Your Body Tick. She then went on to present a National Geographic show on Viking Warrior Women where during filming she discovered what might be the first evidence of a battle injury on a female Viking warrior. This discovery was widely reported on by the international press.

In 2020 she also presented on programmes such as: Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon (Channel 4) and Waterhole: Africa’s Animal Oasis (BBC2).

Ella has presented two documentaries for Channel 4, Tutankhamun: Secrets of the Tomb (Channel 4) which looks at the scientific truth behind the legend and curse and What Killed The Whale (Channel 4) where Ella investigates a 40-foot sei whale washed up near Edinburgh by joining a specialist autopsy.  The ambitious seven-year series Our Changing Planet (BBC), saw Ella present the new seven-year series documenting six of the planet’s most threatened ecosystems.

In 2021, Ella had her first radio show with her brother journalist Abubakr Al-Shamahi for BBC World Service. The 5 part-series commemorates and reflects on the 10-year anniversary of the Arab Spring. Her brand new podcast Why Do We Do That? An Anthropologist’s Guide to the Modern World (BBC Sounds), came out in October 2022 and is available to listen to on all podcast platforms. 

Ella has also been featured twice in National Geographic Magazine and was a co-guest Editor for the first UK edition of National Geographic Magazine. She has also been extensively featured in publications like The Times, The Telegraph and The Sun.

IG: @gabbyrsalazar

Gabby Salazar is a conservation photographer, an environmental social scientist, and a National Geographic Explorer. She has photographed volcanoes in Guatemala, created a film about lion conservation in Zimbabwe, and documented conservation efforts along a new highway in Peru. Gabby is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and an Associate Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers. She holds a PhD in Forest Resources and Conservation from the University of Florida and an MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London. She is also the co-author of the book No Boundaries: 25 Women Explorers and Scientists Share Adventures, Inspiration, and Advice, published by National Geographic Kids Books.

She has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since January 2024.

IG: @joe.wildlife

Joe is a Welsh ecologist and Rights of Nature campaigner with a background in ecology and environmental biology and a passion for greater inclusion, transparency, and fairness in conservation and environmental governance. He recently won a Green Heart Hero Award, the UK’s leading climate and sustainability awards, for his work engaging stakeholders in Wales in discussions on nature recovery.

Joe works as a freelance consultant on several nature projects in his native Wales and internationally. His current work includes drafting the Nature Recovery Action Plan for his home county of Ceredigion on behalf of the Local Nature Partnership and as a consultant for BDW Consultancy Limited, a development company working to develop a pathway for more sustainable, nature-positive homes. In addition to his work, Joe sits on the EU4Ocean Coalition Advisory Board, and the Wales Council for Outdoor Learning, and serves as a nature advisor to HERO Labs. He previously served on the World Ocean Day Youth Advisory Council, the Stockholm+50 Youth Task Force, and as a youth delegate to the United Nations Environment Assembly and the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Canada. Joe previously worked as the Head of Campaigns at UK Youth for Nature, the leading youth network calling for urgent action on the nature crisis.

Joe joined the Reserva Board of Directors in 2024 and has been a member of the Youth Council since 2020, previously serving as Conventions & Policy Officer.

IG: @one_chiche

Julio is an Ecuadorian biologist, wildlife photographer and passionate conservationist. He has traveled and explored throughout Ecuador while photographing the wonders of nature and how people relate and interact with it.

He has previously worked on understanding the evolution, ecology and natural history of rainfrog communities, as well as their threats. Currently, he is combining science, photography, and education to transmit his deep love for nature to others and inspire them to protect, understand and continue learning about biodiversity before it is too late.

Julio has a BSc in Biology from Universidad Católica del Ecuador. He serves on the Reserva Youth Council media and outreach committees and has conducted scientific research with Reserva at Dracula Youth Reserve.

He has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since January 2022.

IG: @lucyhouliston
FB: @lucyhoulistonwildlife
TW: @lucyhouliston

Lucy Houliston is a National Geographic Young Explorer, digital content producer, and writer with a passion for weird wildlife. She currently studies Zoology at Royal Holloway, University of London.

An experienced event producer and speaker, Lucy has delivered school talks in the UK, USA, and Ecuador; presented virtually through the WWF and Youth For Our Planet’s Virtual Youth Changemakers Conference, Lizzie Daly’s Earth Live Lessons series, and Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants’ International Sloth Day program; worked as Editor and Live Producer for Skomer LIVE, a 14-part digital wildlife series created to support The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales through the COVID-19 pandemic; and produced and hosted numerous live, online fundraisers for Reserva.

Lucy is Digital Content Producer for the Sloth Appreciation Society, seeks to generate public awareness and support for sloth conservation using social media, and serves as a member of the London Wildlife Trust’s Young People’s Forum.

Lucy has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since its inception in May 2020.

IG: @malaikavaz

Malaika is a National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker and presenter. She has been directing and hosting films and television series for media networks like National Geographic, Al Jazeera, Discovery Channel, BBC and Animal Planet. Her work has taken her across some of the most hostile terrain on all seven continents - including hiking across glaciers in the Antarctic, filming undercover with criminal syndicates and diving with tiger sharks. Malaika brings her expertise in writing, direction and storytelling to Untamed Planet's productions, and she loves working with the team to push boundaries and create compelling, impact-oriented documentary films. She was named an Earthshot Prize Advocate in 2020 and helps to promote the work of the world’s largest environmental prize aimed at incentivising conservation action on a global scale.

Malaika joined the Reserva Board of Directors in January 2023.

IG: @hiphopscienceshow
FB: @hiphopscienceshow
Web: www.hiphopscienceshow.com

Maynard Okereke, better known as the Hip Hop M.D.,  graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Civil Engineering.  He is an award-winning Science Communicator, having received the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Social Media, the People of Change Award for his community outreach efforts, and being named NSBE's Entrepreneur of the Year.  His passion for science and entertainment, along with his curiosity for new innovation has taken him through an incredible life journey.

Noticing a lack of minority involvement in the S.T.E.M. fields, he created Hip Hop Science with the goal of encouraging minorities and youth to pursue more advanced career paths.  His background in engineering, acting, music, business, and credible work in STEM make him uniquely qualified to engage on a wide variety of topics from an entertaining perspective.  This is highly reflected in his speaking engagements and daily social media posts which provide both humorous and informative SciComm content.

Maynard has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since January 2021.

Pearson grew up in Poland, the Czech Republic, and the United States, and has travelled and worked internationally ever since. Currently he is a research biologist for the African Chelonian Institute in Sénégal, where he focuses on applied conservation and community engagement in chelonian research. Since earning his masters degree focused on the effectiveness of head-starting the federally threatened Mojave desert tortoise, Pearson has continued to work alongside his graduate school advisors in monitoring the success of this long-term effort. Pearson’s dedication to turtle and tortoise conservation led to his recent addition as a member of the IUCNs Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. At Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, Pearson has been a member of the Community Outreach and Development Committees while also aiding in scientific research at Dracula Reserve in the Ecuadorian Chocó.

Pearson has been a member of the Reserva Board of Directors since January 2022.