Supporter Spotlight: Mitzi Gaskins - Oceana USA
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October 22, 2013

Supporter Spotlight: Mitzi Gaskins

In each issue of Oceana magazine, we sit down with one of Oceana’s many supporters to learn why they are passionate about the oceans. In the most recent issue, we chatted with Mitzi Gaskins, vice president and global brand manager for JW Marriot Hotels and Resorts. Read an excerpt below, or head over to Oceana magazine to see the full Q&A.

How did you learn about Oceana?
Living in Washington, D.C., I have been familiar with the organization and its mission for many years, but more recently have had the opportunity to learn about its great work in depth as a partner of ours at JW Marriott. This spring we launched a partnership with Oceana to further raise awareness and educate the public on how critical it is to protect the world’s oceans. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with such an important and relevant organization and have created a series of brand-wide initiatives introducing our guests and associates to the partnership and to Oceana’s imperative role in ocean conservation.

Have you always been interested in ocean conservation?
Yes! I grew my sea legs when I was very young growing up in West Texas. As a child, my favorite thing to do was fish off a small boat with my grandfather — of course, this was on a Texas lake and not on the ocean — where I used to catch grasshoppers to use as fishing bait. At a very young age, my grandfather taught me that we cannot take nature for granted and that we needed to protect our ecosystems. As I grew older, I spent more and more time at the beach and in the ocean, and grew fascinated by the mysterious, secret world that lay beneath our waters — there was so much to see, so much to explore — and my dedication to ocean conservation grew quickly.

Continue reading at Oceana magazine