Meet the Team
Claudette Rechtorik
Founder, Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
Former Founder & GM of SEA LIFE Trust Aust/NZ (formerly Sydney Aquarium Conservation Fund), the not for profit conservation organisation working with SEA LIFE Aquaria. Although Ocean Youth came in a shower moment it had been incubating since her fellowship with the Centre of Sustainability Leadership (CSL) in 2013, and her passion to have such a program available to young people. Working with youth is beyond inspiring & a career highlight. Improving ocean literacy is an absolute priority.
Claudette has a M Teach (Secondary) from Curtin & a MSc (Env. Sc.) & BSc (Ecology) from UNSW.
Simone Roseler
Programs & Partnerships Lead
As creative communicator & experienced partnerships manager Simone has worked across a diverse range of industries and products. However after spending far too much time feeling disillusioned, despondent, and often angry with what was happening to our planet she decided that she needed to be part of the solution and not the problem. Simone is now passionately utilising ALL of her skills in the pursuit of nurturing real change and innovation for our planet.
Emma Ferguson
Program Coordinator
Emma’s Masters made her realise that her passion really lay in educating others about the marine environment and helping them fall in love with, and protect it. She worked on the Great Barrier Reef & later gained hands-on experience working at the Whitsunday Turtle Rescue Centre & as the Community and Education Manager at SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s where she kicked off Ocean Youth Auckland. Having moved back to Oz (Tasmania) to be closer to family Emma is now starting another OY chapter in Launceston.
Chloe Zatta
OY Facilitator - Sunny Coast
Anissa Lawrence
Chair
Anissa is the Founder and Managing Director of Tierramar, a nature-based solutions organsation that works on systems and landscape scale projects to restore ecosystem health. An aligned value of supporting the next generation to learn the skills they need to influence positive change for the environment brought Anissa to Ocean Youth where she utilises her strategic brain to leverage multi-stakeholder capacities for innovative, positive change.