"If you want to keep doing the same tired science, using the same tired methods and analyses, then continue to treat STEM as an old boys’ club. But if you want fresh insight, ideas, applications and results, then hire more queer women of color."

Meet this two-spirit Indigenous Restoration Ecologist with a passion for social justice. Kellyn LaCour-Conant is a Coastal Scientist with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana, and is also a PhD student in Urban Forestry at Southern University. Through their work and advocacy, Kellyn supports innovative wetland restoration projects and environmental justice movements. Their research has focused on a native wetland shrub called Lycium carolinianum (more commonly called wolfberry, salt matrimony vine, or fraise), Indigenous stewardship methods, and community resilience. They also founded a student chapter of the AAUW, a national non-profit dedicated to empowering women and girls through education, research, advocacy and philanthropy. In their free time, Kellyn loves playing volleyball, gardening, horseback riding, and volunteering.