Molly Adams (MA, 2015)

Molly grew up on the south shore of Long Island and continues to spend a lot of time visiting the beaches in her home-town. As a bird fanatic, she established a non-profit called the Feminist Bird Club.The Feminist Bird Club is dedicated to promoting inclusivity in birding while fundraising and providing a safe opportunity for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, BIPOC, and women to connect with the natural world. The non-profit has donated over 100,000 dollars since 2016 to support social justice organizations that focus on abolition, reproductive justice, Indigenous land back initiatives and other actions deeply cared for.

She graduated from Pratt Institute with a degree in Critical and Visual Studies with minors in Museum Studies, Art History, and Sustainability. Her work in sustainability led her to expand her interest in ecology, specifically in birds. During her time at Stony Brook University as a Marine Conservation and Policy student, she advocated for bird-safe glasses on campus due to the deaths of migratory birds. She highlighted Dr. Lesley Thorne's classes on seabirds and marine mammals to be a great fit for her interests and went on to research common terns on Great Gull Island. Shortly after, she became an advocate and did outreach regarding beach nesting birds in the Rockaways while working at NYC Audubon. She chose her capstone project for the MCP program to be with NOAA's Marine Protected Area Center making ArcGIS story maps on Marine Protected Areas which overlaps with the protection of birds too.

After graduating from the Marine Conservation and Policy program Stony Brook University, Molly worked at the New York Aquarium for three years conducting field trips, summer camps and after school programming for students from preschool to highschool. After that, she became the Advocacy and Outreach Manager at NYC Audubon and helped pass a law in New York City that requires all new buildings to use bird-safe glass. Today, she continues to expand her non-profit, Feminist Bird Club. The Feminist Bird Club is dedicated to promoting inclusivity in birding while fundraising and providing a safe opportunity for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and women as a way to connect with the natural world. Her work continues to raise donations and spread awareness for the protection of birds. Molly is working on finishing her co-authored book--the Feminist Bird Club's Birding for A Better World: A Guide to Finding Joy and Community in Nature that will come out in Fall 2023.