Celebrating Women's History Month

As Women’s History Month comes to a close, we thought we'd share a photo of all the female staff at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Top row, left to right: Raven Blakeway, Emma Hickerson, Shelley DuPuy, Melissa Mathes Trede, Leslie Whaylen Clift, Marissa Nuttall
Stairs, top to bottom: Kelly Drinnen, Karol Breuer, Michelle Johnston McCallum, Irene Arthur
Inset: Kelly O'Connell at NOAA Dive School

These women make up 77% of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary staff and account for more than 120 total years of service with NOAA. They’ve also tallied up more than 1900 dives, 700 outreach programs, and 100 publications, not to mention, 3 new species names. But that's not all!

These amazing women are scientists, administrators, educators, communicators and vessel operators. They are also volunteers with nature and animal organizations, educational programs, youth commissions, churches, and charities.

Between them they have 10 bachelor's degrees, 5+ master's degrees, and 1+ PhDs. They are moms to 8 kids and 14 pets, speak 6 different languages (including British and Australian!), and have resided in 18 different states/territories and 9 countries.

They also have an incredible variety of hobbies, including nature viewing, gardening, photography, travel, scuba, hiking, running, triathlons, yoga, horses, ukelele, motorcycle riding, fishing, stand-up paddle boarding, golf, cooking, volleyball, puzzles, reading, bird watching, writing, and painting, just to name few.

Whew! Even we were surprised by the depth and breadth of their experiences.