Hi!  My name is Mira Manickam, and I am an environmental educator, a surfer, a rapper, a multi-media artist, a writer, an urban forester, a rock climber, and a part-time ninja!  I have a lot of interests, and Surfer Grrrls Brazil is putting a lot of them to use.

For the past three years, I have been working in California for NatureBridge’s Golden Gate Campus outside of San Francisco, and more recently as a project manager at United Roots in Oakland.  As the coordinator of the Teen Environmental Education Mentorship (TEEM) program at NatureBridge, I have worked with Bay Area high school youth in developing their skills as environmental educators and leaders in the outdoors.  As the creator and manager of the Trees 4 Life project at United Roots in Oakland, I worked with East Bay youth through a multi-generational, multi-disciplinary program which focused on green job training and planting trees in response to ongoing urban violence.

As a writer, musician, and videographer, I am passionate about incorporating media and arts into all my work.  When we create media, we create culture.  Here are a few examples of multi-media community arts projects which I have helped create.

Trees 4 Life Theme Song     https://vimeo.com/44705020

Introducing the river (music video)  https://vimeo.com/11798332