Jessica Lee Leck
(She/Her)
Australian Conservation Ecologist living and working on Worimi Lands
Jessica Leck is a marine conservation ecologist, living and working on Worimi country of the NSW Mid Coast, Australia. Currently, Jess holds the role of GhostNets Australia Program Coordinator for OceanEarth Foundation, working with communities across Northern Australia, Asia and the Pacific to address the source of fishing debris in our oceans. With experience across government, consulting, academia and the NFP space, Jess utilises her expertise in biodiversity conservation and community engagement to bridge the gap between policy, bureaucracy and communities’ priorities, with a focus on community-led leadership and capacity building for nature-based solutions. Her commitment to valuing both the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of environmental programs has seen Jess work with government and organisations to restructure environmental reporting to capture and better understand the social and forward feeding outcomes of environmental funding. Currently, Jess offers her expertise in community-led environmental conservation on a number of advisory panels, including to Federal directors, state ministries, state wide organisations, local First Nations agencies and local government conservation planning. Beyond her professional commitments, Jessica remains closely connected to the ocean. She finds calm and inspiration from surfing, freediving, and scientific illustration, where she captures the beauty and importance of marine ecosystems.
As Jess enters Homeward Bound, she is exploring where the application of her experience and core principles of community-led futures may be applied within a future PhD program.
