¡Hola hola!
I’m Carol Daniela, but you can call me Dani.
Nice to meet you.
I was born and raised in Colombia, South America. I like to think of myself as a daughter of the beautiful Andes mountains. My love for nature started when I was a child. During my school vacations, I used to travel to Ubaté, known as the “capital of milk,” in Colombia. There, besides spending time with my dear abuelita, I spent long hours playing outside. Surrounded by nature, I loved pretending to be a teacher and give classes to the sheep and cows. They seemed entertained, I swear.
My passion for social sciences grew at the National University of Colombia. There, I discovered many topics inside sociology: gender studies, culture, rural life, human geography, demography, and more. I learned to love how theory helps us understand what happens in society. But more than that, I learned that we are people made of stories. Our stories connect us with our collective memory, and inside that memory resides the strength to imagine what comes next.
I had the chance to work directly with the people behind those stories in communities across Colombia. It was beautiful to see how each community has its own special relationship with nature. For them, taking care of nature is also taking care of themselves. This idea of unity and continuity lit a fire in me. I wanted to bring that wisdom into the rooms where decisions are made. That’s how I found my way to Public Policy at the University of Maryland, hoping to be part of movements that close the gap between humans and nature.
During this time, I worked on different projects close to my heart. I explored community participation in territorial planning in Leticia in the Colombian Amazon. I followed the story of Kukama women fighting to protect the Marañón River in Perú, declaring it as a subject of rights. I also joined conversations through the Sustainability, Environmental, and Energy Council (SEEC) at the School of Public Policy, where we tried expanding the discussion about sustainability to different disciplines. Alongside this, I did an internship at Griffin Legacy & Associates, where I researched participatory action research (PAR) and other tools that put communities in the United States at the center of change.
Finally, I had the chance to do a fellowship with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. There, I worked hand-in-hand with grassroots movements, supporting climate bills like the Transportation and Climate Alignment Act, the Affordable Solar Act, and the Climate Crimes Accountability Act in the 2026 Maryland General Assembly. I also helped write a Latino engagement strategy in Maryland.
Nature Forward represents a special chapter of this journey. It is a space that brings people from different backgrounds together to protect the environment. In my new role as the Maryland Conservation Advocate, I hope to give back to the communities that welcomed me when I first arrived in this country. You will find me working on topics related to environmental justice, public transportation, waste management, watershed conservation, and forest protection, among others. I hope to see you around!