Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline Kennedy Lozano and Dawn Rodriguez.
Hi Madeline and Dawn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We met in 2016 through another local nonprofit Dawn founded, Dance Another World. I had just moved to Dawn’s hometown of Austin months before and met one of her close friends at a hoop dance meet-up; she connected Dawn and I, and I became an afterschool dance teacher with the Dance Another World English immersion program. From there, our friendship began! We share a deep love of nature, the ocean and community. Though having a background in journalism, hospitality, and operations management, education and development of sustainable practices has been a unifying thread of Madeline’s professional career. Dawn explains her passion for the ocean as being an obligation to our shared earth. As we connected more over time, the idea for Into the Sea blossomed. We began thinking about what we could do as individuals in different cities (at the time located in Austin and Denver) to make a difference in our local communities. And the Into the Sea mission was born: a service-based nonprofit bringing awareness to plastic pollution in the ocean and our waterways. Neither of us were an expert on plastic pollution, a policy maker, or a marine biologist. But what we had was a passion for the Earth and maintaining it as a sacred place, a drive to make a difference and a knack for bringing people together.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would not say it has been a smooth road, though I think challenges are generally to be expected on any journey. The biggest initial hurdle for us was that we formed Into the Sea in mid to late 2019, so the global pandemic followed months later. Being an organization that hosts in-person community events, we were constantly rethinking how to approach things.
We were on a bit of a hiatus with the rest of the world through the first half of 2020, and then we returned with our first events back in October 2020 in both Austin and Denver – all outdoor and distanced, of course. We learned a lot going through that time. I really think it strengthened our make-it-work mentality. We didn’t want to lose sight of the mission, especially when PPE meant more disposables going into the waste stream.
The biggest constant struggle for us has been that neither of us run Into the Sea as our full-time job. From the beginning, it has been something that we led in our spare time. Even for the most passionate and obliged, this can wear you down over time. For us over the years, it has meant continuous reprioritization, acknowledgment of bandwidth, and learning how to know when to say ‘no.’
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Into the Sea is a local nonprofit in Austin, TX, founded by Dawn Rodriguez and Madeline Kennedy Lozano. Since 2019 our mission has been to raise awareness around plastic pollution in the ocean and our waterways. We offer a variety of opportunities for the community to learn and get involved with reducing plastic pollution, including in-school interactive presentations and community trash audit clean-ups.
One of our most notable accomplishments to date has been organizing TrashBlitz with our incredible partners 5 Gyres and Inland Ocean Coalition. TrashBlitz, powered by 5 Gyres, is a community-based initiative that utilizes a network of NGOs, volunteers, and local projects to collect trash data. In the summer of 2021, Austin came together for the first TrashBlitz Austin! Community members picked up and recorded data for more than 6,500 pieces of trash, and almost 70% of that was plastic!
The most significant concentrations of plastic were pulled from Walnut Creek, Shoal Creek, and Lady Bird Lake watersheds. One-third of all of the plastics found included cups, plasticware, and other single-use food-related waste. Other key contributors include smoking-related items and face masks. This is important because these water sources connect to the Colorado River which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
The TrashBlitz Austin report can be found on our website to learn more. Building off of what we learned with the report, we’ve started to gauge community interest in building up support for more reuse in Austin. Stay tuned as this develops and feel free to reach out if you’d like to learn more!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson we’ve learned on our journey is that collaboration is key. From early on, we have had amazing organizing partners in Inland Ocean Coalition and The 5 Gyres Institute. The support system we have with them has been integral to the success we have seen with shared and individual objectives and has been essential to our growth as an NPO. We want to work in a noncompetitive space, and we recognize that we can accomplish so much more working together. Austin has a strong network of like-minded local organizations who often come together to support and amplify each other’s programs. We have also been fortunate enough to have support for tech and media buildout, which has allowed us to give full attention to our mission and cause. A group of incredible Tarleton State graduate students revamped our website this year, which had been a reprioritized priority for many moons.
We also recently had the opportunity to work with Johnny Villarreal, a motion designer and illustrator based in Austin. He selected Into the Sea as an organization to feature in a short animation video, and working with him throughout the process was a fun, collaborative experience. An old friend and colleague in the educational nonprofit space, Elisa Garret, volunteered her time and past-life professional experience in V.O to do the voiceover for the video in both English and Spanish. It was important to all of us to showcase our mission and resources and be inclusive to both the English and Spanish speaking communities. As a nonprofit, we rely on volunteers to support and further the mission. In reality, we could not do what we do without the support of the community. We have had hundreds of volunteers come out to events such as TrashBlitz, contributing to data collection that informs real-life change in the community. It’s really rewarding to go through this experience and work together with our neighbors to create positive impact in our cities.
Contact Info:
- Website: intotheseaorg.solutions
- Instagram: @intothesea_org
- Facebook: Facebook.com/IntotheSeaOrg
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCow0H-TtTK7R9wm-STT1uPw
Image Credits
Thumbnail of animation video: https://www.johnnyvillarreal.com/
