Daily Inspiration: Meet Cassia Rivera

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassia Rivera

Hi Cassia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Born and raised in Louisiana, my mother instilled a deep love, respect, and learning for the natural world since I was old enough to walk. From the tiniest insect to the apex predator, I learned how important the role of wildlife played in nature and how each animal is critical to the health of habitats and ecosystems. I was also raised to understand that we are all interconnected, humans and animals, in a natural world that is intentional and serves a purpose larger than ourselves.

As a lifelong naturalist, everything started to come into focus over a decade ago when I picked up my first camera. On day one, I went out into nature to take photos and came back hours later with over 1,000 images to sort through! From insects to smaller mammals, flowers and every living thing in between, I fell in love with being able to freeze these beautiful moments in time while sharing the backstories of my photos with others.

Conservation was already important to me when my husband and I moved to North Carolina many years ago, but having the power of images to couple with my conservation work ultimately led me on a journey in creating my first documentary, Right of Passage. With my teammates Nancy Arehart, Jennifer Hadley, Meri Martin, and Lisa Strong, we produced a documentary short to raise awareness surrounding the plight of Red Wolves specific to habitat fragmentation. We poured our heart and soul into this film in hopes of connecting the hearts of people to one of the top threats Red Wolves have faced in the wilds of Eastern NC, which is vehicle strike mortality. After we released the film to the public, we skipped the idea of entering our film into festivals and instead, focused all of our time, energy, and efforts into creating a grassroots movement by presenting Right of Passage locally, nationally, and internationally. We presented in-person and virtually to the public in coffee shops, classrooms, large conference events, churches, government owned venues, photography and conservation clubs, and beyond! We created partnerships with NGOs and government agencies who also housed our film on their websites and helped to secure showings in other venues, like visitor centers in Red Wolf territory. From there, we formed partnerships and received additional opportunities to create films and be a part of behind-the-scenes work with our partners to help scale impacts and reach key decision makers. Because of the work and support of our partners in government agencies, NGOs, and an invested public, we recently celebrated the news of North Carolina receiving $25m in federal grant money to build several wildlife crossing underpasses in Red Wolf territory!

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?
Conservation work can be challenging. When the plight of Red Wolves, black bears, and all wildlife in North Carolina became personal to me several years ago, it began a journey of mine, that at times, has felt like a rollercoaster of heartbreak and hope. Partnering with others to increase habitat connectivity in NC has been one of my highest callings. At the same time, this work takes an emotional toll on many of us who are involved in it. At the end of the day, every human and wild animal lost to wildlife-vehicle collisions because of fragmented habitats is personal to me. It fuels my motivation to continue working as hard as I can with others to find solutions to increase connectivity in order to make travel safer for all in North Carolina.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My conservation work focuses on five different pillars. Photography, film, writing, education, and public outreach are the areas I work within related to my expertise in storytelling. I’m most proud of the partnerships I’m involved in because the people are who inspire me to keep going, especially my longstanding teammates Nancy Arehart and Jennifer Hadley. Having those two incredibly strong women in photography to brainstorm ideas with, to work with in film and photography, and to have as close friends to talk to about everything in this work has been invaluable to me!

I wouldn’t say anything really sets me apart from others but I am very passionate about doing the work. Often times, I will wake up at 3 am and work until 8 am before homeschooling and will then juggle working hours during the day and wrap it all up late at night. Because spending time with my family is my number one priority, I’m grateful I have the opportunity to create a schedule that has worked well for me. I have also found that staying committed to this work, even on days when I’m exhausted, keeps everything moving forward and has helped me avoid losing momentum!

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I feel what is most important to my success is being a behind-the-scenes, supportive player to my partners. I am uncomfortable being in any “spotlight” but instead, am passionate to do whatever it takes to help scale the impact my partners need related to habitat connectivity in many capacities. For example, one partner may need a volunteer force created to help fill the gaps of an understaffing problem out in the field, one may need support in legislative outreach, one may need help with persuasive visuals/film during a wildlife crossing grant application, one may need a complete overhaul in their messaging in order to effect change, and the list goes on. At the end of the day, all I care about is that the goals of the conservation collective are reached and if I can be a part of a team who wins in that respect, I’m living my dream!

There is no job too large or small for me to work on for my partners as conservation requires us to lead where we can and support where we must. I’m also passionate about building trusting, professional relationships. When my partners tell me inside information, they know that it will remain strictly confidential with me and I believe that has been very valuable in working with key decision makers in conservation initiatives across the state at a high level. At the end of the day, I could not do this work without my faith, and the support of my husband, my two boys, the incredible humans who I’ve been blessed to partner and team up with, and my lifelong love of nature and wildlife. Not a day goes by where my heart isn’t filled with gratitude that I get to do this job with so many like-minded, caring, and compassionate humans!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.northcarolinawildlifecorridor.org
• Instagram: @cassiariveraphotography
• Other: https://www.rightofpassage.info