探花精选 Spotlight: Gabriella Sotelo Finds the Missing Pieces

A chance encounter with a sea creature far from home led Sotelo to focus her journalism career on conservation and environmental justice.

For Gabriella Sotelo, games were an important part of growing up as the youngest child of a Dominican-Peruvian household in Clifton, New Jersey. The initial gaming sessions with her brother on a Nintendo 64 grew and morphed, eventually turning into a love of tabletop gaming and puzzles. These days as a reporter with a strong interest in reporting on environmental justice issues, Sotelo weaves all of the disparate elements of a story鈥攔eporting, source quotes, and other details鈥攊nto a larger picture. It's another way to solve a puzzle, she says, albeit one that happens to have real-world implications.

It took awhile for Sotelo to find exactly how she wanted to turn early loves of puzzles and writing into something more focused. She discovered it, of all places, at the Sea Life Centre Aquarium in London, when she felt an instant connection to a seahorse swimming in a tank. She says she initially didn鈥檛 quite grasp what had happened, just that looking at that seahorse felt incredibly powerful. When Sotelo returned home to New Jersey for winter break that year, perusing old grade school relics helped everything fall into place. The tiny sea creature recalled memories of Girl Scouts with her sister and mother, who would chauffer them to field trips at local beaches and parks to engage in small acts of conservation.

鈥淚 found a note written to my future self where I promised myself to always reduce, reuse, and recycle,鈥 says Sotelo. 鈥淚 looked at that piece of paper in shock. Small me knew how much she loved conservation, and it was in the back of my head growing up.鈥

At the first opportunity, Sotelo switched majors to journalism and environmental studies. During the course of her studies, she noticed her coursework didn鈥檛 address the troubled histories of racism of some of conservation鈥檚 most prominent figures, like John Muir and Aldo Leopold. Those omissions made her second-guess her place in the conservation movement, and she says she struggled with the idea that conservation felt like a space only for these white men, rather than for people like her.

Sotelo also recognized in those moments that her family is from a part of the globe that experiences disproportionate impacts from climate change, but receives less public attention or support. This turned out to be the missing piece she was looking for when she was deciding where she wanted to focus her career efforts.

鈥淓ven though it鈥檚 winter right now and [an unseasonably warm] 60 degrees in New Jersey, people in other countries are experiencing far worse effects of climate change,鈥 she says. 鈥淲e need to start addressing problems we鈥檙e creating.鈥

Early career experience also showed Sotelo the need for more diverse voices in conservation and how she could be that voice. While writing for Treehugger, she published a story on how Writing it was one thing, but the lasting impact was seeing the response to it.

鈥淎fter I read the [outraged] comments on that story, I knew I was doing something right,鈥 she says.

Her path to 探花精选 followed a similar trajectory. During one of her last classes, Sotelo says she read about competition between Barred and Spotted Owl in the northwestern U.S. That led Sotelo to 探花精选. But what convinced Sotelo to apply for a job at 探花精选 was seeing the news that the organization had condemned its own namesake for enslaving Black people and perpetuating white supremacy.

鈥淚t amazed me that this organization could recognize its own racist past,鈥 she says.

For the last seven months, Sotelo has reported on 探花精选鈥檚 work for conservation as a Walker communications fellow. Her first stories were tests of her journalistic skills. She published one of her early pieces鈥a story about Rose, a Piping Plover that nests in Chicago鈥攐nly a couple of hours after she received the assignment. 

鈥淚 was really proud of myself because I was able to get the quotes, research, and whatever edits [my editor] had for me in an hour, and get the piece published that day,鈥 says Sotelo.

Now, Sotelo spends her time speaking to folks throughout 探花精选鈥檚 network seeking stories she鈥檚 interested in writing. She says the experience has improved her editorial instincts and helped her write more impactful stories. Further, Sotelo says her lived experience made reporting and writing profiles of Latina women working in conservation that much more resonant. When she interviewed Gloria Lentijo, working lands strategy manager at 探花精选 Americas, and Tania Romero, former program coordinator at Debs Park 探花精选 Center, she says it was like she was 鈥渢alking to friends or family.鈥

But beyond honing more practical skills, like interviewing people and reporting stories, Sotelo says her time at 探花精选 has made her a better advocate鈥攕omething she always ties into her work as a journalist. 

鈥淚 find myself able to question what鈥檚 happening, what the background is behind certain issues, and who I can talk to about that. It鈥檚 a lot of pattern recognition,鈥 she says. 鈥淛ournalism is a lot like puzzles: It鈥檚 recognizing that one thing that makes everything click.鈥