Image header from left to right: AWA’s Deputy Director Mandy Migura, Executive Director Nicole Schmitt, and Outreach Coordinator Kelsey Hansen at the Alaska Top Forty Under 40 Award Ceremony
Schmitt accepting her Forty Under 40 Award
AWA’s own Executive Director, Nicole Schmitt, was recently an Alaska Top Forty Under 40 winner for 2022 through the Alaska Journal of Commerce. This year, there were 288 nominees (the largest number of submissions for the Top Forty Under 40 honor in years, if not ever), and Nicole was selected as a winner for being an outstanding young professional. Nicole is also one of only two winners selected that was under 30- incredible!
If you are someone that knows Nicole, you know what a well-deserved honor this is. We are privileged to know her and have her as a leader in our organization. Nicole exemplifies what it means to be an honorable Alaskan, and we are fortunate to have her as a champion for wildlife. Congrats, Nicole!
“Nicole’s work touches every single person in our state that goes outside, feeds salmon to their family, feels the joy of spotting a beluga along the Seward Highway, or stains their fingers from picking wild berries. She understands wildlife’s intrinsic values and she embraces the responsibility to be their voice. Nicole personally embodies the values and grit needed for wildlife advocacy but also profoundly understands our communities in Alaska. She motivates communities to act but also listens to the stories of individuals to help pave a path forward that finds harmony between us and the natural world.”
“Nicole is an incredible example of what an Alaska Top Forty Under 40 Award recipient should look like because of her diverse skills, her commitment and contributions to her community, her leadership abilities and professional excellence, and her genuinely special personality.”
“She is and will continue to be a tremendous success in her passion of wildlife advocacy.”
