Meet the interns: Hey, Sally!
A highlight of the work we do here at WEA is that we are fortunate enough to do so alongside the women who will continue to lead our communities and movements for years to come. That’s why our internship program is so important to us — because it gives us a chance to meet women like Sally! Sally will be joining us this semester to support our Programs + Operations, with a particular focus on supporting projects like the Ripple Academy and the WISE Women’s Clean Cookstoves Project.
Please help us welcome Sally to the WEA family!
Name: Sally Morton
Hometown: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
If you had a superpower, it would be (and why): My superpower would be able to truly feel what it’s like to be another person or another being whether that be a plant, animal, or rock. This would deepen my understanding of this world and what it means to be here. It would grow my capacity for empathy for all that exists outside of myself.
Why did you want to intern with WEA? My senior year of college, I met the founder, Melinda, at an event with Vandana Shiva. She gave me her business card of the Women’s Earth Alliance and I just couldn’t believe a nonprofit like this existed! Women’s and environmental empowerment are huge passions of mine and I’ve always felt they’re very connected. I looked WEA up online and was so inspired by the beautiful work they’re doing, I became eager to get involved!
Tell us about a woman who inspires you. A woman who inspires me is Stefani Germanotta, known as Lady Gaga. She’s maybe not the most obvious role model from first impression, but her self-love attitude and heart filled activism has inspired me since high school. She is a fierce advocate of mental health, LGBTQ+ rights and suicide prevention. She is extremely intelligent and weaves her courage, huge heart, and passion for justice into all of her public work.
Why women and why the environment? I’ve known in my bones since a young age that the disempowerment of women and the disempowerment of the environment are inextricably linked. The work towards a thriving future must be intersectional. Our planet is a huge system and the various systems of oppression and inequality are bound together and must be approached from all sides.
What does your life outside WEA look like? I’m starting a Chaplaincy Training at SF General Hospital, providing non-denominational spiritual care to any patients who want it. I work as a research assistant for Vijaya Nagarajan, a professor at the University of San Francisco. I also teach yoga and landscape. When I’m not working I love to read, go for long walks, meditate, hang out with friends and my partner Graham.
What’s your favorite thing to do in the Bay Area? My favorite thing to do in the Bay Area is to walk along Ocean Beach on a full moon night.
What are you currently reading / watching / listening to? I’m reading the book Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, a Palestinian author who reflects on the topics of gender, home and displacement. Also Battleborn by Claire Faye Watkins, a beautiful exposition of short stories about the American West. I listen to the Daily podcast from the New York Times every day.