Kellyn LaCour-Conant (she/they) is a two-spirit daughter of the Cane River Creole community of Isle Brevelle, LA. Raised in Houston, TX on traditional Hikike Ishak land, she currently resides in Iti Humma (Baton Rouge), LA. A restoration ecologist at her core, Kellyn works at the intersections of science, organizing, healing, and justice.
Having grown up fishing and hunting with her family, Kellyn’s love of wildlife prompted her to join the Student Conservation Association in high school, performing urban environmental service year-round and remote trail work across the country in summer months. She went on to earn Bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Russian from Amherst College and a Master’s in Marine and Environmental Biology from Nicholls State. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Urban Forestry at Southern University focused on Traditional and Local Ecological Knowledge (TLEK), ecosystem restoration, food sovereignty, and sustainable land stewardship.
Prior to joining Taproot Earth, Kellyn was the Director of Restoration Programs with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana where she led native plant and oyster reef construction projects to restore wetlands and protect Indigenous heritage sites. She has also worked with Baton Roots Community Farm, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy as a Sacred Waters Pilgrimage Fellow. Kellyn also serves on the Board for Common Ground Relief, on the Convergence Steering Committee for Power Shift Network, as an If/Then Ambassador with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was tapped as an Emerging Leader by Interfaith America.
In her free time, Kellyn enjoys beach volleyball, horseback riding, good books, camping, time spent with family and friends, and relaxing with her cats, Fela and Atwood.
