Missy Tougas has lived in Florida and has been enjoying water activities her whole life. Her love for the ocean fuels her passion to work in conservation efforts to help protect it. Missy is an educator and seizes any opportunity to teach youth about the importance of our natural resources, inspire, and support them to take action. As a parent of two young Ambassador’s For The Planet, she has taken a lead parent role to many groups of kids on educational trips and campaigns. Missy owned her own Montessori Preschool with a big focus on sustainability and the environment, she loved to work with youth and has made a difference in many children’s lives. She has worked very closely with Mayors in her area to ensure they are setting a good example in the community to protect the planet, setting up the Mayors Beach Cleanups, and Making sure they participate in the National Mayors Challenge for Ocean Conservation each year and often times stood in for the Mayor at events and speaking engagements in his absence. Missy was one of the organizers and Lead ground Support for “Expedition Florida 500”, during Florida’s 500th Birthday year, where explorer, Justin Riney, Paddle boarded for an entire year around the whole state of Florida, making many stops along the way to have interactions and events in communities throughout the journey. She is a Florida Volunteer Coordinator for the Wyland Foundation and has played an important role in many events and educational outreach tours throughout the entire state of Florida. She served as the assistant to the Director of Marketing for the specialty license plates at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute where proceeds of the plates to go important scientific research, outreach, and education. Missy was a founding member of Ocean Rehab Initiative, an organization that worked closely with Reef-check to certify divers to become Citizen Scientist and do surveys of the Reefs. She has done a lot of work to help groups and organizations on outreach efforts to connect them with necessary relationships to further their growth and efforts and achieve their goals. Missy was a Blue Mind Ambassador for the 100 Days Of Blue Campaign. She has received Proclamations and has been recognized in many ways for her work, such as Blue Ambassador Of The Year Finalist at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, news write-ups, and an Eco Award from HGTV’s Carter Oosterhouse.
