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As a part of the Morning Lazziness sequence highlighting empowering girls who’re making a outstanding impression with their concepts, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy Leske.
Tracy Leske is an award-winning entrepreneur, conservationist, and passionate advocate for moral journey. As co-founder of Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers, Tracy’s journey started with a transformative expertise volunteering with rescued elephants in Thailand, igniting a lifelong dedication to animal welfare and environmental safety. Along with her sister Cassie by her aspect, Tracy turned this inspiration into motion, constructing a corporation that empowers individuals to make a significant distinction via hands-on volunteering in wildlife and marine conservation.
Underneath Tracy’s management, Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers has obtained accolades together with a number of Gold Stevie Ladies in Enterprise Awards and the REIQ Group Companies Award, and has been featured on Morning Dawn. Tracy’s proudest milestones vary from welcoming the primary volunteer to a Victorian wildlife shelter, to increasing packages that doc over 50 distinctive wild turtle sightings and ship very important citizen science knowledge to the Nice Barrier Reef Marine Authority.
Tracy is thought for her unwavering integrity, group spirit, and a management model grounded in gratitude—not only for recognition, however for the on a regular basis contributions of volunteers who carry their expertise into broader conservation advocacy. She believes that sustainable impression comes from combining ardour with goal, and she or he encourages different younger girls entrepreneurs to harness the ability of the digital world to share their message, join with changemakers, and construct ventures that matter.
For Tracy, success is measured not simply by development or awards, however by the ripple impact of kindness, braveness, and actual change she helps foster for the planet and its wildlife.
On this interview, she reveals the mindset shifts, daring strikes, and classes that helped her flip concepts into impactful on-line companies.
What impressed you to start out your online business, and what downside have been you keen about fixing?
The spark for Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers got here when my sister Cassie and I volunteered with rescued elephants in Thailand. Witnessing their resilience and the impression of moral care, we have been moved to create alternatives for others to make an actual distinction—guaranteeing each volunteer expertise genuinely advantages animals, the atmosphere, and native communities. We needed moral journey to be accessible and purposeful, countering exploitative tourism and offering genuine methods for individuals to be a part of significant conservation.
How has your online business developed since its launch, and what key choices helped drive that development?
We started with one wildlife shelter in Victoria and have grown to supply marine, animal, and environmental packages Australia-wide and past. Every step of enlargement was deliberate—all the time selecting companions who share our moral requirements and solely deciding on tasks with tangible and moral impression. Our resolution to concentrate on citizen science and direct conservation efforts has made our marine packages not simply immersive, however actually invaluable for contributing to the safety of susceptible species and habitats.
In your view, what actually units your model aside in in the present day’s aggressive market?
Our unwavering dedication to ethics and transparency. Each program is designed at first for the welfare of animals and ecosystems, not earnings. We be certain that volunteers obtain sincere info, that our actions are accountable, and each mission leaves a constructive legacy. We’re proud to be a woman-led, values-driven household enterprise making actual change in conservation, with volunteers as a part of our prolonged household.
What has been your best advertising technique to date, and why do you assume it labored so effectively?
Storytelling—sharing real-life impression tales and genuine volunteer experiences has been extremely highly effective. Whether or not it’s a turtle sighting, a seaside clean-up, or a heartfelt testimonial, these private tales foster real connections and encourage our viewers to take motion. Folks wish to know their time and vitality create ripples of change, and we present them precisely how.
How do you keep related to your viewers?
We keep related to individuals who intention to journey with goal and contribute meaningfully to conservation and people volunteers who’ve donated their time freely to affix certainly one of our packages, whether or not it’s working at a wildlife shelter or surveying the Nice Barrier Reef. For us, it’s not nearly one journey; it’s about fostering a group of changemakers who carry their expertise with Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers far past the mission itself.
The tales and suggestions our volunteers share are invaluable—they assist us perceive what conjures up them and what international challenges matter most to them. A lot of our alumni keep concerned by spreading the phrase, returning to new tasks, or collaborating on contemporary conservation initiatives.
What’s one branding transfer or marketing campaign that helped elevate your online business to the following stage?
Our game-changing branding transfer was the launch of our moral calculators—EthicCheck and GreenGauge. In an business usually clouded by shiny voluntourism advertising, these instruments gave our model a novel voice of radical transparency.
As an alternative of asking individuals to take our phrase for it, we constructed interactive calculators that allow volunteers measure the ethics of a mission or their very own journey decisions—factoring in animal welfare, environmental sustainability, group profit, and monetary transparency. Every mission on our web site now carries an Moral Rating, derived from these calculators, so volunteers can see precisely how impression is measured, not simply promised.
This shift elevated our enterprise by reworking branding into proof. It positioned Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers as a thought chief and disruptor within the sector—the place advertising isn’t simply storytelling, however an invite for travellers to make knowledgeable, values-driven decisions. For our viewers, it signalled that we’re not promoting an expertise—we’re safeguarding their ethics and their impression.
What does success appear like for you in goal or impression?
Success, for me, is when a volunteer leaves certainly one of our packages not solely understanding they’ve made a hands-on contribution to conservation, but in addition feeling modified of their outlook on the world. It’s about seeing somebody turn out to be extra related to nature, growing new habits that help animal welfare and sustainability, and sharing what they’ve discovered with others again dwelling.
The true impression goes far past numbers. It’s within the tales—volunteers who keep concerned in conservation, who begin new eco-friendly initiatives in their very own communities, or who come again to affix us on one other mission as a result of they wish to maintain making a distinction.
How do you personally outline success?
True success for me is seeing extra animals cared for and launched again into the wild, habitats protected, and folks impressed to make moral decisions in journey and day by day life.
Are you able to share a problem or setback that finally grew to become a turning level on your model?
One in all our greatest challenges was attempting to compete with massive, profit-driven volunteer journey corporations. They’d massive advertising budgets, shiny campaigns, and the flexibility to dominate search and social channels. As a small, moral non-profit, we shortly realised we couldn’t—and shouldn’t—attempt to outspend or outshine them on their phrases.
That realisation grew to become our turning level. As an alternative of chasing their model of polished promotion, we leaned into what made us completely different: radical transparency and authenticity. We constructed instruments like our moral calculators (EthicCheck and GreenGauge), reshaped our message round being moral, clear, impactful, and charity-led, and brazenly shared charge breakdowns. This reframe turned our dimension into an asset—displaying volunteers we weren’t promoting them a packaged product however inviting them right into a motion.
What started as a setback—restricted assets—finally grew to become our power. Competing on ethics, not budgets, allowed us to redefine what management in volunteer journey appears like.
What day by day habits or rituals maintain you targeted, artistic, and grounded as a frontrunner?
One in all my most essential day by day habits is training private gratitude—particularly for our volunteers, whose dedication and compassion encourage me day-after-day. Taking time every morning to replicate on the distinction they’re making retains me grounded and jogs my memory why this work issues. I usually revisit volunteer tales or messages that spotlight their development or the constructive modifications they’ve sparked each on our tasks and in their very own communities.
I additionally keep conscious that the challenges dealing with wildlife and the atmosphere are ongoing—the issue isn’t going to vanish in a single day. Folks and improvement will all the time put strain on our pure world, and it’s essential to not flip a blind eye to the hurt being executed. As an alternative, I attempt to keep engaged and proactive, utilizing this consciousness to gas my creativity and dedication to actual options. By acknowledging the dimensions and complexity of those points every day, I keep targeted on rising Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers as a part of the reply, whereas encouraging our group to maintain caring, performing, and by no means giving up.
How do you method innovation and danger in your online business technique?
For us, innovation begins with asking: how can we do that otherwise, and extra ethically, than the business norm? In volunteer journey, the best danger isn’t monetary—it’s moral. Chopping corners with animal welfare, transparency, or group profit can erode belief in a single day. That’s why we take calculated dangers solely once they reinforce our values.
We’ve constructed ethics immediately into our governance framework via our Moral Requirements and Wildlife Codes, which information choices as a lot as conventional enterprise strategies. Alongside this, we keep a radical and detailed danger mitigation mannequin for all our packages—guaranteeing volunteer security, safeguarding communities and wildlife, and defending the integrity of our tasks.
We additionally apply structured processes to handle danger in development and innovation. Each potential new mission goes via a three-step audit system to evaluate match, security, and alignment with our moral requirements, and we publish annual impression stories to carry ourselves accountable. This method permits us to stay agile and pioneering whereas guaranteeing each innovation strengthens our mission, our credibility, and the belief of our volunteers.
What recommendation would you give to somebody beginning a enterprise in in the present day’s fast-changing digital world?
If I might share any recommendation with younger girls entrepreneurs, it’s this: construct your online business on what excites and strikes you. Mix your ardour together with your values—when these two issues line up, the work by no means seems like a chore. Continue to learn and encompass your self with individuals who help and encourage you. Don’t be afraid of setbacks. The digital world provides you numerous instruments to share your story, join with like-minded individuals, and amplify your message far past what was potential earlier than. Embrace social media, on-line communities, and digital collaboration to construct actual connections and discover your viewers wherever they’re. Maintain experimenting, refine your method primarily based on suggestions, and use expertise to show your ardour into real impression. Above all, keep in mind that even small actions on-line can spark massive change—so be genuine, maintain your values entrance and centre, and let the digital world make it easier to go away your mark.
Be courageous, be type, and observe your coronary heart. Success isn’t nearly awards or numbers—it’s about making an actual distinction and having fun with the journey alongside the way in which. If my story reveals something, it’s that with dedication, ardour, and a powerful sense of goal, you may construct one thing significant not only for your self, however on your complete group and the world.
The place can our viewers join with you and study extra about your work or choices?
You’ll discover us at Oceans 2 Earth Volunteers and on Instagram. Attain out any time—whether or not you wish to study, volunteer, collaborate, or simply chat about how moral journey and conservation can change lives. I all the time love listening to from individuals who care!
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