People

Rachel Bailey

Community Building Manager, 探花精选 California (she/her)

Rachel Bailey is the Community Building Manager for 探花精选 California, where she engages with the California Chapter Network and students in the 探花精选 on Campus program, as well as supports the many communities that share conservation goals with 探花精选 California. Rachel started with 探花精选 in 2024 as the Senior Education Coordinator at the 探花精选 Center at Debs Park where she led the volunteer program, facilitated conservation education programming, and collaborated with local community-based organizations to amplify shared conservation impacts in Northeast Los Angeles.

Rachel grew up in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey where she fell in love with the outdoors and all the flora, fauna, and funga who are found in the wild. Thanks to her expert-birder father, Rachel became familiar with bird conservation at a very young age and always had a pair of binoculars within reach at home. After entering as a physics major and completing an astrophysics research project, Rachel pivoted and graduated from Rutgers University with a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources. She has worked in New Jersey county and state parks as a Teacher Naturalist, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as an Interpretive Park Ranger, the Los Angeles Zoo as an Education Specialist, and most recently at Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants as the Community Engagement Manager.

Outside of work, Rachel enjoys alternating between travelling and spending a cozy night inside. If she鈥檚 not playing Super Mario Sunshine on her old GameCube, she鈥檚 probably out camping in a slot canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.