Nasser with the Boston Harbor in the background.
Introducing Nasser Brahim, the Mystic River Watershed Association’s new Director of Climate Resilience! Learn more about Nasser and what he’s excited for in this new role:
Q: Tell us about an experience that has led you here:
A: I started working as a climate resilience consultant in 2013 and have worked with Massachusetts communities on a variety of climate resilience initiatives since then. A few of my first projects were in the Mystic, starting with the City of Cambridge’s climate change vulnerability assessment and Massport’s coastal resilience program. I also helped lead the first Climate Ready Boston plans for Charlestown and East Boston. These experiences really shaped my understanding of the many ways that climate change will impact the lives of people who live and work in the Mystic, especially Environmental Justice and other priority populations, and how impacts in the Mystic will spill over to the entire region and state. They also fused in my brain how important it is to invest in climate resilience efforts that improve people’s daily lives, in addition to keeping them safe during a storm or a heat wave. MyRWA and our partners in the Resilient Mystic Collaborative have been at the forefront of integrating climate resilience infrastructure in parks and greenways, putting local community members in the drivers seat of project development, and building social resilience in our communities. What better place to be?!?!
Q: What’s something interesting about you that we wouldn’t learn from your resume alone?
A: I am a cultural mosaic! My dad is Algerian, my mother is Cuban and was raised in Puerto Rico. They actually met and started their lives together in the Mystic! I spent my early childhood in Thailand before moving to New Hampshire to start middle school. So my identity is a mash-up of all these cultural influences - Arab, Latin American and Caribbean, Southeast Asian, and New Englander. New England has been home base for my family, though. We’ve each drifted off at different points, but it’s always pulled us back here, together.
Q: What do you do when you aren't working?
A: I spend time with my family — cooking, playing, reading, sportsing at the YMCA, and playing Pokemon Go!
Q: What is your favorite place?
A: Definitely my neighborhood. I love walking out my door and smelling the scent of the salt marsh at low tide or after a rain. I love the view of the Boston skyline and a bustling bay side-by-side with nature - the wooded trail, fringing salt marsh, pocket beaches, shellfish beds, and wildlife. It’s also a community with a lot of social connection - I know all my neighbors. I don’t love it when coastal flooding cuts the whole neighborhood off from the world, but I’m working on that!
Q: What part of your job are you most excited about?
A: Ah, so many parts! I’m so excited to collaborate with our staff, community members, and partners to advance really impactful projects and programs throughout the Mystic. I’m excited to advocate for funding, statutory, and regulatory changes that align with and advance our mission and values. At the end of the day, I’m excited to make great relationships and get big things done together.
Have questions or want to introduce yourself? Send Nasser an email at Nasser.Brahim@mysticriver.org.
