The Colorado Ocean Coalition (COCO) is fortunate to have many talented and creative Ocean Ambassadors (OA) working on OA projects that support and generate awareness for COCO. One of these Ambassadors is the feature of this week’s blog, Jesse Berggren. Jesse works at Swoon Jewelry Studios, where she makes jewelry. For her OA project, she is creating beautiful pieces that will benefit COCO.
The goal of the Make Waves Collection is to fundraise for COCO by selling as many as possible, with 20% of the sales being donated directly to COCO. Additionally, Jesse hopes the pieces will raise ocean awareness by being a conversation starter. To that end, she is including a little informational card that will go with each piece that states COCO’s mission.

I asked Jesse why she wanted to become an OA, and she said “I became an Ocean Ambassador because I’ve always had a love for the ocean and ocean creatures, but hadn’t had any serious education in the history, science, policies and problems surrounding them.” One thing she loved most about the program was hearing from experts in various ocean and watershed related fields, which provided her with information about what’s going on, why, and how people can engage positively.
OA’s are asked to take on a project that uses their skills and creativity to benefit the ocean and COCO. Jesse took a unique approach and decided to work with Swoon Jewelry to generate awareness and support for COCO. Jesse said, “My OA project has been creating several pieces of jewelry that were inspired by and will benefit the Colorado Ocean Coalition. I love the COCO logo and wanted to incorporate that into a variety of sterling silver pieces that could appeal to a wide range of people.”

Jesse created two styles of necklaces, a bracelet and a keychain, all with the same COCO logo theme. She cut each piece of metal by hand, soldered them together and stamped the letters. When asked what makes them special, she said, “I chose the words “Make Waves” because they are (ocean related) action words that will hopefully inspire people to be proactive about helping the environment.”

Check back soon for more creative ideas coming from the Ocean Ambassadors!