Maura Monagan

Growing up in Los Angeles, Maura developed a deep appreciation for our local waterways – from bike rides along Ballona Creek to beach cleanups at Ocean Park – and is excited to advocate for equitable, widespread systems change with LA Waterkeeper.

Maura’s first foray into the environmental sphere was at Boston University, where she double majored in Environmental Analysis & Policy and Music, completed field research in sustainable development in Costa Rica, and interned on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Maura moved to Cambodia to work on climate change, ethics, and development issues with the School for Field Studies (SFS), and later to NYC to work with the NY Regional Team in the Healthy Communities program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). These experiences solidified Maura’s passions for environmental justice, climate storytelling, urban water issues, and community-based work.

Prior to joining LAW, Maura earned a MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge, where she wrote a dissertation exploring the sociocultural considerations of managed retreat strategies and just transitions for displaced Indigenous communities in the US and was a copyeditor for Climate Policy Journal, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed scientific publication in the UK.

Out of the office, you can find Maura with an instrument or two in hand, snapping nature photos or solving a jigsaw puzzle.