Bree Kessler has always been a traveler. She's lived in India and Honduras, worked in Thailand, volunteered with the National Park Service in northern Alaska, and traveled extensively throughout Latin America.

Her first visit to the Big Island of Hawai‘i was as a summer volunteer, picking pineapples on an organic farm. This experience sparked her interest in urban agriculture and ultimately environmental psychology-the study of how people and places interact with one another. She is currently earning a PhD in this field at the City University of New York.

Bree has taught courses on a variety of topics at Hunter College, the University of Hawai‘i-Hilo, and the School for International Training. Outside of academia, she has a second career as a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in publications such as Honolulu Magazine, Edible Hawaiian Islands, Women's Adventure, and Wine Enthusiast. Although there are certainly more travels ahead of her, she always returns to Hawai‘i and her true vocation: exploring her island home and sharing its spirit of aloha. Read more from Bree on her website ParkDispatches.com and on Twitter @thebrooklynof.