SKYE RAISER

Skye Raiser has spent her life advocating for the needs of others and for the health of our planet.  Though she spent much of her career as a photographer, since becoming a mother in 2005, Skye has shifted her work focus to health and the environment, recognizing their interrelated nature.

In 2019 she launched a company, Green Up Your Life, to advise and coach individuals, families, schools and other organizations on sustainable living to benefit human and planetary health and longevity.  She provides, one-on-one or group coaching, sustainability planning, lectures and talks, hands-on workshops, or any curated consulting or advising.  As a photographer she traveled extensively for many years, doing documentary, editorial, portrait work.  In 2000, she published a book called, Children Are Children: Photos from Nine Countries, documenting the lives of refugee and displaced children, and children living in conflict zones.  Previously she worked for the Department of Defense’s Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement Policy Office as a Defense Fellow, the Nature Conservancy, the Center for Democracy, La Cadena SER Spanish radio station, and domestic violence organizations.  She founded and has hosted for 25 years the Raiser Environmental Fellowship at the National Cathedral School which awards fellowships for 2-3 students a year for work on a project of their design, in conjunction with ongoing national or international research through universities or established organizations, in the fields of environmental science and sustainability.

Skye graduated from Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies with an MA in 1993.  In 1989 she graduated with honors from the University of Virginia with a BA in history.  She earned an executive degree from Columbia University’s Earth Institute for Environmental Sustainability in 2019.  She is currently a board member of the North Country School, and has also served on the boards of the Children’s National Medical Center, the National Cathedral School on two separate occasions, and Hearts for Heroes, an equine/canine therapy organization for military personnel who suffer from PTSD, as well as many others throughout her life.

She is married to David Perlin, has 6 children, including 3 stepsons, 3 dogs, and 2 horses, lives in Washington, DC and Bozeman, MT, and considers herself a multi-species herd manager.  At her home, she designed and maintains a regenerative garden producing dozens of species of fruits and vegetables which she enjoys sharing with family, friends and neighbors.  She speaks Spanish and is a Chopra Center certified meditation and breath work teacher.