Alissa Takesy comes from a diverse Micronesian background and grew up in a multilingual household, which has enabled her to work in a variety of sectors including government, civil society, education, and retail. In her last assignment with the national government of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), she oversaw the complex institutional arrangements of the agriculture, forestry, biosecurity, coastal fisheries, and tourism sectors. Alissa’s work has focused on integrated management of FSM’s natural resources and maintaining partnerships to achieve collective goals in the region. She is currently interested in the ‘sustaining livelihoods’ objective of the Micronesia Challenge, a shared commitment by five Micronesian governments to conserve 30% of near-shore marine resources and 20% of the terrestrial resources by 2020.