Influential Woman · Federal government

Jewel McKenzie

Management & Program Analyst, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Washington, DC

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Natural Resources Management & Environmental Economics, B.S. Degree Resource Administration and Management, M.S. Degree Center for Executive Coaching, ACC Cert International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited coach at ACC level Member International Coaching Federation (ICF) Member Women in NRCS Member Best Friends Animal Society

Her Story

About Jewel

5/24/2026: To the Influential Women Team: I reviewing the text. There are currently major changes happening in her Department/work. PLEASE BE PATIENT. I will let you know when my edits are ready. Thank you - Jewel

My career path started with a simple love of the outdoors that I've had since I was really little. I was always outside as a kid in my family, doing things outside, hiking, and being in nature with wildlife and animals. That foundational appreciation for being outside and being active is what drew me into conservation as my field of study and eventually my career. I've been working in conservation and natural resources management for over 20 years now, starting as an undergrad and continuing through my current role as a federal employee at the Department of Agriculture. As I evolved over time in the conservation realm, I became really interested in wellness, well-being, and personal health. For a while, these seemed like separate interests, but I was able to blend those things because I realized it's really about looking at the person as a whole, looking at the ecosystem as a whole, looking at the community and who's functioning. Whether I'm working with an individual one-on-one on their career path, blending coaching and health coaching and wellness coaching and career development coaching, or working in a team and trying to bring greater team cohesion so that we could be really productive and engaged, it's all connected. It wasn't a linear path, I will tell you that. My area of expertise is natural resources management blended with personal well-being. I have the first love of conservation, natural resources management, and then the love of holistic well-being for the person, and well-being includes helping them to grow in their career, in leadership, or in health. That's where the coaching comes in, because I also love coaching, even though I haven't been doing it as long.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Jewel

01What do you attribute your success to?

I would say my personal board of directors, so the people, not like the work board of directors, but really good mentors. I think a lot of it is just female friends who you can be real with, and who can also celebrate each other's successes and not be afraid of talking about them. Also, just other people who you can turn to when you're going through something at a low point, people who've gone through it and who can help you make sense of it and you know that there's a way out at some point. And I think I've had certain wellness best practices, like meditation and journaling and things like that. I do a lot of that kind of quiet work, too.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say try everything you can when you're young. Find out what you're good at and what you really like, and blend those with where you can get paid. Because you can be really good at something, you can continue to be put into roles where you're really good at the thing, but you realize you don't really love it. But you're also really good at something else that you do love, you just haven't been able to get there. So I would say to my younger self, find what it is that you're really good at that you love to do, that you can earn an income from, and really focus on how to get there. But you've got to try all these different things to get there. When you're young, you've just, you know, presumably have more time.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

In conservation, I think a challenge right now is the changing priorities of political administrations. As a federal employee, we're always subject to whatever the new administration's priorities are, and there's just been so many changes, so it's a challenge. In the coaching industry, AI is impacting things, and we're all keeping an eye on that. I feel like some of the AI stuff for coaching is just going to force people to become much more focused on specializing in certain areas, getting really good in certain areas. I always try to find the opportunity in the challenge.

04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Alignment with my purpose to help people is most important to me. Autonomy is very important to me. And impact, I really value impact in my work and personal life.

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