Everything changed for Afia Lockett when she visited Kakum National Park, a coastal rainforest in southern Ghana.

She was 22 at the time and had been studying computer science at Kennesaw State University, expecting to pursue a career in web development. But the chance to immerse herself in a lush environment—to smell the fresh air and hear raindrops fall on colorful plant life—had a profound effect.

“The rainforest has such biodiversity and has all kinds of stories about how people were in tune with it,” the now 24-year-old ecology student said. “It’s therapeutic.”

For Lockett, the revelation was clear: “The planet is way cooler than technology.”

Inspired by the experience, Lockett shifted focus when she returned to college, transferring to the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. Today, she’s building on what the rainforest showed her by becoming an entrepreneur dedicated to helping people of all ages strengthen their relationship with nature.

With support from the UGA Idea Accelerator Program and other campus entrepreneurship programs, Lockett launched Afia’s Leaf, an herbal supplement company. 

She also founded Mindful Sprouts, a tutoring service that combines nature-based experiences with the K-5 curriculum standards, which is now accepting students. The Odum School is a sponsor for the UGA Mindful Sprouts club.

“I want more kids to learn about our connection to nature,” Lockett said. “More than just sometimes, like on a field trip. I want them to spend more of their curriculum in nature.”

Ecology across the world

Lockett visited Ghana while taking a year off from school. As she traveled in the Caribbean and across Africa, she began to notice that people outside the U.S. led vastly different lives than the one she knew growing up outside of Atlanta.

“People live with nature in mind, and it’s progressive and natural to live with and interact with nature,” she said. “Daily life is more colorful, more creative, and more attached to the environment. There’s no distinction between nature and people. It doesn’t exist.”

Lockett began to view life in the U.S. as ruled by unnecessary distinctions between humans and the natural world.

“We are thinking in a way that consistently separates things in boxes,” she said. “That gives rise to the thinking that people are more powerful than nature.”

Finding ways to dissolve these barriers became a passion for Lockett, and helped her decide to study ecology.

“I see ecology as a science that truly explores our relationship with nature. It seeks to understand the earth rather than simply finding ways to exploit its resources,” she said.

An entrepreneur emerges

Lockett considers herself an introvert, but getting a chance to develop and pitch her entrepreneurial ideas helped her grow beyond her bashfulness.

“I knew in the back of my mind that if I want to succeed, I’d have to be comfortable talking about my passions,” she said.

Participating in the UGA Idea Accelerator Program and the FABricate Entrepreneurial Initiative with the College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences was a “rigorous and time-consuming experience,” Locket said. “But I’m competitive, so I enjoyed it. It forced me to get out of my shell. It pushed me.”

For both enterprises, she’s received over $10,000 in awards.

Mindful Sprouts, a nonprofit, is the initiative Lockett is most focused on right now. It’s an idea that’s incredibly personal to her. In addition to being a full-time student and running two businesses, she’s also a mom to a 4-year-old girl.

“The whole idea came from watching her play outside, wishing that I could provide that experience every day and not keep her stuck indoors,” Lockett said. “Having my daughter started this whole journey about wanting to know more about the world and becoming more aware of how my perspective influences the next generation. Being entrepreneurial, I thought there’s probably millions of moms who want to do the same thing but don’t know how.”

Mindful Sprouts’ curriculum uses nature to emphasize standards already being taught in public school classrooms. It’s a complement to a traditional education, not a replacement. For example, participants can practice basic math by adding, subtracting and multiplying acorns collected from the forest floor. Lockett said the company has tutors in Athens, Lawrenceville and Winder who will work with students after school and on weekends.

In the future, Lockett sees herself expanding the concept of Mindful Sprouts to the Caribbean or Africa, creating a nature-based school for children of all backgrounds.

Thinking of ecology education through the lens of business is essential, Lockett said.

“When you think about who can change the world right now, it’s businesses,” she said.

If environmentally minded people want to make a difference, Lockett said they’ll need to come out of their shells.

Just like she did.