E’Lisa Moss is saving lives while helping protect the environment.
Moss is a travel nurse contracted through the company CareRev. She serves several hospitals throughout St. Louis, and recently competed in the Mrs. USA Earth 2023 pageant.
The contestants are married women advocating for sustainability, and better environmental practices.
“I was looking for an organization that had women who were engaged in similar activities like I am regarding the environment, and that’s how I found the pageant,” she said.
While not winning the pageant crown, she was named Mrs. Midwest Earth.
“It’s about how you make connections, how you’re improving your community,” Moss said. “What projects are you implementing that help with global warming and climate change? What are you doing to help under-resourced and underprivileged communities receive resources they need to be built better economically?”
Along with being a healthcare professional, Moss is an urban farmer who advocates for conservation and education throughout the state.
“I work with a lot of nonprofits and get out into the community to spread the knowledge and importance of preserving our land, whether it be rural or urban,” Moss said.
“I wanted to come up with a message that was easily digestible between those two worlds.”
Her goal in entering the Mrs. USA Earth competition was to “link up with other powerful women because we [can] work together to develop the future for our world.”
Through her Nurse Earth initiative, Moss works to empower and educate the community about healthcare, conservation, and agricultural production. Nurse Earth partners with Grow Health Center, an environmental justice organization, designed to educate, train, and give opportunities to underserved people and communities.
The organizations develop “demonstration gardens” that display the importance of native plants, pollinators [bees and insects] and stormwater management systems.
“The more we educate the community and youth about resources available to them to make a change in their community, the brighter our future looks,” she said.
Moss is a 5th generation farmer. Her great-great grandfather, Ezekiel Gibbs, was a farmer who grew sugarcane and row crops including corn, wheat, and soybean.
Gibbs was an entrepreneur who saw value in bartering fruits and vegetables in exchange for services. He also sold crops for money. He lived until he was 104, and Moss calls him “a heavy motivator in her getting involved with the environment.”
“I grew up watching him grade his land, and grow and care for his crops,” she said. “I remember him telling me ‘take care of the land and the land will take care of you.’”
Moss’ nursing career got its start when she became fascinated with the human heart.
“It’s the focal point of our being. If any part of that organ deteriorates, it affects the rest of our body,” she said.
“[In nursing school] I enjoyed learning more about open heart surgery, pacemakers, and other cardiovascular diseases. I liked the ability to keep up with a high-paced environment while on the rhythm of the work.”
Moss was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She holds a psychology degree from Prairie View A&M University, a nursing degree from Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences, and is currently enrolled in the Lincoln University School of Agribusiness.
She is one of 72 U.S. Department of Agriculture 1890 National Scholars, which provides educational and career opportunities for students from rural or underserved communities.
Moss is also a U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Next Gen Global Leader, will participate in its year-long program, and attend the Global Impact Forum in June.
Find more information about Moss on her Linktree, https://linktr.ee/nurseearth.
