CelebMix
Australian photographer, TV presenter and travel influencer Elissa Sursara has attracted more than 200,000 followers on the photo-sharing platform Instagram after posting a series of stunningly curated images of animals to promote her conservation goals.
The blonde personality, from the Gold Coast in Queensland, has become popular across social media for sharing intimate pictures of exotic wildlife, including birds, kangaroos and tigers, in an effort to raise their profile in what she describes as “the Kardashian age.”
Telling the Green Matters podcast that “wildlife is being left behind,” Sursara admitted she was concerned that people were more interested in fashion and beauty than they were in nature and conservation.
“I appreciate the hard work of people like Kim [Kardashian] and Kylie [Jenner],” she says, “but I think it’s important to champion non-profits and social issues as strongly as we champion hair and accessories.”
She said she signed up for Instagram in 2012 during the height of her Whale Wars fame, and begun attracting travel enthusiasts and animal lovers from across the globe.
“My followers are from Australia and the United States, and even Sweden and India,” she told the podcast. “It’s one big community now.”
The ANU biology graduate, who was this year showcased by the university for her success in the environmental field, was nominated by MTV in 2013 in the search for the stations Millennial Leader. Since, she has been nominated for awards by PETA, Australian of the Year and CLEO magazine.
Sursara’s images of whales and landscapes, as well as her recommendations of lifestyle accessories including foods, tech accessories and health apps, has opened her audience demographic to include people who may not have originally cared about the environment.
She is slated for her own travel and conservation show in 2018/19, according to IMDb.com.
