Desri Maria Sumbayak is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, with a rich academic journey spanning continents—from her undergraduate degree at USU, a Master's in Literary Studies at UI, to a Master's in TESOL at the University of Canberra through the Australian Partnership Scholarship—which has now led her to pursue a PhD at Charles Sturt University in the field of eco-poetry and ecofeminism. In the classroom, she is known as a lecturer who grounds literature in real-world issues such as gender and the environment, as demonstrated by a student project, the Poetry Anthology: Human, Love, and Nature (2024), which earned her the title of Favourite Lecturer 2023. Yet her reach extends far beyond campus: she has represented Asian women at the global forum of the United Evangelical Mission, served as Vice President for the Asia Region at the Lutheran World Federation for six years, and led a climate justice project worth billions of rupiah—making her a figure who combines academia, activism, and international leadership in one career consistently dedicated to championing gender and environmental justice.