OUR TEAM

Elora Spencer

she/her
Program Coordinator
elora [at] engageva.org

Vishal Chauhan

he/him
Communications Manager
vishal [at] engageva.org

Emily Hein

she/her
Operations Manager
emily [at] engageva.org

Michelle MOFFIT

she/her
Director of Partnerships & Data
michelle [at] engageva.org

Nico Climaco

they/any
Director of Leadership Development
nico [at] engageva.org

OUR BOARD

Denise Harrington

League of Women Voters of Virginia

Kate West

Treasurer
Sierra Club

Freddy Mejia

The Commonwealth Institute

Kirk Jones

A. Philip Randolph Institute

Harrison Wallace

Chair
The Climate & Clean Energy Equity Fund

Shonta Mills

SEIU VA 512

Jess Unger

Southern Poverty Law Center

Sookyung Oh

Secretary
Hamkae Center

Emily Hein

Nico Climaco

Nico currently resides on occupied Nacotchatnk land (Washington, DC), and joined VCET in January of 2022. As the Leadership Development Manager, they primarily support the Virginia Progressive Leadership Program. Passionate about social justice, collective liberation, and community solutions, Nico finds home in collective and visionary spaces woven together by queer and trans people. A proud JMU alum, they are currently pursuing a Next Economy MBA with LIFT Economy. 

Nico learned some of their most important political lessons outside the classroom and was first politicized in high school by learning about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and their own Filipino and Puerto Rican diaspora. As a facilitator, Nico draws on the teachings of Paulo Freire and bell hooks with a lens of popular education and experiential learning. They are invested in co-creating loving spaces and considers relationships & community to be the basis of their work. Nico’s biggest role models are Gizmo the gremlin, HIM from Powerpuff Girls, and the nerds from nerds candy.

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