What is your work focused on?
I had spent the last six years organizing and lobbying for climate action in Virginia, but I recently moved into philanthropy. I’m still focused on climate action and environmental justice, but I now focus on funding BIPOC led groups in Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

How long have you been doing this work? And what motivated you to do this work?
I’ve been working in the climate movement for about six years. I was motivated to focus on this issue when I was a teenager watching the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. I was angry at our country for treating folks who look like me as second-class citizens and I was angry at the news for calling them refugees in their own backyards. Once I learned more about the root causes of Katrina’s devastation, I knew I needed to work hard to advocate for solutions to slow climate change and to fight for black folks in my own backyard to have the tools to be prepared when the big storms and rising seas eventually come.

What is your theme song?

If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would it be and why?
LeBron James. His life looks like a lot of fun and I could donate half of his money to EJ and black liberation charities.

What is the most exciting thing you have worked on or work you are most proud of?
The most rewarding and exciting thing that I’ve worked on is the (SUCCESSFUL) campaign to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. We worked with some incredible local leaders to form one of the largest and most culturally and racially diverse coalitions in the climate movement to stop that pipeline. We shut down government buildings, folks lived in trees to block construction, actors and a former Vice President came to small towns like Buckingham to say no to the project, and we actually won! That campaign took six years of hard work and countless near-defeats: it was a true testament to the power of deep organizing and strategic campaigning.