The 10 people transforming sustainability - from Patagonia's founder to the CEO of BlocPower
In 2017, Garcia noticed something amiss between her job in the New York City mayor’s office of sustainability and the professional group for Hispanic engineers she had long been part of: There was no overlap.
“I would go to these sustainability events, and I didn't feel like I had community, like anyone looked like me or had my background,” Garcia, a first-generation Latina whose parents emigrated from Colombia, told Insider. “Then I would go to events organized by the professional group, and they wouldn't have sustainability content.”
Garcia has helped bridge the gap by founding what’s now called Latinxs in Sustainability, a group within the nonprofit Latino Verde, a networking and mentorship group that connects Latinos working in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields, as well as those doing climate and environmental work. The group funds a continuing-education stipend for students. Garcia said the group had reached more than 2,500 people and hosted more than 50 panels, raising awareness about career paths.
Her efforts to increase Latino representation in the sustainability field extended into her work in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration between 2017 and 2019, when New York was starting to invest in improving the energy efficiency of buildings to meet climate goals. Garcia now serves as the deputy director of the Building Electrification Institute, a nonprofit helping cities transition away from fossil fuels and develop equitable plans for local workforces.
“The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time,” Garcia said. “I get to work with cities on how to create high-paying jobs with living wages and benefits and security that are accessible to a more-diverse group of people.”
Correction: November 17, 2022 — An earlier version of this story misnamed the group that Garcia founded. The correct name is Latinxs in Sustainability. We almost misstated the number of people the group reached. The correct number is 2,500.
