Sara Fuentes is the founder and President of Smart Waste, a minority women owned and operated start up with a focus on waste technologies, waste systems and vendor management for Zero waste programs. With 10 years of experience in the Waste and Recycling Industry, Sara is a leader in abating waste her core values of transparency, circularity and people impact communities to practice a zero waste lifestyle. A passionate advocate for women and a tenacious leader, Sara is setting out to alter the cleantech landscape and finding her own niche. Sara draws on her experience working as an educator and Vice-Chair of the Women in CleanTech and Sustainability organization, where she is a beloved mentor. Sara is always looking to connect with people and companies that are in alignment with her values and goals.

Lisa Ann Pinkerton is founder of Women In Cleantech & Sustainability, a San Francisco Bay Area group dedicated to the advancement of women in various environmental and technology sectors. She is also Founder and President of Technica Communications, where she handles marketing, social media, content production and public relations for cleantech and biotech startups. Additionally, Lisa Ann is Co-Founder and Marketing Chair for the Global Cleantech Cluster Association, an international speaker and moderator and documentary filmmaker. Lisa Ann is a former award-winning broadcast journalist who reported for National Public Radio, PBS Television, WPXI-NBC, American Public Media, and Free Speech TV.

Ellie Sharpe Read is the Certification Director at Climate Neutral, a nonprofit tech startup working to decarbonize the corporate sector by setting rigorous standards for climate action and helping brands measure, offset, and reduce their carbon emissions. She graduated with an MBA in Sustainable Solutions from Presidio Graduate School, where her studies focused on climate finance, corporate sustainability, and opportunities to use technology to accelerate the energy transition. Ellie’s experience spans corporate sustainability and social impact programs and she brings a wealth of experience from her work as a Product Manager at a healthtech startup in areas such as process development, cross-functional collaboration, and change management. She holds a BS in Human Biology from Brown University. In her free time, Ellie enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, skiing, and paddle boarding.

Glenna Wiseman is a senior marketing and communications strategist with experience in multiple sectors including solar, construction, sustainability, energy storage and software solutions relating to those industries. She is a seasoned business building executive with P&L, sales, operations and marketing track record. Glenna is a demonstrated nimble communications professional with ability to juggle the needs and successfully deliver marketing objectives in fast paced environments, stateside and abroad. She graces us with her skills as a vibrant, tenacious strategist who surfaces creative, results oriented marketing and business building solutions.

Dawn James leads the U.S. sustainability strategy and thought leadership for Microsoft, focused on delivering digital transformation solutions. She leverages her subject matter expertise across industries to create strategic coalitions and partnerships, helping customers leverage Microsoft technology to accelerate their sustainability journey. Dawn leads a wide range of initiatives in sustainability, environmental science, and innovation.

Dawn has over 23 years of industry experience as a geoscientist and systems leader. She is a certified naturalist, formerly serving as the Americas Energy Lead at Microsoft and Research Hydrogeologist with the U.S. Department of the Interior (USGS). Dawn’s expertise not only includes results-driven leadership and ecosystem innovation but also articulates value at the convergence of industry and technology. In her spare time, Dawn enjoys playing the violin and spending time with her daughters.

Dr. Kat Knauer is a polymer scientist who has dedicated her scientific career to solving the plastic waste problem. She has a PhD in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2018 she completed the BASF Leadership Development Program (LDP) where she landed a Senior Scientist role in BASF’s Plastics Division. Her research focused on advanced recycling technologies which led her to leading the Materials Innovation R&D team at Novoloop (formerly BioCellection), a chemical recycling startup. At Novoloop she helped develop a technology that converted post-consumer polyethylene waste into valuable chemical building blocks that she upcycled into new high-performing polymer applications. Recently, Dr. Knauer joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the BOTTLE Consortium. In this capacity, she is developing sustainable technologies to chemically upcycle today’s plastic waste streams and develop new plastics for the future that are recyclable by design.

Heizal Patricia Nagginda is a climate and environmental educator from Uganda. She is the founder of Climate Operation, a youth-led organisation whose mission is to educate young people and communities about climate change and its intersectionality with other social issues such as health and gender. Heizal is passionate about creating inclusive spaces where young people’s voices are amplified through shared experiences and storytelling which she has achieved through her organization. Heizal also loves to code and holds a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) from Uganda Christian University Mukono.

Lauren Phipps works to accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economy. She is the Vice President and Senior Analyst on the circular economy at GreenBiz Group, where she leads the company’s circularity strategy, programs and partnerships. Lauren’s team connects stakeholders and solutions from across the value chain to cultivate a community of practice, in which professionals are empowered to transform products, organizations, industries and systems.

Lauren leads the Circularity conference, the largest circular economy event in North America, which she launched in 2019. She writes Circularity Weekly, an industry-leading newsletter respected for its skeptical yet solutions-oriented voice and systems-thinking lens. Lauren sits on the advisory board for the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network and frequently speaks about the circular economy opportunity across plastics and packaging, food, electronics and apparel. She was named one of WWF’s Women Leading the Plastic Revolution in 2021.

Isabel Homberg Reissmeier is a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles studying mechanical engineering. As an environmentalist, she aims to guarantee a livable future for her generation and those to come. She intends to use her knowledge to advocate for innovations and practices that are sustainable. While in high school, she was part of her school’s environmental advocacy and science club, Team Marine, where she helped pass her school district’s sustainability plan. During this time she was also awarded first place in an international plastic pollution awareness competition, Bow Seat. Moreover, she had the school district’s teacher union adopt a fossil fuel divestment resolution. She has also been involved in Climate Action Santa Monica Climate Corps, where she co-led a gardening project.

Jessica Jane Robinson is a zero-waste practitioner and an environmental leader in the San Francisco Bay Area. She specializes in launching environmental pilot programs that target cultural and social behavioral changes needed to address climate change and planetary damage. In 2019, she presented at the United Nations 68th Civic Society Annual Conference. In 2012 she joined former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project and quickly became a Climate Leader. She is among the 19,000 Climate Leaders from 154 countries around the world. Her Climate Leader rank stands in the top 1% after she made 110 presentations and reached over 27,000 audience members in 2019. Jessica Jane also serves as Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Northern California Recycling Association.

Maya Wu recently graduated a year early from high school with an associate’s degree in mathematics and is currently taking a gap year to gain experience and exposure to different careers before attending a 4-year college. She has always been focused on climate issues, from 4th grade when she petitioned for and got recycling bins at her elementary school to this summer where she was a California Climate Action Corps fellow. Working with UC San Diego’s CREATE (Center For Research On Educational Equity, Assessment & Teaching Excellence), she created and taught climate-based curriculums to over 150 students and helped plan and manage the Southeast San Diego Science and Art Expo with over 40 local STEAM organizations and 700 attendees. She is continuing her work with CREATE this year.

Sue Yang is an Investment Director with the Next Generation (“Next Gen”) Infrastructure team at Antin Infrastructure Partners (“Antin”) where she is responsible for originating and evaluating investment opportunities, due diligence and execution, and asset management. Antin is an international infrastructure private equity firm with over US$20 billion of capital. The Next Gen team is focused on making active equity investments into companies driving the energy transition, sustainability and circularity, more accessible mobility and efficient transportation, greater digital connectivity, agricultural and resource efficiencies, and better health and education. Sue holds a BA from Columbia College where she majored in Middle Eastern Studies and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Angel Zhong (she/her) is a third-year Psychology and English double major with minors in Writing and Ethnic Studies at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. This past summer, she served as a CA Climate Action Corps (CCAC) Fellow at White Pony Express, a food and clothing rescue non-profit dedicated to ending hunger in Contra Costa County. As a CCAC Fellow, she led and participated in a number of projects related to environmental justice, systemic food inequity, and clothing/textile waste. In the future, she aspires to become a professor of Social Ecology with a focus on community health and collaborate with the non-profit sector.

Vocalist Corina Corina was born in Oakland, CA, & has made her career in NYC. This gifted songwriter brings a fresh vocal hybrid to modern R&B with strong blues & hip hop influences and has recently transitioned to a more acoustic style. Her lyrically-driven content touches on everything from gender inequality to self-love & resisting social norms. She has independently released 3 full-length solo albums as well as 2 EPs with her acoustic folk duo, Max Caddy.

Listen to all Corina Corina’s music on Spotify