A former secondary science teacher and the 2015 EcoRise Teacher of the Year, Abby Randall is passionate about inspiring teachers and students to ignite a new generation of green leaders. Abby was born in London, England, raised in Hingham, Massachusetts, and spent the last decade in Austin, Texas, teaching and designing curriculum for a wide variety of K-12 science courses and alternative education programs. Abby holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Trinity College and an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

In her current position as Deputy Director, Abby oversees the implementation of a wide variety of leading-edge educational resources including sustainability and design curriculum, a workforce development program focused on green building education, teacher professional development, and a K-12 grant program that brings students' green innovations to life. Abby also leads EcoRise's Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives and is responsible for leveraging and streamlining technology to efficiently scale EcoRise's innovative programs to thousands of educators across the globe. In 2018 Abby was selected as an ee360 Fellow for the North American Association for Environmental Educators. In her free time, she enjoys tending her vegetable garden and backyard chickens, swimming in Barton Springs, hiking, camping, and traveling the world to visit friends and family.

Alexia Leclercq is an environmental justice organizer and is passionate about bridging education and action together to create meaningful change. They have previously worked at PODER where they conducted research on environmental racism, displacement, and climate health; engaged in city politics; pushed for climate legislation; and ran the Young Scholars for Justice Program. They are also the co-founder of Start:Empowerment, an environmental and social justice education project.

Alexia graduated Summa Cum Laude from NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Studies, where they designed a major, titled 'The Politics and Economics of Inequality,' which combined the traditional fields of politics, environmental studies, and economics in order to understand the lasting effects of colonialism and capitalism.

At EcoRise they apply an in-depth understanding of sustainability, climate and environmental justice, blended-learning strategies, and technology to create compelling instructional materials for K–12 students. During their free time, Alexia enjoys helping out and riding horses at their local therapeutic riding center, painting, and spending time with friends and family.

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Amaryllis is a passionate environmentalist who enjoys serving the community that has significantly shaped her development. She is a vocal champion of environmental conservation and strongly believes that through innovation we are capable of providing society with transformative results. As a native, she has watched the city change dramatically throughout her life and has remained committed to contributing to the unique values that have made Austin such a special place to live. Naturally resilient and enthusiastic, Amaryllis welcomes change and proactively seeks new challenges. She is thrilled to be a part of the EcoRise family.

Amaryllis received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Texas State University in 2012. She began her career at Birds, a locally owned and operated barbershop, then transitioned quickly into a fast-paced position at Whole Foods Market. The experience provided her the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge regarding efficient and effective operations—something she has grown quite passionate about.

Working as an early childhood teacher-trainer, Asomgyee Pamoja has been inspiring, guiding, and mentoring current and the next generation of early childhood educators for the past 20 years. Born and raised in London, England he settled in Connecticut where his career in education began as a co-creator of an early childhood after-school program for “at-risk” boys. This experience defined his purpose, to become a teacher.

Asomgyee holds a Batchelors of Art in Economics and a Masters in Early Childhood Education & Violence Prevention from Eastern Connecticut State University. Guided by this purpose over the years, he had an eclectic journey of service leadership within public schools and non-profit programs from teaching economics, calculus and English to high school students in Botswana, Africa to teaching adult learners at the collegiate-level in Connecticut; Syracuse, NY; and in Houston, TX.

In his current role as Texas Program Manager, Asomgyee provides professional development and support to K–12 teachers and provides support to students applying for Eco-Audit grants. In his spare time, Asomgyee is an avid cyclist, adventurer, and gardener. His service to the community involves sitting on the education advisory boards of the Children’s Museum of Houston and the Rice University Center for Sexuality, Gender and Women’s Studies.

Brittany Jayroe has worked in education for over 6 years. She stumbled into the field by happy accident and found a home in helping young people establish their own footing in the world. She's honed her knowledge and teaching skills through leading instructional teams in project-based learning, leading school departments in sustainability and social justice-minded curriculum development and implementation, coaching Master's candidates on capstone portfolios, consulting on homeschooling education, and facilitating 21st Century Skills seminars to young people preparing to enter the workforce.

Brittany is a graduate of Texas State University with a BA in Mass Communication and a graduate of Relay Graduate School of Education with an MA in Teaching. She has taught middle and high school humanities in large charter networks, tiny start-ups, and schools dedicated entirely to sustainability. Most recently, she served as one of 7 founding members of Rooted School in New Orleans. Brittany's efforts helped earn Rooted School the 2018 LAPCS Innovative Education Award and become New Orleans' highest performing new start-up school in the city's history. Joining EcoRise, Brittany is excited to bring her passion for sustainability and social justice education to a new generation of green leaders.

Celine Rendon is passionate about sustainability education and racial equity. Prior to joining EcoRise, Celine was the Community Engagement Specialist with the Office of Sustainability, supporting the development and community involvement of Austin’s 2021 Climate Equity Plan. During her years as an undergrad, she worked and volunteered with PODER focusing on environmental, economic, health, and cultural impacts of land use and community development. Celine was the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Fellow for the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability during the summer of 2018, working towards the development of an equitable community resilience plan. While studying abroad in Botswana, she learned about the complexity of climate change, ecosystems, and human dynamics through field work, data collection, and field lessons with local stakeholders. Celine co-founded and led the Environmental Justice Collective at UT, the first initiative to incorporate environmental justice and equity into the Campus Environmental Center, a UT-sponsored organization. Celine has a BS in Environmental Science and a Bridging Disciplines certificate in Public Policy from the University of Texas at Austin.

In her current role at EcoRise, Celine is supporting Gen:Thrive’s mission to utilize GIS mapping and data visualization to build coalitions at the local, state and national level and identify strategies for effectively serving marginalized communities. In her spare time, Celine enjoys film photography, gardening, and DIY projects.

Elizabeth Stephens is a compassionate and creative educator with ten years of experience in Texas public schools (Brownsville ISD, Austin ISD, Austin Achieve Public Schools, and Manor ISD) as a teacher, instructional coach, administrator, and district-level coordinator. She has authored and edited curriculum resources for EcoRise and other non-profits including the ACLU of Texas and Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Mexico City. She worked for the education design lab 2Revolutions on school design initiatives for the Aspen Institute and DC Public Schools.

As EcoRise Program Manager for Central Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Elizabeth provides support and training to K-12 teachers. Elizabeth holds a vision of equity and sustainability for all and believes that transformation begins in a moment of shared discovery. She is passionate about creating opportunities that spark transformation for teachers and students. Elizabeth holds a BA in English and Political Science from Rice University and an MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.

Gina LaMotte is a social entrepreneur who is most passionate about unlocking the power and potential of youths as bold leaders and innovators. Gina founded EcoRise in 2008, bringing the topics of sustainability, social entrepreneurship, biomimicry, design thinking, and green building into hundreds of classrooms around the world.

Leading up to EcoRise, Gina spent 10 years working with innovative educational programs serving youth in Brazil, India, Nepal, and Guatemala, as well as in Harlem, New York, and Taos, New Mexico. In 2004, Gina moved to Austin, Texas, and pioneered a robust summer and afterschool program at a Title One middle school. She also built and led a youth cultural exchange program to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and served as a facilitator and counselor at the Global Youth Peace Summit. While in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, Gina studied sustainable development and social entrepreneurship and earned a certificate in Nonprofit Studies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Gina practices systems-thinking and human-centered design, and she recently completed the School of System Change program at the Forum for the Future. She currently serves on the SXSW Edu Advisory Board and is a former co-chair of Austin ISD's Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee. Gina has presented extensively at local, regional, and national conferences on the topics of green schools, design thinking, and sustainability education.

Helen Toledo was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She holds degrees from SUNY University at Buffalo with a BS in Environmental Geosciences and from SUNY Buffalo State with a MS in Great Lakes Environmental Science. Helen has taught high school science and social studies and have facilitated
professional development for teachers; as well as instructed CTLE certified courses for teachers who wish to
integrate GIS into their lessons and assisted with curriculum development.

In her spare time, Helen serves on the board of the Buffalo Women of Environmental Learning and Leadership (BWELL); a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage women to explore the natural
environment, promote sustainability, and develop leadership skills through environmental stewardship
and community engagement. Joining EcoRise, she is excited to bring GIS education to the classroom and have the opportunity to educate and inspire the next generation of leaders.

For 29 years, Jenji has served within the field of education in a number of ways including instructional design and writing/editing, program management, professional development, and thought leadership. During the first 10 years of her career, Jenji worked in-house at the internationally known educational publisher Holt, Rinehart & Winston (HRW)/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH). There she led the development of one of the first environmental science textbooks designed specifically for high school students, which helped influence the widespread creation of Environmental Science courses in schools across the country and beyond. Jenji also contributed heavily to middle school science programs and a high school health series for HRW/HMH. Jenji left HMH to gain broader experience working on a range of educational topics spanning kindergarten to adult for clients that included HMH,
other publishers, corporations, and nonprofits. Throughout her career, Jenji has helped develop a number of influential and award-winning instructional materials, including environmental science field guides and virtual laboratories, critical thinking and habits of mind skill development resources, and online curricula for K–12 Science and Literature and college-level World History, Humanities, Web Design, Management, and Criminal Justice Ethics programs.

Jenji holds bachelor’s degrees in English and Philosophy from Southern Methodist University, a Master of Education in Educational Technology degree and E-Learning Certification from the University of Texas, and the LEED Green Associate credential. Since joining EcoRise in 2014, Jenji has overseen the development of curricular projects on sustainability, entrepreneurship, green building, biomimicry, design thinking, electric vehicle technology, water footprints, and environmental justice. Jenji is also using her attention to detail and writing aptitude to assist with other vital EcoRise needs, including program evaluation, reporting, and institutional giving. In her spare time, Jenji enjoys
gardening, writing, yoga, and spending time with her family and two border collies.

Jonathan Stott is an experienced leader with a passion for building community and driving impact. He believes that a nonprofit organization can further its mission through a values-based organizational culture that fosters staff autonomy, mastery, and purpose. He has led organizations through periods of rapid growth and change and improved performance measures and outcomes.

Jon has seven years of prior experience in education reform, focused on closing the achievement gap and increasing experiential learning opportunities for all students. As the founding Dean of Students at Codman Academy Charter Public School, Jon co-designed a tutoring program that increased student growth percentiles on state assessments, resulting in Codman posting the highest combined median student growth profile of any district in the state. In 2010, Jon became an independent project management consultant working with a range of educators and private and public sector leaders in support of innovative school design projects. In 2011, he helped successfully launch two schools, one of which was the first public dual-language high school in Boston. In 2012, he moved to Austin, Texas, and joined Idea Public Schools as a founding member of their Campus Leadership Team. At Idea, Jon helped ensure a successful launch for one of the first in-district charters in Austin, resulting in strong academic and operational performance.

Jon recently completed his Executive Masters in Nonprofit Leadership at the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Jon graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Studies. In his spare time, Jon enjoys cooking, backyard gardening, and exploring Austin by bike.

As a founding member of EcoRise, Kizzy has played various roles for the organization since its inception. She has over 15 years of youth development experience as an impassioned sustainability educator and youth facilitator. Fueled by her natural orientation toward supporting youths to discover their unique potential in shaping our future, she employs an inquiry-based approach that effectively engages participation, draws out collective knowledge, inspires creative problem-solving, and creates spaces for authentic and meaningful connections across differences. Her diverse experience in education spans classrooms and communities in Nigeria, Brazil, Jamaica, Hawaii, and Austin and includes: classroom teaching, group facilitation, program development, curriculum development, youth facilitator training, and leadership and professional development.

Kizzy has been an avid member of the nonprofit world since she finished college. She is also a founding member of the Amala Foundation and was its first Youth Program Director. In this position, she created and directed a groundbreaking program, the Global Youth Peace Summit, which unites immigrant, refugee, international, and local teenagers for a week dedicated to personal growth, cultural exchange,
leadership development, and community building. She held this position for five years before she helped launch EcoRise.

Kristi Hibler-Luton has more than 14 years of experience in public education. She has served as a science teacher, department chair, and instructional coach. Kristi is passionate about supporting teachers through curricula, resources, and organization. She has written science curricula and has integrated technology and outdoor learning into learning materials. She has supported new teachers in her work as a Content Seminar Leader for Texas Teaching Fellows and as an instructional coach for the New Teacher Project and the University of Texas UTeach program. She has also supported in-service master teachers as the Director of National Board Certification for Teach for America in Texas.

Kristi is a National Board Certified Teacher with a master’s degree in Educational Leadership. As the Program Director for EcoRise, Kristi continues to make curricula and resources easily accessible to educators in the state of Texas. She also leads the EcoRise PBL Academy, where she supports teachers, campuses, and districts in implementing authentic, engaging real-world learning through the lens of sustainability. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening with her kids in her NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat, camping, and hiking.

Passionate about finding ways to intertwine the practical with the creative, Laura is EcoRise's Communiations & Design Manager. Laura has always been a jill of many trades. Before finding EcoRise, she worked in theatre production, costume technology, and digital design while earning a Bachelor's of Business Administration degree in Digital Media Management with a minor in Communications and Advertising from St. Edward's University.

During undergrad, Laura co-founded a student TV station at St. Edward's, fostering a supportive community where students from a variety of backgrounds and with a range of interests could work together and tell their stories, fictional and non-fictional, through a tangible medium.

Laura is now telling EcoRise's story through the lenses of educators and students across the U.S. She is enthusiastic about continuing to elevate the EcoRise brand through design and storytelling and about growing her collection of personal talents through her work with EcoRise students, teachers, and partners.

San Antonio native Sharon Huerta began her career five years ago in the Environmental sector and has conducted domestic and international field-work. She spent two years working with the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars program, conducting Ecology research across California. Her work has taken her to Belize, where she used community-based research to look at the impact of increased marine debris on Hopkins Village. While in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, she studied conservation efforts on San Cristobal island and its impact on the community. Some of her passions include community outreach, group facilitation, mapping and conservation. She aims to be a board member on the Texas Board of Education in the future. Sharon has dedicated her life to Environmental Justice and hopes to continue creating sustainable pathways for BIPOC folks to enter and thrive in the Environmental Sector.

Sharon holds a Bachelors of Arts from Beloit College where she majored in Environmental Studies and minored in Education and Youth studies. Sharon is currently working with EcoRise as their Education Specialist, her main role is working with the Mayor’s Youth Engagement Council for Climate as a facilitator and curriculum creator.

Sharon enjoys being outdoors, attending concerts, creating trip itineraries in her spare time, discovering new music, and spending time with her family and friends.

Zakhia is a geologist and a LEED Green Associate and brings with her more than a decade of experience teaching science and sustainability at both the high school and collegiate levels. She found her passion for ensuring sustainability and environmental education was inclusive of students of color while teaching science in the NYC schools in Far Rockaway. In addition, she has developed curriculum and implemented STEM programs for several New York area organizations such as the RISE, Henry Street Settlement, and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Before entering the educational arena, Zakhia spent several years working in the environmental consulting industry where she was responsible for public water supply well construction and water quality monitoring. Zakhia holds a BA in Geology from George Washington University and an MS in Geology from Bowling Green State University.

In her current role, Zakhia provides professional development to K-12 teachers participating in the Sustainable Intelligence Program in the New York, New Jersey and Boston areas and support in applying for student-driven Eco-Audit Grants. Zakhia likes to spend her spare time enjoying the beach and giving back to her hometown community of Wyandanch, LI.