Wawa Gatheru is the Founder and Executive Director of Black Girl Environmentalist, a youth-led
nonprofit organization working to empower the next generation of Black women and gender expansive
climate leaders.
Upon learning about the severity of the climate crisis at age 15, Wawa made the decision to dedicate her
life to climate justice. After nearly a decade in the climate space, she could not help but notice that while
Black girls and women experience the brunt of environmental injustice, they were amongst the least
resourced or platformed in the climate movement. Wawa soon founded Black Girl Environmentalist, a
national organization with the mission to address the pathway and retention issue in the climate sector for
women of color.
Now with over 2,000+ members and 14 chapters across the US, Black Girl Environmentalist has been
recognized by Forbes as one of the largest Black-youth-led organizations in the country. In the last year,
Black Girl Environmentalist has redistributed over $100,000 to young Black women professionals to
alleviate barriers to green internships, academic programs, and conferences.
A Rhodes Scholar, Wawa has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, a Climate Creator to
Watch by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is an inaugural member of the National
Environmental Youth Advisory Council of the US EPA, the first federal youth-led advisory board in US
History.
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