Our People

Elizabeth (she/ella) is an internationally recognized Puerto Rican attorney of African and Indigenous ancestry and environmental/climate justice leader who is the executive director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's oldest Puerto Rican community-based organization. She is also the Co-Chair of a national alliance called Climate Justice Alliance and the co-founder of #OurPowerPRnyc.

Her award-winning vision for an inter-generational, multi-cultural and community-led organization is the driving force behind UPROSE. She is a long-time advocate and trailblazer for community organizing around just, sustainable development, environmental justice, and community-led climate adaptation and community resiliency in Sunset Park. In addition to that, she was recognized in 2015 by Vogue as a Climate Warrior and one of the 13 women on the frontline fighting against Climate Change.

Ms. Yeampierre has been a featured speaker at local, national and international forums including Sage Paris 2015, 2016 GRI Amsterdam, White House Forum on Environmental Justice, Yale, Harvard, Cooper Union, Columbia, and universities, colleges, and conferences all over the country and spoke at the opening climate rally for Pope Francis at the National Mall, The Battle for Paradise at Cooper Union with Naomi Klein. Her work is featured in several books, in addition, being featured in Latina Magazine, VOGUE, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Grist, American Prospect, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Democracy Now, The Intercept, and a variety of media outlets throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe.

In 2014, Ms. Yeampierre was part of the leadership of the People’s Climate March Mobilization – a march of over 400,000 people across New York City. She played a major role in ensuring the frontline was made up of young people of color, and successfully proposed the adoption of the Jemez principles for democratic organizing, which have since become the roadmap to building just relationships in the climate justice movement.

Elizabeth was recently featured in the NY Times as a visionary paving the path to Climate Justice. In 2018, she was awarded Frederick Douglass Abolitionist Award FD200, She recently was named by Apolitical as Climate 100: The World’s Most Influential People in Climate Policy, and spoken at Oxford University, and the Ethos Conference in Brazil.

Kat Trujillo (she/her) grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where she saw firsthand how environmental injustices often fall hardest on underserved communities—and how grassroots organizing can shift power back into their hands. These early experiences drive her work as Deputy Director at UPROSE, where she supports a variety of community-driven initiatives. Prior to UPROSE, Kat led the Social Justice Innovation Awards, which recognize entrepreneurs leveraging technology for good. At Libraries Without Borders, she helped launch pop-up libraries and learning centers in laundromats and other nontraditional spaces. Earlier in her career, she advocated for early childhood and higher education at the National Head Start Association and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Kat holds a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an LLM from the Transitional Justice Institute. Off the clock, she enjoys teaching yoga, diving into ambitious baking projects, and creating elaborate backstories for her gray tabby, Mr. Meyers.

John (he/him) has worked for 27 years in the field of urban community development serving low income, primarily Latino, communities of color in Brooklyn and the South Bronx in New York City, and then again in the smaller cites of the northern Boston metro area in Massachusetts. Over the course of these 27 years has served as an organizer, project director, teacher, policy advocate, and in several senior and frontline management roles. In the organizations he has served he has worked for environmental and climate justice, community revitalization, economic development, and education reform while also helping young people to experience transformation and grow in leadership. Early in his career, he was one of the founding faculty at the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in 1993 and trained students in organizing and community development. Later, he served as Project Director of the Bronx River Waterfront Access Project, a federally funded waterfront planning project that sparked new community parks, environmental cleanup, and restoration along NYC’s only freshwater river. He played an active role in the passage of New York State’s Brownfield Law which enacted the Brownfields Opportunity Areas (BOA) program, an environmental justice-inspired revitalization planning initiative. Most recently, he was the Project Director of the Central American Youth Initiative at Roca, Inc., based in Chelsea Massachusetts, engaging schools, law enforcement, and immigration court to reduce gang involvement and violence and build peace, among Central American young men through transformative interventions. John embraces the root values of these organizations including justice (social, racial, environmental, and climate) and self-determination. John participated in the founding of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance in the early 1990s and served on the Board of Directors for many years.

Esperanza (she/ella) is a Sunset Park native of Mexican descent. She holds a B.A. from CUNY Baruch College where she studied Natural Science and Environmental Science. She is passionate about Environmental Justice and her community. She loves reading, listening to music and spending time with her family.

Annecia Steiniger (she/her) is a native New Yorker who grew up on Staten Island’s North Shore. She graduated from The Evergreen State College in Washington State in 2020 and then came back home to work to get effective, progressive leaders into office. Most recently she worked on issue based campaigns, promoting investment in clean energy and fossil fuel divestment. She enjoys building bridges of understanding and facilitating connections that build resilient community ties. She has a puppy named Thor, loves the beach, and is always down for a hike to a swimming hole!

Shelby Luster (she/her) is a recent graduate of Scripps College with a degree in Environmental Analysis with a concentration in Sustainability and the Built Environment and a minor in Data Science. Growing up in Los Angeles, in a community impacted by environmental issues such as wildfires, air pollution, and urban heat, made her passionate about environmental justice and urban design and their relationship to frontline communities like her own. Much of her background is in environmental research, having conducted fieldwork and laboratory studies on soil microbiomes and antibiotic-resistant bacteria at Brooklyn College and the University of California, Berkeley, which gave her a deeper understanding of the inner workings of environmental systems and their relationship to local communities. Shelby has always highly valued and heavily participated in community organizing spaces surrounding the environment, labor, and prison abolition and sees them as a crucial and interconnected aspect of her environmental work. In her free time, she enjoys playing her electric and bass guitar, crocheting, roller skating, and spending time in nature.

Nebraska (he/him/él) is a Puerto Rican environmentalist and political ecologist. He is a recent graduate from the Pennsylvania State University where he obtained both his B.S. and M.S. in Geography. He is passionate about environmental justice, writing two theses on the topic, and served on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board. As part of his work, Nebraska leverages GIS and critical cartographic methods to create maps that analyze the disproportionate impacts of environmental pollutants on environmental justice communities. In his free time, he enjoys reading, spending time with friends, listening to music, and making maps.

Ahmad Perez is a Brentwood, New York native and was one of the youngest White House Appointees in the Biden-Harris Administration, formerly serving as the Special Advisor for Implementation and Climate Justice at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 

Ahmad is a proud community advocate whose work centers on environmental justice and elevating the voices of marginalized groups. Ahmad was recently named Young Gifted & Green’s 40 Under 40 by BlackMillenials4Flint and has worked on advancing environmental justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Javier Bautista (he/him/el) is a third generation Puero Rican activist from Brooklyn by way of Fort Greene and Sunset Park. Over the years he has testified, helped organize rallies, protests, marches and community actions, and has represented UPROSE all over the United States in various capacities, including the first People's Climate Justice March. He has spent time in tech, curated art shows, produced Afro-Caribbean showcases, and organized events to highlight local artists and musicians. In addition to the events he will be producing for UPROSE, he will also bring his recent yoga training experience to the space on the weekends for 60 min vinyasa flows--the first in an ongoing wellness program that UPROSE is collaborating with Javier on. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, as well as a degree from the Atlantic Acting Conservatory. In his free time, he enjoys all things Knicks, Kid Cudi and pop culture podcasts.

Osvaldo Garcia (he/him) is an urban planner and environmental justice advocate. As a proud South Bronx native and CUNY Baruch College alumnus, his drive to create more sustainable cities stems from his firsthand experience with environmental injustice. His expertise lies at the intersection of environmental justice, social justice, and urban planning, focusing on ethical intersectional policy in climate innovation. At Baruch, he advocated for a Black and Latine Studies major, implemented climate justice education, lobbied for CUNY funding, and contributed to the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan to close student equity gaps. As a Public Policy and International Affairs Scholar, he specialized in urban planning and sustainability policy. Post-graduation, he promoted social entrepreneurship and climate education as an EDICT fellow and worked on clean energy and transportation initiatives as a NYC Urban Fellow. Osvaldo aims to leverage his lived experiences and professional expertise to create a more sustainable and equitable New York City. In his free time, he enjoys the beach, weightlifting, reading, spending time with loved ones and learning volleyball.

Daniel Torres (he/him) is a recent graduate of New York University with a degree in Computer Engineering, originally from New Jersey. During his time at NYU, Daniel focused on creating software that empowers communities to care for their environment and combat pollution. Daniel is deeply passionate about climate justice. He brings a technical lens to the climate movement, using his skills to amplify the voices of communities and build digital tools that support environmental advocacy and help those most impacted by environmental injustice.

Annette (she/ella) is a Boricua born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where she was a youth leader involved in community action and social justice. She brings over 30 years of experience to UPROSE working with Community Based Organizations and in city government, where she held leadership positions in several agencies. She has been an advocate for marginalized people in the areas of education, social justice, and housing. She believes that it is critical for our youth to maintain their language, customs and culture. She feels that she is a strong Boricua woman because of this even though her parents were told not to speak Spanish at home.

During hurricane Sandy she worked with public housing residents and experienced the inequities of poor neighborhoods and the lack of resources available to these communities. She has spoken at local, national and international conferences advocating and representing women of color in the United State and the complexities that it entails. Annette has served on several Boards including El Puente and National Congress of Neighborhood Women and has received recognition from Tenant associations, school boards associations and El Diario La Prensa among others. Her passion is to learn and share her knowledge and mentor young people of color. She is excited to join the UPROSE family and the fight for climate justice for all.

Nyiesha Mallett (she/her) is a 23-year-old artist and arts educator for the DOE who embarked on her journey as an organizer at UPROSE in 2015, diving into community engagement at the age of fourteen. She is a recent graduate of the Cooper Union School of Art, Class of 2023. With roots tied to Grenada through her mother, Nyiesha intimately understands the profound impacts of climate change on Caribbean countries, particularly those of color. Her passion for social, political, and environmental justice is deeply ingrained, finding expression not only through her voice but also through her artistic practice. Nyiesha is passionate about empowering communities through inclusive engagement, leading workshops and forums that position resident voices at the forefront of climate action discussions. Her work has significantly influenced environmental policy changes, strengthened community solidarity, and inspired her team with her commitment and innovative approaches. Nyiesha has also been named a 2021 Grist 50 Fixer as well as a Yale Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis. Additionally, Nyiesha dedicates her time to volunteering with the Venceremos Brigade, a grassroots anti-imperialist organization committed to ending the U.S.-imposed economic blockade and travel ban.

Angela (she/her) is a Hakka and Toisan environmental justice advocate. She is pursuing an M.S. in Sustainability in the Urban Environment at The City College of New York, where her work emphasizes data analytics through a social justice lens. She spent a lot of time in Sunset Park growing up, which instilled in her a deep commitment to community wellbeing and place-based justice. Recently, Angela contributed to research on the environmental impacts of e-commerce trucks in Hunts Point as part of the Last Mile Coalition's efforts to regulate last-mile trucking facilities. As the CUNY Climate Justice Fellow at UPROSE, she’s using geospatial analysis to address localized inequities. In her free time, Angela enjoys immersing herself in fantasy and science fiction novels, playing board games, solving crossword puzzles, and making art with friends.