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) was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, where she saw the power of frontline communities in action firsthand. As the incoming Deputy Director at UPROSE, Kat brings a proven track record of local and national advocacy. She previously directed the Social Justice Innovation Awards at the Centri Tech Foundation, supporting technology-driven justice initiatives. At Libraries Without Borders, she led expansions in digital inclusion and health literacy, including deploying pop-up libraries that aided post-disaster recovery in Puerto Rico. Kat's work also includes significant policy contributions in early childhood and higher education with the National Head Start Association and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, an MA from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and an LLM from the Transitional Justice Institute. Outside of work, Kat loves to teach yoga, try the next big baking challenge, and to develop elaborate backstories for her gray tabby, Mr. Meyers.

Ngoc-Tran (she/her) is a 1.5-generation Vietnamese-American multimedia artist and organizer whose socially engaged practice draws from her experience as a cultural strategist, educator, and lightworker. Her work evokes discourse of familial ties, memories, and rituals amongst themes of social justice and intersectionality.

Previously, Tran worked at Silkroad to support performing musicians through social impact and AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) to advocate for freelance producers in mission-driven storytelling. Most recently, she taught in Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Tran works across borders and is based in Boston's Dorchester community. www.tranvuarts.com | @TranVuArts

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.

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.

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.

Sebastian (he/him) is a third-generation New Yorker of Ecuadorean, Cuban, and Dominican descent. Growing up in Astoria, he learned first-hand about the importance of energy generation, accessible transportation, and working class employment that structure the built and natural environments he lives in. In the last two years, he supported successful efforts to stop NRG Energy's construction of a fracked gas power plant in Astoria and pass the Build Public Renewables Act, a landmark state law advancing clean energy and environmental justice. He recently graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, with a focus on urban environments, and is looking forward to working on green industrialization, offshore wind development, and community planning in Sunset Park. In his free time, he loves to bike, hike, skate, and walk in and around New York City.

Sylvia (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, sociologist, and educator born and raised between Bogotá and the eastern plains of Colombia. Her work explores social and environmental justice issues, memory, and the diverse of the Latina culture.

With over 5 years of professional experience, Sylvia seeks community-based ways to move from concern to action, exploring an affirmative approach to more-than-human and human rights. She loves building bridges with/across disciplines, traditional knowledge, and communities through Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology and Transformative Art Media.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Before becoming an environmental justice activist, AJ spent five years as a public school science teacher in Brooklyn, and helped to found a public high school in one of the most disenfranchised, polluted, and over-policed neighborhoods in New York City. Though he faced the injustices of toxins, housing insecurity, and systemic racism throughout his own youth, it was his time as a teacher watching the Black and Latinx students under his care confront these same daily injustices that inspired his passion for building an environmental movement rooted in justice and lived experiences. He is committed to using his skills as an educator to fight for his community’s future. AJ has been working and partnering with UPROSE since first joining the family in 2018. He has organized coalitions to pass New York’s trailblazing climate justice legislation, helped plan and execute the 2019 Climate Justice Youth Summit, led workshops on climate justice and political action, and for three years during law school led the UPROSE partnership with Yale Law’s environmental protection clinic. He is also an author of the recent Routledge environmental justice history textbook and a visiting professor at the Pratt Institute.

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.

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.

Allahji (he/him), born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, is a rising freshman of Caribbean and African descent at Tufts University. A passionate music enthusiast, he seeks to critically analyze societal issues through journalism and the content creation of artists. He is also interested in digital film, environmental studies, and computer science, aspiring to positively impact his communities using his STEM skills. In his free time, he enjoys writing opinion pieces, documenting the world, and playing chess.

Leonidas “Leon” Fu (he/she) is a bigender cartoonist, illustrator and artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He is very passionate in transportation justice and is making it her mission into learning the scientific aspects of climate justice.

Amelie, She/Her, was born and raised in South Jamaica Queens New York, and now lives in Bay Ridge Brooklyn. She has Afro-Caribbean heritage; Half Haitian, and half African-American. Amelie is a rising Junior at the Berkeley Carroll School, where she spends most of her time indulging in her studies, basketball, volleyball, art, and dancing. When she is not indulging in these activities she is engaging collaboratively with the community through attending/leading affinity groups at school, community engagement, volunteering, protests, or marches.

Steven Espinoza (He/Him), a Sunset Park native of Ecuadorian descent, graduated from CUNY Hunter College in 2024 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Public Policy. Raised with a deep sense of compassion and community service instilled by his mother, Steven channels these values into his professional work. His background includes serving as a community advocate for immigrant Latino-based communities in areas like Sunset Park, where he led workshops, conducted outreach, and provided valuable services. Outside of work, Steven is passionate about politics and enjoys spending time with friends, family, and volunteering.