Founder/Executive Director

Through YCC, Pooja leads a team of 27 to provide the relationships, resources, and resilience youth need to advance their climate leadership and initiatives for the long term. She co-created Jaali, an AI-based social media for changemakers to connect with each other, opportunities, and resources to advance social impact and report impact more easily. She is also a Co-Founder of the Entertainment + Culture Pavilion, which advances culture-based climate solutions and policy, and is a public speaker, advisor, and mentor, fueled by stubborn optimism and relentless hope for improved livelihoods and a healthier planet.

Director, Marketing/Communications

Bon is a Vietnamese student studying in New York. With a background in public relations, marketing, and content creation, Bon focuses on storytelling, community engagement, and user-centered campaigns. Their work bridges creative communication and social impact, with a growing interest in product-driven strategies and making initiatives more accessible to diverse audiences.

Director, UK Hub

Tanya is a climate justice advocate working at the intersection of climate change, mental health and community design. In addition to leading YCC’s UK Hub, she is the Project and Content Manager at Earth Minutes, a creative impact studio where she is applying her storytelling skills to encourage localised civic action in London and beyond. Through the BeVisioneers Fellowship, she is exploring the intersection of craft, culture and sustainability in South Asia and strongly believes in the power of art and creativity in empowering both community and individual action.

Director, India Hub

Heeta is the Founder & Director of The ClimAct Initiative (India) and a climate educator who has spent the past decade supporting youth leadership in global climate decision-making. With a Master’s from TERI University, Heeta has worked within UNFCCC spaces since COP21 (2015), served as YOUNGO Global Focal Point (2020 & 2021), and co-founded the Youth Negotiators Academy.

Director, USA Hub

Mark is a fierce leader at the intersection of ocean, climate, and sustainable fashion. He has spent years building and mobilizing communities of young ocean advocates on issues like deep-sea mining. A veteran at UNFCCC SBs and COPs and now the US Hub Lead for YCC, he looks forward to supporting a community of young Americans in their advocacy for ambitious climate justice.

Director, Kenya Hub

Yvonne is an Environmental Science and Community Development student at Kenyatta University and an award-winning student environmental advocate. She focuses on climate action, waste management, and the intersection of sustainability with youth leadership and community development. Through her work, she leads initiatives that connect climate advocacy with wellness and grassroots innovation while collaborating with organizations to advance sustainable and inclusive solutions.

Strategic Advisor

Pradnya has over 25 years of development and management experience in myriad U.S. and international settings. She is the founder of Strategy.Creativity.Mentorship, a fundraising consultancy that reflects her professional philosophy and commitment to advancing the philanthropic sector. Through this practice, she partners with nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and healthcare organizations to assess readiness, design sustainable strategies, and secure transformational support. Her expertise is demonstrated in the more than $300 million she has raised to advance research, capital projects, endowments, operations, and programmatic initiatives.

Software and AI Developer, Jaali

Samay is a web and mobile app developer specializing in AI and machine learning systems, currently serving as Lead Software and AI Developer at Jaali by YCC.

Programs Assistant, Jaali & Intergenerationals

Zahan is a climate and sustainability programme specialist with a purpose to disrupt the relationships between business, community, and the environment to build more equitable and sustainable systems. He is a creative, confident and keen learner with skills at the intersection of corporate sustainability strategy, partnership, community engagement, behaviour change and climate storytelling.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Mayumi is an environmental justice researcher working on the intersection of environmental protection, land rights, and justice. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge and is passionate about working with communities through participatory action research and inclusive methodologies to co-create and design projects which will benefit them, their knowledge systems, and their ecosystems. She is especially interested in pathways for ecosystem restoration through the epistemologies and actions of environmental defenders, and on issues of gender equity and climate governance, forest communities, and social inclusion. She is currently an early career scientist with the FAO-World Food Forum and a member of UN Women Asia 30 for 2030.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Hugo is a sustainable urban professional with an engagement edge, with many experiences working across local government, design consultancy and youth advocates. He analyses complex urban and climate problems, and translates ideas into people-oriented, place-sensitive solutions.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Cinthya is a climate policy and governance specialist with experience working at the intersection of NDCs, forest governance, climate finance, and intergenerational equity. From environmental law to climate diplomacy, she has shaped climate policies from multiple angles — advising Peru's Ministry of Environment on climate policy design, leading forest governance research at FAO, and supporting equitable carbon markets work at UNDP. As part of Young Peruvians Against Climate Change (JPCC), she helped push for intergenerational equity in national policy and build pathways for young people into climate governance. Now holding an MPP from LSE, she brings her experience to YCC to support policy research and help build bridges between young changemakers and the institutions that shape our climate future.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Emma Somos is a DPhil candidate in Sociology at the University of Oxford, where her research focuses on elites and climate change. She has contributed to climate policy work as a COP29 delegate with the UK Youth Climate Coalition. Emma has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme's Independent Evaluation Office and has published and presented her research on elite climate engagement at academic conferences. She is supporting research on global and national policy frameworks in YCC's Intergenerationals Team.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Jess is a programme manager and facilitator, currently working with The Young Green Briton Challenge, a UK wide education project that encourages secondary school students to develop creative entrepreneurial solutions for their schools and wider communities. Her professional and educational background is across the creative and sustainability sectors, focusing on youth engagement and supporting young people to lead action for their future.

Intergenerationals Research Team

Seruni Salsabila is a climate governance practitioner and youth leader working from grassroots organising to global policy. She is Co-Founder of CoC ASEAN, a youth-led community advancing waste management, climate education, and economic empowerment for women waste workers and children, with collective impact reaching 900+ youth and 50+ children and students. She is part of Global Youth Coalition (GYC) Champs specializing in clean energy transition track, and part of Oxford Net Zero's global youth research cohort in 2025, focuses on embedding equity into net zero corporate landscapes in. She currently serves as Co-Chair of the UNIDO Youth Advisory Group (2026–2028) and at Youth Climate Collaborative, is mapping youth engagement and governance programs across UNFCCC processes.

Climate Courage Program Coordinator

Fariha is a final year Geography student at UCL with a focus on climate justice, and youth engagement. She enjoys supporting programmes that centre wellbeing and resilience within climate action, and has previously worked as a Campaign Coordinator at SOS UK, delivering peer-led climate initiatives and facilitating discussions on complex climate issues with students.

Media Projects Assistant

Debisha combines nine years of experience in the development sector with a unique blend of technical and social expertise, specializing in bridging the gap between rigorous program logic, business strategy, and sustainable impact. With dual degrees in Social Work and Business, she leads techno-managerial and policy evaluations across the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and Green Building sectors, and has managed projects in India, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and the UAE. She has served as a strategic advisor to national governments, managing multi-million dollar budgets, and securing high-stakes grants for major multilaterals such as the ADB, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Communications Lead, UK Hub

Abhilasha is a passionate sustainability advocate dedicated to transforming the built environment. With a background in architecture, she believes buildings should not only be visually compelling but also environmentally responsible a mindset that fuels her commitment to making sustainable living a reality. As a Sustainability Consultant at Buro Happold, she develops meaningful sustainability strategies and specialises in international certification systems for new build developments.

Community Lead, UK Hub

Maggie is a climate justice advocate, leading financial strategy and organizational stewardship. As a grassroots collaborator with Kentish Town Vegbox and the YCC, she is dedicated to using climate adaptation as a tool for public engagement—redesigning systems to foster community, local environmental wonder, and a just transition for the everyday Briton. With a background in hard science and fiscal strategy, they challenge the current landscape where charitable organizations must complete for limited resources to ensure nature is an accessible, public good.

Events Lead, UK Hub

Juhie is a data analyst and climate advocate, supporting YCC as their events facilitator. Having worked with a range of organisations Juhie hopes to engage with different audiences, expand YCC's network and bring people together around climate action.

Communications Lead, Kenya Hub

Sharon is a youth leader, climate advocate, and impact storyteller with a focus on environmental justice and community-driven solutions. As part of the YCC leadership team, she champions youth participation, awareness campaigns, and creative advocacy to accelerate climate action.

Community Lead, Kenya Hub

Laureen holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Management from Pwani University, and currently serves on the Finance and Budget Committee of the Tourism Professional Association. She volunteers with the SDG 7 Constituency and Africa for SDGs to accelerate the localization and implementation of the SDGs, and is the Africa Marketing and Outreach Coordinator at Care About Climate.

Growth and Partnerships Lead, Kenya Hub

Innocent is a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Fellow and an Earth Charter Young Leader. He helps institutions in the commissioning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and verification of their climate governance, climate justice, and environmental sustainability projects.

Newsletter Lead

Natalia has experience working on humanities-based projects and writing has become one of her most valuable skills. She currently works on The Pulse, YCC’s newsletter, and every week finds ways to make it a more engaging and captivating read.

Impact Report Lead

Maddy is currently working on YCC’s Five-Year Impact Report! She is a junior in high school working towards her business career path.

Volunteer

Sara Bouillon is a community planner in upstate New York, leading economic development strategy and comprehensive planning for local municipalities and communities. She has worked in environmental research and environmental justice since 2011, with expertise in sustainable community development, GIS-based equity analysis, ESG, and climate-focused planning across urban, rural, and wetland contexts. She has supported Time For Better, a climate communications nonprofit, while helping local municipalities secure Climate Smart Communities funding through New York State.