Wawa Gatheru is a Kenyan-American climate activist passionate about cultivating a climate movement that is made in the image of all of us. In 2019, Wawa made history as the first Black person in history to receive the Rhodes, Truman, and Udall scholarships. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Science in Environmental Governance from the University of Oxford.She is the founder and Executive Director of Black Girl Environmentalist, the only national organization dedicated to addressing the pipeline and pathway issue for Black girls, women, and gender expansive individuals in the climate sector. Under her leadership, BGE has grown as a trusted, national organization that has worked with 80 corporate and non-profit partners and hosted 120+ events across 12 HUB cities. In the summer of 2024, BGE launched the Hazel M. Johnson Fellowship Program - the first climate pipeline program created for and by GenZ of color. With a membership of over 2,000, Forbes has called Black Girl Environmentalist “one of the largest Black youth-led organizations in the country”. Outside of her role at BGE, Wawa sits on boards and advisory councils for the Environmental Media Association, Climate Power, Brian Eno’s Earth / Percent, Sound Future, National Parks Conservation Association, and EarthJustice. Wawa is also an inaugural member of the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council of the US EPA - the first federal youth-led advisory council in US history. In her role, Wawa advises Administrator Reagan on how to increase the effectiveness of the EPA’s efforts to address a range of environmental issues impacting youth. For her work, Wawa has been recognized as a Glamour College Woman of the Year, a L’Oreal Paris Woman of Worth, a Climate Creator to Watch by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and has been named to several notable lists - including Forbes 30 under 30, the Independent’s Climate 100, Ebony Power 100, Grist 50 Fixers, and AFROTECH Future 50 - and is an established public speaker who has presented at Harvard University, The Washington Post Summit, and the New York Times Climate Forward. She has also been featured in NPR, The Weather Channel, NBC, Black Enterprise, and more. She was most recently featured on the January 2023 digital cover of Vogue alongside Billie Eilish and 7 other climate activists.