Climate Hero Shares Her Story

By Matilda Peck

Anna Oliva at the June 2024 launch of Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area, a climate solutions short documentary series.

"My climate story matters and can impact other young professionals beginning their careers,” said SEI Climate Corps alumni Anna Oliva. A year after concluding her Climate Corps Fellowship, Oliva is one of seven Bay Area climate heroes featured in Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area, a climate solutions short documentary series presented by Project Drawdown. 

A recent graduate of the University of Oregon, Oliva launched her career in SEI’s Climate Corps program as the 2022-2023 Zero Waste - Business and Community Outreach Fellow at the City of San Rafael. "My Climate Corps Fellowship gave me the opportunity to work on a broad range of sustainability projects and programs and helped me find my niche in the climate field," Oliva said. "The program also helped me establish a strong network of Climate Corps Fellows, alumni, and sustainability professionals. I appreciated the transparency and willingness from others in discussing their careers and work, which was really helpful when thinking about my own path. As an alumni, I am happy to talk with anyone who reaches out, to pass on any support that I can."

Oliva playing "rock-paper-scissors" with Fellows in her cohort during a regional meet-up in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, February 2023.

After finishing her Fellowship, Oliva accepted a position at the Sonoma County Transportation Authority - Regional Climate Protection Authority (SCTA-RCPA) as a BayREN Program Specialist and Local Government Liaison. Her commitment to making positive change in local government is something she credits this to her experience at the City of San Rafael. “I learned the importance of community involvement in designing and achieving climate action at the local level," Anna said, "These values are something that I will carry with me throughout my career.” 

Oliva shares her full climate story in Drawdown’s Neighborhood: San Francisco Bay Area, which will premiere in late August 2024. “It was such an honor to be included in the series,” she said, “and it was an important opportunity to elevate the work being done at the local government level to achieve climate action.”
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Learn more about the Project Drawdown series and watch the sneak peak.​​