Welcome Pooja! #ClimateCareer Winner

    By Emily Ferrick

Last month we announced the winner of our #ClimateCareer contest, Pooja Tilvawala, and THIS week she joins the TCI Team! Pooja has some amazing plans laid out for the next year (which she will share a sneak peak of in another blog post, coming soon!) but for now we wanted to share some more background on Pooja so we all can get to know a little bit more about our winning candidate.

Pooja graduated from American University in 2018 with a BS in Economics and a BA in International Studies, focusing on justice, ethics, and human rights. In 2016-2017, she studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science, taking classes in environmental economics and public policy. While in the UK she became a National Women’s Kabaddi Champion (yes, we had to Google it too)! How cool is that?!

As a blogger fellow with the United Nations Foundation, Pooja attended the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit & the 2019 UN Youth Climate Action Summit. It was there that she was able to connect with other youth who share the same passion for climate action! Most recently, Pooja worked as a Project Associate for the Meridian Institute in Washington, DC, where she was involved in collaborative problem-solving on an array of environmental issues, with stakeholders from around the world.

This summer, Pooja volunteered with Rolling Harvest Food Rescue and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) of Bucks County to organize a food distribution for those in need in her hometown during COVID-19. Oh, and did we mention she speaks 4 languages?! We love Pooja’s energy and willingness to dive into diverse experiences to make a difference.

We are thrilled to welcome Pooja to the TCI team, and we hope you join us in congratulating and welcoming her! One notable leader in the climate change space has already shared her congratulations, check out the video below!

Lastly, we want to thank all of the Climate Career applicants who submitted thoughtful, inspiring climate change plans. We received over 200 of these amazing applications, and we have much hope for the future of our planet knowing how many creative young minds are out there. From all of us at TCI, thank you! Welcome Pooja!