Professional Experience:
I am an international development and environmental protection leader with more than 20 years of experience across Latin America, Africa and the United States. My experience covers the full spectrum of grant-making and execution—from leading regional teams on the ground to designing, vetting, and managing the philanthropic investments that make the work possible.
As Director of Virunga Fund (2012–2018), I led the US nonprofit supporting Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest national park, in an active conflict zone in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. I grew its annual budget from about $250,000 to more than $20 million and steered over $80 million from public, philanthropic and private funders to environmental protection, economic development and peace-building programs serving 4 million people. I secured blended-finance and program-related investment (PRI) support from major private foundations and built the compliance, audit and risk systems that kept funders committed through financial and security crises.
At Rainforest Foundation US (2019–2026), I held three senior roles. As Director of Strategic Impact, I coordinated vetting, deployment, compliance and impact tracking for a $3 million COVID-19 emergency grant facility across nine Amazon basin countries, working with COICA and national Indigenous organizations. As Acting Director of the Western Amazon Program, based in Lima, I directed a $2.9 million program with 12 direct reports, managing budgets, partner grants, work plans and donor reporting with Indigenous partners including AIDESEP and ORAU. I guided the legal advocacy and communications strategy in Peru's landmark Saweto case, in which the killers of four Ashéninka leaders received 28-year sentences, upheld on appeal. As Director of External Relations and Partnerships, I built relationships with institutional and family donors, government agencies and civil society, and worked with the Executive Director to grow philanthropic revenue from $3.5 million to $9 million.
I work closely with Indigenous organizations in the Amazon and Congo basins, including COICA, AMPB, REPALEAC and GATC, on land rights, free, prior and informed consent, and access to climate finance such as the Green Climate Fund and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility. I have spoken and moderated panels at UNFCCC and CBD COPs and have attended the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues every year since 2020.
In 2026 I founded Blue Planet Contact, which advises philanthropic funders on partner identification, vetting and landscape mapping, and helps Indigenous-led organizations, environmental defenders and journalists at risk in Latin America connect with aligned funders.
Earlier, I founded The Charcoal Project and co-created the Harvest Fuel Initiative with MIT D-Lab, investing more than $1 million in clean-energy entrepreneurs in East Africa. I consulted for the World Bank's Africa Energy Program and directed communications for The Nature Conservancy in New York. I began my career as a journalist and documentary producer for ABC News, PBS Frontline and National Geographic.
I am fluent in English, French and Spanish, and hold an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.