Community-based Partner Committee

Paulina works with the National Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC’s) Southern California Ecosystems Project, which focuses on oil and gas policy and advocacy, increasing equitable access to nature for low-income communities of color, and protecting open space and wildlife habitat across Southern California. Prior to joining NRDC, she was a community lawyer at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment, where she worked alongside frontline communities in Kern County on pesticides and oil and gas issues. Paulina received her BA from Cal State Fullerton and her JD from the UC’s Hastings College of the Law. She is based in NRDC's Santa Monica office.

Sarah is originally from Connecticut and grew up hiking with her family in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Her love of nature played no small part in choosing to go to college in Maine. She started her career working in nonprofit development in New York City, and then transitioned to elementary education, teaching fourth and fifth grades for three years in Brooklyn. She left the big city and came to Sacramento for an organic farming apprenticeship at Soil Born Farms. After two years of immersion in sustainable agriculture, she found a satisfying bridge between her passions working for two years as Soil Born Farms' Education Coordinator. She came to Sierra Nevada Journeys in 2015 and served for six years as Sacramento Program Director. She now serves as Education Director, overseeing the Reno and Sacramento Classrooms Unleashed and Family STEM Night programs. When she’s not at work, she can be found running on the American River Parkway or exploring it with her husband, stepkids, and son.

Sarah has a BA in Environmental Studies and Spanish from Bates College and an MS in Teaching in Childhood Education from Pace University.

Sarah-Mae is Academic Coordinator for UC’s California Naturalist Program, Climate Stewards Initiative — a statewide, climate education and stewardship certification designed to foster community and ecosystem resilience in the face of climate impacts. She is an educator, science communicator, and climate change communication specialist who draws on her background and interest in interpretation in informal science education centers. Sarah-Mae has a MS degree in Climate Science and Policy from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and, for her degree, created an interdisciplinary undergraduate Climate Change Studies Minor for UC San Diego. She also holds a BS in Marine Biology from UC Santa Cruz and was recognized by President Obama in 2015 as a Champion of Change in Climate Education and Literacy.

Stephanie was born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles, where she witnessed the effects of systemic racism in her community. However, it wasn’t until she attended UC San Diego that she enrolled in cross Ethnic and Gender studies classes. There she gained the language and intersectional framework to understand the depth of what she and her community were experiencing– from environmental racism, unsafe housing conditions, worker exploitation, and low-quality education. Through her lived experiences and academic knowledge, she began to see the interconnectedness of systemic oppression with the various issues BIPOC communities navigate. Stephanie is currently the Western US Regional Coordinator for The Climate Initiative, where she brings her knowledge and lived experiences to the space with the goal of reaching urban BIPOC youth and communities to take space in the climate movement through their powerful and diverse voices because they are at the forefront of climate change and must be at the forefront of the solutions.

Sydney Cheung (she/they) is OCEJ's Youth and Education Director. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and studied Environmental Science and Policy at Chapman University. She has a background in community organizing in Los Angeles and is passionate about working with youth in the climate justice movement. Her vision and goal is to politicize and empower youth to start organizing in their communities on environmental or social justice issues!

As Energy Equity Manager, Tyler works with teams of policy advocates, community organizers, and storytellers to shut down polluting gas-fired power plants in frontline communities while expanding the development and access of renewable energy.

Motivated by his experience of growing up with energy insecurity, Tyler is a mission-driven leader dedicated to the advancement of energy justice. He is a proud queer person of color and son of immigrants. Before joining CEJA, Tyler developed and delivered project-based sustainability curricula that educated tens of thousands of students across California. He also supported the recruitment and training of hundreds of fellows who lead climate action projects throughout the state.

Originally from the Inland Empire, Tyler is a first-generation college graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in Earth System Science from UC Irvine and his master’s degree in Climate Science and Policy from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. In his free time, Tyler enjoys practicing yoga, sunbathing at the beach, and trying new foods.

Lilly Lopez is a recent graduate from UCLA with a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies and a minor in Conservation Biology. Since then has worked as a naturalist for the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, where she has helped implement educational outreach programs and helped manage their two nature centers. In addition, she has also collaborated in various community-based research projects and internships that have focused on the ecological composition of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and surrounding areas.

Lilly’s passion for environmental justice and climate change has led her to inspire individuals to be active members of environmental movements within their own communities. Some of her favorite hobbies include backpacking, camping, and running throughout the South Bay!