Wawa Gatheru is a Kenyan-American climate activist passionate about bringing empathetic and accessible climate communication to the mainstream.

Harnessing her academic background as a Rhodes Scholar and her work as a youth climate activist, Wawa’s life goal is to help create a climate movement made in the image of all of us.

In 2019, Wawa was named the first Black person in history to receive the prestigious Rhodes, Truman and Udall scholarships for her environmental scholarship and activism.

She is the founder of Black Girl Environmentalist, a national organization dedicated to empowering Black girls, women and non-binary people across the climate sector. She is an inaugural member of the National Environmental Youth Advisory Council of the US EPA, the first federal youth-led advisory board in the US History. She is also a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with The OpEd Project, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

Wawa sits on boards and advisory councils for EarthJustice, Climate Power, the Environmental Media Association, the National Parks Conservation Association, Good Energy, and Sound Future.

For her work in collaboration with other organizers and activists, Wawa has been recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, a 776 Fellow, a Young Changemaker at the 2023 Green Carpet Fashion Awards, Young Futurist by The Root, a Grist 50 FIXER, a Glamour College Woman of the Year,, and named a Climate Creator to Watch by Pique Action and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She most recently joined Billie Eilish and 7 other climate activists on the January 2023 VOGUE cover.

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