WCS Talks Unplugged

When Isabelle Bart was figuring out her next career move, she called someone in her nonprofit network to ask for ideas. That conversation led to a job building an impact accelerator in Orange County. On WCS Talks Unplugged, host Caroline Tiglao asks Isabelle how she recognized it was time for a change. Years earlier, colleagues had noticed her entrepreneurial streak. But she was raising two young...

What determines whether a promising clean technology makes it into the world? The answer often starts with policy. In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Sara Fuentes welcomes Kate Ringness, former Senior Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, for a conversation about the rules, incentives, and relationships that shape cleantech markets. Kate traces her path from investment banking law to...

How do we turn a commitment to sustainability into lasting change in our workplaces, our communities, and the people we support? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Farah Saeed welcomes Lael Giebel , Director, Global Sustainability & Culture at KnowBe4 , Author of Sustainability Is for Everyone and Ancient Wisdom, Modern Sustainability: Lessons from Our Ancestors for a Greener Future...

What would you do with more time and energy? How can you shape AI to support that vision? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, Caroline Tiglao , WCS Marketing Co-Chair and Co-Founder and CMO of NEUUF , welcomes Kathryn Snyder , PCC, CPCC, CEO and Founder of Attune, and Nicki Mollet , M.Ed. ×2, ICF Member, Partner and COO of Attune , for a conversation about AI, human flourishing, and reclaiming...

Breaking into sustainability can feel daunting—especially when traditional job-search strategies no longer seem to work. In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, Lisa Saxe of Green Career Shift explores why landing meaningful work in sustainability often requires more than submitting applications. It requires a shift in mindset, greater awareness of the skills you already bring, and a willingness t...

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is already being used at major airports, but it still makes up a small share of aviation fuel. What will it take to produce enough of it to make a meaningful difference? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Farah Saeed speaks with Alyssa I. Norris , Director of Sustainability at Aether Fuels , about the technology and decisions shaping SAF’s future. Alyssa e...

What does it take to build a business that creates not only workspace, but belonging, resilience, and meaningful connection? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, Sara Fuentes sits down with Rebecca Pan , founder of Trellis Workspace and Earthscale Ventures, for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, reinvention, and building through uncertainty. Rebecca shares how her experience working...

What does it take to step confidently into leadership, especially when you don’t see many people like yourself in the room? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Sara Fuentes speaks with Abby Hopper , founder and board member of GEM Advisory and former President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), about her unexpected path into energy, learning to lead without having...

What opens doors in a career? For Lauren Flanagan, it starts with staying curious, showing up for your community, and building relationships rooted in trust. In this episode, Lauren Flanagan , Co-Founder and CEO of Sesame Solar , sits down with host Farah Saeed, WCS Board Secretary and Industry Director at Frost & Sullivan. They discuss how women can establish themselves and advance in the cle...

What if creating meaningful change looks less like a sprint and more like an ultramarathon? Savitha Sridharan began her career designing computer chips, but eventually found herself asking a bigger question: How could technology be used not only to solve technical problems, but also to improve people’s lives? That question led her to found Orora Global , a clean-energy social enterprise working wi...

Massive influxes of sargassum are washing ashore across the Caribbean and beyond, creating far more than an unsightly nuisance. As the seaweed decomposes, it releases toxic gases that threaten human health, damage infrastructure, disrupt tourism, and place additional pressure on island communities. In this episode, host Marieke McArthur speaks with Kristi Shaw , founder and CEO of Mermaid Energy ,...

What if changing the takeout container could help change the entire system around it? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged , host Trish Pinella speaks with Alison Cove , Founder and CEO of USEFULL , about building a technology-enabled, plastic-free alternative to disposable takeout packaging. The idea began when Alison found herself ordering takeout throughout her workday while the resulting was...

Building a company is one challenge. Continuing to grow, adapt, and remain relevant for more than two decades is another. In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, WCS Board Secretary Farah Saeed speaks with Juliet Shavit , President and CEO of SmartMark Communications , about her unexpected path into the energy industry and the persistence it has taken to build a lasting business in a rapidly chang...

What if growing food could also grow trust, connection, and community power? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged , host Marieke McArthur speaks with Quandra Gray, founder of What the Sprout, about her journey from architecture to urban agriculture and her vision for a community-led food system rooted in accessibility, education, and collective action. Quandra shares how an idea she carried for...

What begins as a conversation between two college friends can sometimes grow into a solution with global potential. Diva Shah and Aarya Borele met as freshmen at UC Berkeley, but the idea for Evardi Energy emerged during a study-abroad program in Portugal. After a phone call about a blackout in Kenya sparked a conversation about similar experiences in India, they realized they shared both a person...

What happens when a longtime dream leads you back to the field you once left behind? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged , host Sara Fuentes speaks with Caroline Tiglao, Co-Founder and CMO of NEUUF , about her unconventional path from structural engineering to global customer experience leadership and ultimately back to technology as a clean mobility founder. Caroline shares how NEUUF is develo...

What does it really take to build a climate tech company while raising a family, navigating fundraising, assembling a team, and learning to lead through uncertainty? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged , host Darlene Barrientos Crane speaks with Dr. Nili Persits , founder and CEO of Dottir Labs , about the realities behind the founder journey and why there is no magic formula for making it all...

This special episode of WCS Talks Unplugged is shared as part of a content exchange with Earthlings 2.0 , hosted by WCS Founder Lisa Ann Pinkerton . The original episode can be found here: #156: Ammonia: The Compound That Could Power a Cleaner Planet with Ammobia In this conversation, Lisa Ann sits down with Karen Baert , Co-Founder and CEO of Ammobia , a Stanford-born climate technology startup r...

In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Anandi Yadav sits down with Sara Fuentes , Chairwoman of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability and Founder of Smart Waste , for an honest conversation about purpose, leadership, waste, and what it really takes to build a company. Sara shares how her early work in education, her Chicana upbringing, and her deep commitment to service shaped the way she se...

In this special recap episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, WCS Chairwoman Sara Fuentes, Farah Saeed, and Trish Pinnella. reflect on an extraordinary 10-day journey through San Francisco Climate Week 2026. The week was defined by movement-building, deep connection, innovation, and the growing power of community. From Oracle Park’s official kickoff with over 450 climate leaders to hikes through the Golde...

What if something as simple as a small solar light could change a child’s future? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Trish Pinnella speaks with Nicole Watson, founder of the Iconic Earth Foundation, about how access to clean light is transforming education, safety, and opportunity for students living in off-grid communities. Through her program Watts On – Lighting Students’ Lives, Nicole...

What if the future of technology wasn’t just about faster systems, smarter algorithms, or bigger data but about supporting life itself? In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Sara Fuentes, Chairwoman of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability and founder of SmartWaste, speaks with Jessica Groopman, founder of the Regenerative Technology Project. Together they explore how emerging technologies...

In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Farah Saeed sits down with Susannah Hill, co-founder of Cloud Sustainability Watch, to explore an emerging challenge in climate innovation: the environmental footprint of our rapidly expanding digital world. As climate solutions increasingly rely on AI, cloud computing, and large-scale data infrastructure, an important question arises: What is the envir...

In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Sara Fuentes, Chairwoman of Women in Cleantech and Sustainability and Founder of Smart Waste, sits down with longtime WCS ally and sustainability leader Michael Kobori. Michael has spent decades shaping corporate sustainability at some of the world’s most recognized companies, including Levi Strauss & Co. and Starbucks, where he served as the compan...

In this episode of WCS Talks Unplugged, host Sadia Raveendran sits down with Veronica Barner, product executive at GE Vernova, to explore an important question facing many professionals today: Are women really less ambitious? Or, are our systems failing to recognize ambition when it doesn’t fit traditional expectations? Sparked by recent conversations around the Women in the Workplace report and t...