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Natalie Rivas
CSN 2018 Graduate
Natalie Rivas
Natalie’s first experience with CLEO was at a Climate Change 101 lecture that Caroline Lewis gave at The Cushman School in 2017. She studied environmental science in undergrad and did relevant work abroad, inspiring her to want to do more. After the workshop, she talked to Caroline and looked into the CLEO Speakers Network. Once she was certified, she volunteered at various events, such as the Annual Gala and the Empowering Capable Climate Change Communicators symposium, and eventually was asked to help mentor speakers in the network. When the Program Manager position at CLEO became available, she jumped at the opportunity and the rest is history. CLEO is all about providing leadership and engagement opportunities to the community and that is exactly what happened with Natalie. Now, her job is to make sure everyone in our community can be a leader, too.
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Fernando Migliassi
CSN 2019 Graduate
Fernando Migliassi
Fernando’s first presentation was to a group of 40 business people at the Venture Cafe. Part of the success and feedback that he received from his presentation was that he wove in several ideas around the psychology of climate change as well as a variety of action steps that people can take—from “Gateway Actions” to local steps, to more advanced topics such as advocating for HR 763.
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Ellen Siegel
CSN 2018 Graduate
Ellen Siegel
Ellen retired in 2018 after a successful 38-year career as a Certified Financial Planner practitioner. With 25 years of National Park Service as a volunteer Everglades interpretive ranger, Ellen also holds the UF/IFAS Master Naturalist certificate. Following her training, Ellen taught three multi-week sessions of Climate Conversations through the University of Miami’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. This established a precedent for climate education at the university. She also conducted a three-hour program at Temple Beth Or for temple and community members, including Ron Magill and Daniella Levine Cava. Ellen intends to continue her climate change education efforts and collaborations in Gainesville.
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Dr. Jorge Alberto Ortiz
CSN 2019 Graduate
Dr. Jorge Alberto Ortiz
Dr. Ortiz works with the Global Oncology Medical Team at Bayer Pharma. After attending numerous CLEO lectures, he was inspired to become a CLEO Climate Speaker. He joined in June 2019 and provided a Climate 101 training for his Global Oncology Medical Team at Bayer’s HQ in New Jersey. Attendees noted that the biggest takeaway from the presentation was the urgency within the climate crisis as most of the attendees did not realize the extent and depth of climate impacts.
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Matthew Ayala
CSN 2018 Graduate
Matthew Ayala
Matt is a native South Floridian, scuba diver, avid hunter, and outdoorsman. He has always had an appreciation and respect for the environment. Matt was invited to speak to graduating students at his alma mater, the University of Central Florida’s College of Business. He delivered an informed presentation about the business opportunities of eco-conscious practices.
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Mikey Adams
CSN 2013 Graduate
Mikey Adams
Mikey was invited to present a climate training to 6th-8th graders at the Metropolitan International School in Wynwood. His presentation covered the basics of the greenhouse effects and what gases contribute to it, how those gases are correlated with our temperature, main emitters, temperature rise affecting sea level, and what all that means for us in Miami. Using Greta Thunberg as a role model, he let students know how to take action and get involved.
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Lisa Merkle & Fernando Migliassi
CSN 2019 Graduates
Lisa Merkle & Fernando Migliassi
During SDL’s annual Executive Leadership Summit Commercializing Change in Agtech 2019, Lisa Merkle and Fernando Migliassi partnered together to facilitate a breakout session covering solutions for the climate crisis from Project Drawdown that focus on food, agriculture, and biochar. Lisa Merkle is the proud co-founder of Box Greens, bringing “Hydroponic Box Farms” into urban areas of South Florida for fresh farm to table greens. Fernando is a local entrepreneur with a wide range of experience, working on how to improve climate education through technology.
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Matias Nieto
GenCLEO CSN 2019 Graduate
Matias Nieto
Matias is a part of our GenCLEO youth advocacy group. On October 10, 2019, he, along with a group of GenCLEO leaders, spoke at the City of Miami Commission Meeting about the urgency of climate change. The commissioners voted unanimously to pass a climate emergency resolution.
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Mary Dorsett
CSN 2019 Graduate
Mary Dorsett
Miriam (Mary) Dorsett is an artist and a life-loving aficionado. Before starting her own company, she worked in the field of youth development. As graduate of the CLEO Speakers Network, she enjoys sharing her knowledge through her talk “How to Do, What You Want to do, Every. Day.” which was inspired by her own entrepreneurial story. Using the power of her voice, she hopes to educate and empower youth on how they can become leaders of not only the climate crisis solution but of their own lives, speaking recently at the Pembroke Pines Charter Girl Up chapter.
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Elizabeth Joseph
CSN 2019 Graduate
Elizabeth Joseph
Elizabeth Joseph, ARNP, MPH is a Nurse Educator at a local hospital. On January 11, 2020 she participated in the 5th Annual Community Health & Wellness Fair “Healthy People Healthy Planet” to lead a discussion on the effects of climate change and health. She elaborated how the climate crisis has affected health through a range of pathways, such as increased frequency and intensity of heat waves leading to heat strokes. Furthermore, she addressed how the climate crisis has an effect on air pollution, emphasizing how these threat multipliers affect vulnerable societies globally.
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Fred Pollack
CSN Graduate 2019
Fred Pollack
Fred’s work experience before retiring included directing the planning for Intel’s future microprocessors, eventually becoming an Intel Fellow. Fred lives in Miami Beach and became concerned with the street flooding, so he decided to dive deep into peer-reviewed scientific literature. He became a certified CLEO Climate Speaker in 2019 and went on to lead a “Lunch and Learn” for Fiduciary Trust International, a financial firm (division of Franklin Templeton) that manages investments for high-net-worth clients, at their Coral Gables office.