Michelle Li is giving women in climate a joyful community
Michelle is pushing the climate movement forward from all sides.
Michelle Li is one of the rare overseas interviewees I got to experience in person when she was in Taipei earlier this month. Based in New York but a self-described digital nomad, she was in town to hold an exclusive dinner event with local women in the climate industry before heading out to Singapore and Hong Kong.
Michelle is pushing the climate movement forward from all sides. When she’s not helping professionals understand and act on their carbon footprints via her startup Clever Carbon, she’s putting the word out by speaking at TedX, SXSW, COP27, along with numerous climate forums throughout the world.
She’s also taking that advocacy a step forward by running Women and Climate, a community for female entrepreneurs and professionals looking for a pathway into the climate space.
We got into both sides of the coin.
I’d like to know more about how a tech worker pulling down six figures evolves into the leader of a carbon footprint startup and a climate advocacy platform in the space of just a few years.
“I have to admit, I was pretty spoiled working for tech companies like Salesforce and DocuSign. Not only was I earning a salary and commission, I had access to world class training to help further my skill set, I was eligible for perks like Presidents Club, and I also had a team of incredible coworkers that became my personal friends. Leaving the tech world was not easy, and the truth is, I wasn’t intending to. Clever Carbon was a project that I had started on the side. I worked on it on weeknights and weekends and that was perfectly fine for me, especially since the project was born during Covid and I had time on my hands.
As my time at my former company had come to an end I was looking for new job opportunities in tech, I spent more time on Clever Carbon and ended up working on it full time.
The best thing was getting to marry my skills from the tech world with my passion for climate action and carbon literacy and being able to exercise full freedom in creativity. Three years ago, a concept like Clever Carbon was pretty new and weird, but today, I think the world is ready for it!”
Clever Carbon is a really cool business model. And the visual design of the platform is amazing. How does it work and who are some clients that are using it?
“There are two main ways we work with clients today. The first is a one hour workshop, virtual or in-person, on everything carbon footprint. The goal is to help employees learn about the basics of carbon footprint and give them a strong foundation for actionable insights for their personal and professional role. The unique part about the workshop is that it is really fun, engaging, extremely relatable, and gets people thinking. Corporations hire me for workshops and I have a wide range of clients. Some of them include the NBA (National Basketball Association), adm Group, Equitable, Targray, PaloIT, Dataiku, and more.”
“The goal is to help employees learn about the basics of carbon footprint and give them a strong foundation for actionable insights for their personal and professional role. The unique part about the workshop is that it is really fun, engaging, extremely relatable, and gets people thinking.”
In terms of your advocacy work, what led you to form Women and Climate, and how is it going so far?
“Women and Climate was inspired by my transition from tech to climate. I wanted to activate the many incredible women I worked with in the past, many of whom enjoy volunteering with corporate opportunities. I also wanted to help pave a smoother transition into climate, as my personal experience was pretty intimidating and lonely. One of our main focuses of Women and Climate is creating a joyful space for women.
As Women and Climate grew, we attracted many women climate entrepreneurs and climate professionals who were looking for a community. I was very inspired by the work they do and saw a huge opportunity to have more of these women on stage at international events, sharing their solutions and thought leadership. The Women and Climate Speaker Database was created to be a key resource for event organizers to include diverse thought leadership in event programming. We launched in April and already have over 400+ speakers!”
When you’re not punching holes in climate change, where would we find you and what would you be doing?
“I love being in nature and exploring the natural beauty of our planet. My work brings me to many different corners of the world and I also have my hiking gear ready to go and make time to see nature wherever I am. I’m also a huge #Netflix junkie and love shows that help me learn about pop culture and I have a secret soft spot for period pieces like Game of Thrones or Wheel of Time. I think it’s because there’s more nature in those shows!”
Do you have anything else going on that you’d like to let us know about?
“I’m working on a new project called the Carbon Newbie Summit that will be taking place during NYC Climate Week this year in September. The summit is aimed at helping more people learn about climate and giving them knowledge and tools to take climate action. Going back to my days as a tech worker, I would have loved to have an event like this for myself and so I thought, why not start it? Together with our partners The Carbon Almanac and CarbonBetter, the event will cover three topics - what is carbon footprint, how does it show up in my personal life, and how does it show up in my professional life. It’s an experiment, but I think the timing is right!”
You can connect with Michelle on her LinkedIn as well as via the Clever Carbon and Women and Climate websites.
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