Who We Are
Acknowledging Our Privilege
As a project of Climate Nexus, the Water Hub benefits from a system that invests disproportionately in white-led and wealthy national nonprofits. Since the Water Hub was created to add communications capacity to the water field, we must first acknowledge the inequality that currently exists in the space.
Groups closest to water challenges often have the fewest resources to frame the conversation. As a result, water narratives tend to center the views of an affluent minority. We will use our position to lift up historically marginalized voices, and support the leadership of frontline groups so they can create change on their terms.
The Water Hub works across the United States, a region that encompasses the unceded territories of hundreds of Native American nations that steward the lands and waters to this day, despite decades of genocide, displacement, and erasure.
Team
Jessica Jewell
READ MORE >: Jessica JewellJessica Jewell is the Water Hub’s Digital Director bringing her experience to support water justice through story, partnerships, and multiplatform strategies.
José Aranda
READ MORE >: José ArandaJosé Aranda is a water and communications professional working toward protecting Mother Earth and cultivating a deeper relationship with Water.*
Nicole Lampe
READ MORE >: Nicole LampeNicole has worked in cause communications for over fifteen years. For most of that time, she has focused on protecting environmental and public health.
Sarah Bucci
READ MORE >: Sarah BucciSarah is a communications strategist with more than a decade of experience advancing conservation, climate, and clean water solutions.
Zakiyaa Taylor
READ MORE >: Zakiyaa TaylorZakiyaa Taylor is a digital strategist with a background in horticultural science and 7+ years of experience in community organizing and cause communications.
Our Values
We are co-creative and collectivist
We work in solidarity with the communities most impacted by water challenges. We stand beside — and often behind — our partners in co-powering the water solutions they need and want.
We prioritize relationships
We prioritize projects that build understanding and empathy, and work to forge connections across campaigns and coalitions.
We engage hearts and heads
We know that decisions are driven by both feelings and facts. We work with partner organizations to integrate earned media, digital and cultural strategies that speak to deeply held values.
We take time to listen and reflect
In order to reform our water system, we must first understand its history. We are committed to deep listening and ongoing learning. We welcome feedback and don’t shy away from tough conversations.
We move at the speed of trust
We balance the urgency of the issues and speed of the news cycle with the need to build trust. We take the time to meet people where they are — both physically and philosophically.
We challenge industry norms
Working with communities is more important than counting news clips. We focus on ethical rather than extractive storytelling, and respect lived experience and traditional ecological knowledge.
Advisory Group
The Water Hub Advisory Group is intended to guide the Hub’s work, ensuring an inclusive and equitable approach, informing strategy, connecting Hub staff to prospective partners and supporting accountability.
Members include:
- Arohi Sharma, Deputy Director, Regenerative Agriculture, Nature Program at Natural Resources Defense Council
- Jade Begay, Climate Justice Campaign Director at NDN Collective; White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Member
- Sinjin Eberle, Communications Director/Executive Producer at American Rivers
- Sri Vedachalam, Director, Water Equity and Climate Resilience, Environmental Consulting & Technology, Inc. (ECT)
- Teal Lehto, Content Creator and Water Activist
We are still working to grow the Advisory Group to be representative of the communities we hope to serve, and welcome expressions of interest or nominations.
The Advisory Group does not have fiduciary responsibility for the Water Hub, which is a program of Climate Nexus, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.