Global Youth Leadership Council Representatives
Selma Bichbich
Selma is currently studying Political Science at École Nationale Supérieure de Sciences Politiques in Hydra, Algeria. She has been a representative to the United Nations and a YOUNGO delegate, a Major Group for Youth and Children-UNMGCY delegate for the UNEP, a COP26 Youth4Climate delegate, and a Unite2030 Youth4SDG delegate. She has been a speaker for the UN Conference of Youth, the Council for Green Revolution, and the UN ECOSOC Forum.
Selma was honored for her work by receiving Activist of the Year from African Rising.
Em: selma.bichbich@earthuprising.org
Selma Bichbich, 21
from Bougaa, Algeria
Nozinhle Gumede
Nozinhle is a leading African climate activist and organizer, who attended Masiyephambili College in Morningside, Bulawayo. There, she studied business, geography and economics.
Prior to being elected to the Global Youth Leadership Council, Nozinhle founded Earth Uprising Zimbabwe, which introduced climate education into the local school system and engaged the community in habitat restoration. Nozinhle’s work with Earth Uprising grew and she developed strategic partnerships for climate action work throughout Africa.
Em: nozinhle.gumede@earthuprising.org
Nozinhle Gumede, 20
from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Maria Serra Olivella
Maria is a student at Blanquerna – Universitat Ramon Llull pursuing a degree in International Relations. She is the co-founder of Fridays for Future Barcelona, and has organized with ReEarth.org, Societat Nova Geográfica and Oxfam Intermón. She is an experienced media spokesperson having appeared on Time Out Barcelona, El Periodico, El Nacional, FAQ TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio. Maria attended COP25 as a Spanish Youth Delegate.
Em: maria.serra@earthuprising.org
Maria Serra Olivella, 19
from Barcelona, Spain
Augusta Senenssie
Augusta has moved on from Earth Uprising to pursue her own initiatives in other projects, including climate justice project she founded called Walinda Lingo. If you wish to connect with her, you can checkout Walinda Lingo’s website or check out their instagram @walindalingo!
Augusta is an ethnographic researcher and policy consultant working with indigenous, displaced and rural communities across Most Affected Peoples and Areas (MAPAs). She has partnered with the UK Department for International Development, The Zambian Ministry for Youth, UN agencies & several government agencies across West Africa. She is the Founder and Head of Research at Walinda Lingo, an ethnographic research consultancy looking to disrupt the way marginalized realities are researched and included in global displacement, environmental and human rights policy. She served as a Youth Advisor for Plan International UK, the US Embassy in London, HDMT a global genocide prevention charity & was a Global Ambassador for World Sustainable Development. She previously completed an Indigenous research fellowship at the University of Sydney & spent some years at University College London.
Augusta Senenssie, 24
from London, UK
Razan Ahmed
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, both one of the most polluted cities in the world and one of the most vulnerable to climate change, Razan understood the gravity of these two crises from a young age. In Islamabad, Razan was at the forefront of the climate movement, organizing demonstrations and being part of press conferences in the city.
He has worked with UNICEF, OneMillionOfUs, Friday4FuturePK, Extinction Rebellion Global, and more. He worked with World Saving Hustle, a Norwegian non-profit, as a researcher and environmental writer. With Clim-8, the first climate NGO of Pakistan, he worked on climate and environmental education, co-authoring and advocating a proposal to include the two in the national school curriculum.
Razan also co-founded the Islamabad Society for Animal Rehabilitation in Islamabad, the first shelter and rescue center for street animals of his city.
Now, he is working on his undergraduate degree in the US in Environmental Science, minoring in Climate Change and International Relations.
Em: razan.ahmed@earthuprising.org
Razan Ahmed, 19
from Islamabad, Pakistan
Hania Imran
Hania graduated from The City School, Islamabad. She was previously a columnist for the award-winning monthly Pakistan journal on the environment, Subh-e-Nau. Hania is also an accomplished speaker and has addressed Bahria University, USAID, UNICEF , the Pakistan Science Foundation and she was a featured speaker for Earth Uprising’s 2021 Earth Conference “Youth Speaks”. She has also been called the ‘Greta Thunberg of Pakistan’ by the previous Minister of Climate Change. For her activism, she is founder of Youth Climate Activists Pakistan (YCAPK) and a Global Climate Strike organizer, she’s been featured on Radio Pakistan, BBC Urdu and China Radio, and she was selected as the child representative for the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children.
Em: hania.imran@earthuprising.org
Hania Imran, 18
from Islamabad, Pakistan
Evelyn Bigini
Evelyn Bigini (she/her) is a Registered Nurse and climate justice advocate. Her work focuses on collaborating with children, families, and educators to improve community-based environmental health. Evelyn is passionate about the intersections between climate justice, migration rights, senses of place/belonging, and children’s health. She currently works at the University of California, San Francisco. In addition to her nursing education, Evelyn has earned Masters degrees in Global Health (Delivery) from Maastricht University in The Netherlands and the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda.
Em: evelyn.bigini@earthuprising.org
Evelyn Bigini, 25
from San Francisco, CA, USA
Nadiya Khalif
Hania graduated from The City School, Islamabad. She was previously a columnist for the award-winning monthly Pakistan journal on the environment, Subh-e-Nau. Hania is also an accomplished speaker and has addressed Bahria University, USAID, UNICEF , the Pakistan Science Foundation and she was a featured speaker for Earth Uprising’s 2021 Earth Conference “Youth Speaks”. She has also been called the ‘Greta Thunberg of Pakistan’ by the previous Minister of Climate Change. For her activism, she is founder of Youth Climate Activists Pakistan (YCAPK) and a Global Climate Strike organizer, she’s been featured on Radio Pakistan, BBC Urdu and China Radio, and she was selected as the child representative for the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children.
Em: hania.imran@earthuprising.org
Nadiya Khalif, 18
from Alexandria, VA, USA
Angelica Mantikas
Angelica is a naturalist and environmental and climate advocate born and based in Melbourne, Australia but hailing from the Aegean island of Chios, Greece. At the age of 21 years old she founded the social enterprise Climate Cookies which plants one tree for every five cookies sold as well as supporting conservation projects around Australia and the world. Angelica’s mission in establishing Climate Cookies is to reforest Australia one cookie at a time. Angelica aims to make climate and environmental action attractive and accessible to as many people as possible. Angelica also represented the youth of the Asia-Pacific region at the United Nations Environment Assembly 5.2 in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was a youth negotiator especially involved in negotiations concerning the first ever legally-binding global resolution to combat plastic pollution. Angelica has also served as a facilitator at UN Youth Australia, facilitating conversations and debates concerning global issues between young people from around Australia. Angelica is also completing a double degree of International Relations and Political Science at the Australian National University.
Em: angelica.mantikas@earthuprising.org
Angelica Mantikas, 21
from Melbourne, Australia
Gabby Tan
Gabby is a student at Stanford University majoring in Earth Systems and Economics. She is the founder of Tideturners, an environmental education project funded by National Geographic and focused on SE Asia. Gabby is also a repeat speaker and youth delegate for international conferences such as the UN Youth Climate Summit, Global Biodiversity Festival and EurOCEAN and TEDx. She has also been a National Geographic Young Explorer and a UK Youth Strike 4 Climate regional coordinator. For her work, Gabby has been the recipient of the Diana Legacy Award and Diana Award.
Em: gabby.tan@earthuprising.org
Gabby Tan, 20
from Malaysia
Isabella Sabrina de Barros
Isabella is a student at the Universidade Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) studying International Relations, and is dual enrolled at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul studying economics and sustainable economic development, where she is also a research assistant on Brazilian economic policy. Isabella has worked in the implementation of International Organization for Migration (IOM) projects aimed to assist Venezuelan immigrants in the city where she lives, Porto Alegre. As for her activism, she is a member of national climate organizations such as EngajaMundo and Climate Science Brazil.
Em: isabella.sabrina@earthuprising.org
Isabella Sabrina de Barros, 21
from Porto Alegre, Brazil
Alejandro Luque Molina
Alejandro is the creator of the podcast “Eudaimonía” on mental health, environment and education. He was the Communications Officer and Visual Content Creator on Youth Engagement processes for Stockholm+50, and a member of the Stockholm+50 Youth Task Force in charge of youth engagement. Alejandro also led a virtual intervention at the 8th Annual Sub-Committee Meeting of Permanent Representatives of UNEP in Nairobi and he is a member of the Coordination group for Latin America of the Children and Youth Major Group for the UNEP. For his work, Alejandro has been profiled by UNICEF Ecuador and Diario Expreso.
Em: alejandro.luque@earthuprising.org
Alejandro Luque Molina, 19
from Guayaquil, Ecuador
International Directors
Our directors are located all around the world!
Alexandria Villeseñor
At the age of 13, Alexandria began her activism after experiencing the Camp Fire in California, one of the deadliest wildfires in California history, during November 2018. In December 2018, she began a lone climate strike in solidarity with the Fridays for Future movement in front of the United Nations Headquarters, a weekly strike that lasted over 2 years, while also co-founding the U.S. Youth Climate Strike Movement of 2019. As her activism and knowledge of the climate crisis grew, Alexandria saw a need to provide more support and education to the global youth climate movement, prompting her to found Earth Uprising International on April 22, 2019. She was soon joined by co-founders Kevin Mtai from Kenya and Mohammad Ahmadi from Iran, who both shared the vision for Earth Uprising!
Now, at the age of 17 and a high school Junior, Alexandria has become an internationally recognized environmental activist, public speaker and author featured in the anthology of women climate leaders, All We Can Save. She addressed the 2020 Democratic National Convention, the United Nations, NATO and the World Economic Forum. She has attended COP25 in Madrid, COP26 in Glasgow and COP27 in Egypt. She was a child petitioner for the ground-breaking international complaint to the United Nations, Children vs. Climate Crisis and is the youngest Junior Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences. Alexandria sits on many Youth Advisory Boards including the U.S. based environmental policy think tank Evergreen Action, the American Lung Association and IKEA Corporation. Alexandria has been honored by Seventeen Magazine as one of their “Young Voices of the Year” and by Marie Claire Magazine and as “Environmental Changemaker”. Alexandria has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times and The New Yorker, and and has written op-eds that have been published in The Guardian and Teen Vogue. For her work, Alexandria has received the Earth Day Network Youth Leadership Award, the Rachel Carson Environmental Justice Award, the Common Good American Spirit Changemakers Award and was included in Politico’s top 100 people influential in climate change policy list.
Alexandria Villaseñor, 17
Founder and Board President
New York City / Santa Rosa, CA
USA
Marlen Garcia
Marlén Garcia is an award-winning climate and social justice activist. She graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Community & Regional Development (CRD) and a BA in Political Science. Her academic and professional experiences along with her personal ones—being raised in a city with a low socioeconomic status and poor environmental conditions, being a first generation college student, and being part of a family of immigrants—has played a vital role in the social and environmental justice work that she does.
Some of her work includes: organizing the 2019 Davis Climate Strike, working with Youth Vs Apocalypse, being a delegate to the LCOY USA, assisting immigrant communities, and educating communities about environmental justice. Throughout all of her work, Marlén focuses on centering the voices and experiences of communities that are on the frontlines of this climate crisis. She strongly believes that the voices of the historically marginalized communities must be front and center when educating about and advocating for real climate change solutions.
Em: mlogarcia@ucdavis.edu
Marlén Garcia, 21
Executive Director and Director of Law & Policy (Americas, Europe)
California, USA / Puebla, Mexico
Kevin Mtai
Kevin Mtai is a full time Climate Justice Activist and Environmentalist based in Kenya. He is currently the Global Development Director of Earth Uprising where he has been Advocating for Climate Education in Kenya by visiting different schools, police, an orphanage with an initiative known as Environmental School Your. Additionally, he is the co-founder of Kenya Environmental Action Network (KEAN) where he has been supporting upcoming events in Activists and Environmental Sustainability leaders by creating a space for meaningful engagement and supporting the implementation of local action to address the climate and biodiversity crises in Kenya. He is also active on Fridays for Future International and works to make sure that the stories of the Most Affected Peoples and Areas (Friday for future MAPA) are centered in the global fight for climate justice. He also Campaigner with a youth-led movement called Food At COP where Advocating for based plant Food which is Climate friendly in the International Climate and Region Climate Conference.
Kevin Mtai, 25
Co-Founder & Director of Global Development
Eldoret, Kenya
Mohammad Ahmadi
Mohammad is an Iranian climate justice activist and environmental studies student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
He is the Co-founder of the MENA Youth Network and Hinsdale for BLM, and was a delegate to the UN Pre-COP26 Youth4Climate conference, UN Youth Climate Summit, LCOY USA, and Dreamforce 2022.
His work focuses on youth mobilization, climate education, and partnership building with groups such as the FAO, World Food Forum, Ecosia, Earth Day Network, and MoveOn.
Mohammad Ahmadi, 19
Co-Founder & Global Youth Leadership Director
Tehran, Iran
Sherif Elrefaey
Sherif is a member of the Arab Youth Council for Climate Change and the Founder of the Emam Foundation. He is a consultant for UNICEF, and one of the lead organizers for COY17 with YOUNGO which occurred prior to COP27 in Egypt. He is pursuing his Master’s in International Relations at Peking University. He has worked with the UN MGCY and UNEP.
Sherif Elrefaey, 22
Director of Law and Policy (Africa, Middle East, Asia and Oceana)
From Cairo, Egypt
Reem Al-Saffar
She works on raising awareness about climate change and the environmental crisis with an emphasis on youth and women’s empowerment in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region and globally.
She is co-founder and Executive Director of MENA Youth Network, a hub for MENA youth and youth-led organizations to connect, learn and collaborate and to act as a platform where young climate and social justice advocates in the MENA region can coordinate their efforts and share their ideas for positive change.
Reem is also a Max Thabiso Edkins Climate Ambassador, the World Food Forum NENA youth focal point and head of the Iraqi national youth delegation to COP27.
Reem Al-Saffar, 22
Director of Youth Media Group
Ankara, Türkiye
Supportive Admin
Amber Otwell
Amber is a 25 year old on the ground activist currently living in New York City. Born in California, Amber spent most of her time growing up outside playing or onstage dancing. Once she arrived at the University of Nevada, Reno, she continued to study theater and found a love for photojournalism. After her time at University, she moved to Los Angeles where she volunteered and marched with a number of organizations: Say Their Names LA, Dance for Black Lives, CORE Movement, and more. In October 2020, Amber was the main organizer for the Women’s March rally in downtown Los Angeles. Amber has marched in Reno, Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York, and countless more. Amber joined the Earth Uprising team in 2021, and has loved her time working as an Executive Assistant. When she’s not working, she’s volunteering, walking through Central Park, or attending a Broadway show.
Amber Otwell
Executive Assistant
New York, USA