June 18, 2018

{Green Careers} June Recap: Women and Minorities in Green

by Curtis Morrow   The June Green Careers event, held at GroheLive! Center, focused on women and minorities in the green sector.  Former Green Careers Lead Volunteer, Samantha Yost hosted the event, the topic of which holds special meaning for her.  As an LGBTQ woman, Yost believes that GreenHomeNYC “had her back” and helped her break into the sustainability field.   Our panelists for the evening spoke about their experiences in the green sector as either a woman, a minority or both.  Julianna Wei, Energy Engineer and Technical Project Manager at TRC Energy Services, is a female engineer of Chinese descent, who as a child, was a minority in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  She highlighted the importance of finding allies and mentors at every stage of one’s career. Mentors may not directly present themselves as such – it’s up to you to build the relationship through on-on-one, person-to-person discussions. She advised acknowledging the lack of diversity in a specific setting as objectively as possible without adding subjective commentary on how to deal with it.   (more…)

June 6, 2018

{Green Careers} June 2018: Women and Minorities in Green

Currently, women and minorities make up very few of the top spots in sustainability organizations. Join us in a panel discussion on how we can improve the diversity of these positions and hear from diverse experts in their fields. Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2018 Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm with networking afterwards Location: GroheLive!, 160 Fifth Ave (Entrance on 21st St), Flr 4.   Speakers: Amalia Cuadra, Director of Engineering at EN-POWER GROUP Julianna Wei, Energy Engineer/Technical Project Manager at TRC Energy Services Alex Duleba, Energy Engineer at EN-POWER GROUP Carl Haywood, Senior Project Manager at Bright Power   Note: To respect the time of our speakers and guests, the event will start promptly at 6:30. Please note that tickets are non-refundable.   Please click here for tickets.

May 17, 2018

{Green Careers} April Recap: Speed (Up)Dating Your Resume

by Curtis Morrow and Emily Taubenblatt   During our annual Resume Workshop, the Green Careers team invited professionals representing the public sector (Department of Buildings, New York City Housing Authority – NYCHA), the private sector (Kenneth Cole, Community Preservation Corporation, and Steven Winter Associates), and the non-profit sector (Self-Help Community Services) to offer tips and critique participants’ resumes. In several fifteen-minute round-robin rotations, all attendees received one-on-one sessions with feedback, advice, and pointers to help grab and keep the attention of hiring managers.  The experts agreed on several resume tips: Make the best use of white space on the page Keep the resume to a single page Ensure that formatting and alignment is consistent Specify details with quantitative or qualitative values Use active verbs in place of adjectives to show rather than tell your achievements (more…)

April 27, 2018

{Green Careers} May 2018: Speed Up-Dating Your Resume Workshop

  A good resume is your best weapon when you’re on the job hunt. To help you on this quest, the May Green Careers event is our annual “Speed Up-Dating Your Resume” workshop. In timed sessions with resume critics, you’ll receive constructive, personalized feedback on how to present your skills and experience in the best way possible. This year, we’re adding in a bonus! In addition to sprucing up your resume, you can also get your photo taken for LinkedIn or other uses if you like. So come dressed for the job you want and we will snap a pic and email it to you after the event.   Attendees are expected to: -Be prompt! The event starts at 6:30pm, so be sure to arrive early. -Bring at least five hard copies of your resume for review. -Be prepared to discuss your resume and contribute to evaluating others.   Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2018 Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm with networking afterwards Location: Steven Winter Associates, 307 7th Avenue 17th Flr, New York, NY 10001   Register Here!    

April 23, 2018

{Green Careers} Recap: Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility

Recap by Miaoru Guan   Corporate Social Responsibility, commonly referred to as CSR, describes companies’ initiatives to give back to the environment and community. The April 2018 Green Careers panelists spoke about their extensive experience with a wide range of CSR initiatives that help companies fulfill these goals while also improving the bottom line.   Zoha Karmali began her career in sales and marketing for Tata Group and combined her skills with her passion for CSR to eventually transition into the field. She coordinated volunteer programming and corporate hotel sustainable practices for 100 locations and 25,000 employees of Tata Group’s luxury hospitality firm. Abisola Adekoya is currently a consultant at Salterbaxter MSL Group and advises companies in telling stories of sustainability through reporting. Prior to sustainability consulting, Abisola worked to bring together companies and NGOs to solve pressing issues in international development. Heliana Higbie has experience with both the public and private sector. Heliana has implemented sustainable agriculture programs for PepsiCo in addition to renewable energy resilience efforts for the City of Yonkers and NYC Transit.   Photo by Rishika Shrivastava   CSR efforts not only benefit the community and the environment but also increase long term profits for the company. Zoha talked about how company-wide employee volunteer programs allowed for inter-departmental networking within her company. Abisola agreed and mentioned that volunteering activities increase employee engagement and overall productivity. Heliana discussed climate resiliency fixes for the MTA that improve transportation reliability during natural disasters, reducing the cost of recovery.   For companies interested in starting or increasing their CSR initiatives, the panelists gave insights into strategies that encourage CSR. The easiest way to implement programs is to have support from upper management. When the CEO or other decision-makers recognize the benefits of CSR and emphasize it as a priority for the company, sustainability professionals have the necessary support to organize initiatives and employees are encouraged to participate in events. When there is no clear mandate, sustainability professionals can engage individual departments and people to elicit interest. The panelists also highlighted the most effective CSR strategies, such as volunteer programs that integrate job responsibilities.   Drawing from their unique backgrounds, the speakers gave advice to those interested in entering the CSR industry. The panelists all agreed that is not necessary to have a direct career path to CSR. Abisola mentioned that having colleagues with different backgrounds is an asset because it brings more nuanced perspectives to the table when making CSR decisions. Zoha emphasized the importance of applying skills gained from other opportunities to CSR jobs, such as communication and teamwork. Heliana encouraged people to think outside the box for career decisions and to carve one’s own path by using resources from schools and professional networks.    

March 7, 2018

{Green Careers} March Event: Green Credentialing

Professional certifications can often be helpful in the sustainability field, especially for professionals seeking to get their foot in the door, or change jobs. Although LEED is still fairly ubiquitous, as attitudes toward urban living and buildings change, newer certifications are coming to the fore, sometimes making it difficult to know which ones are right for you. Join our Green Careers team for our monthly event on Tuesday, March 13th for a panel discussion to discuss what sustainability certifications are available and which ones complement your interests and career goals. Our panel consists of five speakers who are expert trainers and professionals in their fields, and include:   Mark Yuschak Mark currently works as a Project Manager for the Association for Energy Affordability. Experience with certifications includes: LEED, BPI, Multifamily Operator, and G/PRO. Zoe Kauffman Zoe currently works with the Levy Partnership as a Project Manager in charge of single-family and multifamily buildings in New York City and the Mid-Atlantic region, along with being a Passive House consultant. Experience with certifications includes: PHIUS and PHI. Karla Butterfield Karla is currently the Sustainability Director at Steven Winter Associates. Experience with certifications includes: PHIUS, RESENT, HERS, NGBS, and LEED for Homes. Leia Sims Leia is the director of Sustainability Services at KOW Building Consultants. Experience with certifications includes: CEM.

February 26, 2018

{Green Careers} February Recap: Telling Your Sustainability Story

by Carl Hourihan One February 13th, GreenHomeNYC hosted Jacquelyn Ottman for a workshop on Telling Your Sustainability Story.   Jacquelyn is an internationally recognized expert on green marketing and eco-innovation and author of five award-winning books, including The New Rules of Green Marketing. She is the founder of Ottman Consulting, which has guided strategy for over sixty Fortune 500 companies, the EPA’s Energy Star, and the USDA’s Certified Biobased Labels. Jacquelyn writes and blogs for her sites wehatetowaste.com, greenmarketing.com, and contributes to the Huffington Post. She is also a certified Zero Waste Professional and is the Residential Recycling Committee Chair on the Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAB) committee to the Manhattan Borough President.   Jacquelyn offered her insights, as well as provided activities for attendees to participate in order to help everyone understand how to tell their own stories, whether it be for their job search or over-arching careers. She stressed the importance of telling a story to demonstrate our credibility rather than a grocery list of accomplishments and qualifications. (more…)

January 4, 2018

{Green Careers} January 2018 Sustainable Career Tracks: So You Don’t Want a Desk Job?

Interested in learning about career paths that take you outside of the traditional office setting? Then you won’t want to miss our upcoming {Green Careers} Sustainable Career Tracks meet-up!   Date: Tuesday, January 9th Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm with networking afterwards Location: NYSERDA, 1359 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10018   REGISTER HERE!   During the January 9th event, we’ll be hearing from a diverse panel of speakers with experience from performance testing buildings to conducting environmental remediation to managing lavatory research. Come learn more about what they do, how they got to where they are and advice they have for pursuing an active career.   Our Speakers: Sunitha Sarveswaran, Energy Engineer at Steven Winter Associates

Sunitha performs onsite building inspections and performance testing on multifamily buildings in the New York City area. Her field work occurs during all stages of building construction and is required for various energy-related programs such as ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise and NYSERDA’s Multifamily Performance Program and New Construction Program, as well as NYC Energy Code Progress Inspections and Commissioning. 

Anna Brooks, Project Manager at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation

Anna is a project manager for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation. She works with remediation and environmental cleanup projects and brownfield sites across the five boroughs in the NYC Voluntary Cleanup Program and “E-Designation” Programs.

Kimberly Merani, PhD Candidate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine Kim has been doing laboratory research since 2009 and currently does her work at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she is pursuing her PhD. She graduated with a BS in Cell and Molecular Biology from Binghamton University in 2013. Andy Padian, Founder and President at PadianNYC Consulting Andy is a private Building Science Consultant with 35 years of experience in the unique building science of multifamily buildings. He has performed detailed energy and financial analysis on thousands of buildings across the country. He has created or helped create many nationally acclaimed programs, training and certification for field practitioners, and has mentored dozens of professionals in the field today.   REGISTER HERE!

December 2, 2017

{Green Careers} Webinar: Sustainability Careers & Job Search Strategies in a Changing World

GreenHomeNYC is pleased to present a new webinar by Dr. Eban Goodstein, Director, Graduate Programs in Sustainability at Bard College.   Dr. Goodstein will provide participants with a tailored, concrete job search strategy; outline different mission-driven career directions in sustainable business, non-profits and government; evaluate the impact of President Trump on sustainability jobs; discuss grad school and continuing education options (including school now/school later); and take questions from the audience.   Hosted by the GreenHomeNYC {Green Careers} Program and the Bard Center for Environmental Policy   REGISTER HERE   Webinar Date: Thursday, December 7, 2017 Time: 6:30 – 7:30 pm including Q&A Location: Your computer Login instructions will be sent with your confirmation.   If you have any questions, please contact our Green Careers team at [email protected]  

September 28, 2017

{Green Careers} October 2017 Sustainable Career Tracks: Action Groups

This month’s {Green Careers} Sustainable Careers event is all about Environmental Action Groups. Our speakers from various organizations will highlight opportunities that are available in several environmental action organizations.   What makes working at these organizations different from other non-profits or for-profit organizations? How did this panel of esteemed speakers get to their respective organizations? What tips and pieces of advice might they have for newcomers or people transitioning into this are?   Please join us for what is shaping up to be an exciting panel, where all of these questions and more will be answered!   Speakers: Adriana Espinoza – New York League of Conservation Voters Lindsay Robbins – Natural Resources Defense Council Venkat Iyer – Wildlife Conservation Society Helen Forgione – Natural Areas Conservancy   REGISTER HERE