Our Team
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Ania Korsunska
FOUNDER & CEO
Ania brings a decade of experience in interdisciplinary research, data science, user-centered design, communications, creative work, and community building to Zemlia. Led by the guiding principles of empowerment and collaboration, she manifests these values through tangible actions that contribute to a better future for everyone. Prior, Ania was the project lead of the ROADMAP, the first description of the state of rare disease drug repurposing, and Community Lead at Climate Vine. She is completing her PhD in information science from the Syracuse iSchool in May 2024.
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Zach Garrett
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Zach is a seasoned entrepreneur with a background in industrial design and full-stack software development. He has co-founded multiple teams across a range of industries, from climate tech to logistics to consumer goods. Known for his thought leadership and systematic problem-solving approach, Zach excels at turning ideas into practical solutions. He was a member of the Climatebase Fellowship's cohort 2 in 2022.
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Stacey Svetlichnaya
AI ENGINEER
Stacey is exploring how to apply a decade+ of AI engineering experience to climate solutions. She was the first ML engineer at Weights & Biases, building developer tools for visualization, reproducibility, and collaboration in deep learning. She’s not sure if climate change or AI safety is the bigger existential threat, so she strives to maximize impact on both. She enjoys the intersection of research, application, and UX, mostly for vision & language models. Prior, she worked on image search, productionizing ML systems, and discovery & recommendation on Flickr, following the acquisition of LookFlow, a visual similarity search engine.
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Rachel Kenion-Hanrath
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
Rachel brings a strong foundation in software development, data analysis, and research to the climate tech industry. With a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering complemented by her professional experience in software development and team leadership, she is uniquely positioned to bridge technical expertise with innovative solutions geared toward climate resilience. A recent Climatebase Fellow (Cohort 4), Rachel is keenly aware of climate challenges and excited for the opportunity to work with the Zemlia team exploring AI-driven approaches to a more sustainable future.
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Sarah Bolden
DATA VISUALIZATION SPECIALIST
Sarah is a researcher and data scientist passionate about using technology to shed light on forms of oppression, amplify activist voices and initiatives, and empower audiences to engage critically with digital technologies. Alongside her research skills, Sarah's experience with data visualization and frontend web development equips her to play a pivotal role in crafting engaging online tools, creating visually appealing data displays and user-friendly websites. She is excited use these skills to do her part to drive innovation in sustainability.
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D'azhane (Dee) Cook
NO-CODE DEV SPECIALIST
Dee previously served as Climate Vine's Head of Platform and has consulted on product teams while gathering project management and operational experience throughout her career. She has experience in building process to help companies go from 0 to 1, and she loves helping others simplify their workflows so that they have more time to focus on what matters. She is empowered by her ability to utilize no-code tools to help non-technical business owners build successful companies. She holds a degree in management information systems from The University of Texas at Austin and received interdisciplinary instruction in innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. In college and beyond, she founded and led the tech and product of Remane, a Data Driven Hair-Care startup focused on providing science backed knowledge to individuals with kinky, curly hair.
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Oleksandra (Sasha) Hanzha
BRAND MARKETING SPECIALIST
Sasha brings a diverse skillset in data-driven brand marketing and communications to Zemlia. As a Global PR Manager at Ukraine’s tech giant, Genesis, she managed top-rated viral campaigns and worked with high-profile media outlets like The Guardian and Daily Mail. She honed her creative advertising skills at the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts, and collaborated with prominent Ukrainian entities, including the Ministry of International Affairs, to devise advertising campaigns—ranging from customer insight research to strategy and creative material development.
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Walter James
DATA & RESEARCH STRATEGIST
Walter brings a wealth of experience in political science and environmental policy to his role in developing the research framework for all of the climate solutions. He earned a PhD in Political Science, worked at the sustainable investment platform Carbon Collective, and now is a Market Research and Policy Associate at DG+Design. Walter's unique blend of academic insight and real-world understanding positions him to strategically navigate complex systems for climate change mitigation.
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Christina Wu
DATA & RESEARCH ANALYST
Christina has previously worked at the global advertising agencies for big tech in analytics/marketing sciences teams. While she has managed multi-million dollar advertising budgets and brand measurement studies, she finds the most joy in collaborating with tight-knit teams on a shared purpose. Seeking to make a greater impact in sustainability, she completed a MSc in International & Sustainable Management in 2022 and joined the Climatebase Fellowship in 2023. She’s eager to understand and shift long-term corporate and consumer behaviors towards a more equitable planetary future.
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You ?
Interested in joining our team?
We do not currently have paid opportunities, but please consider applying for our Residency Program.
Advisors
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Natalia Le Gal
BEHAVIOR CHANGE SCIENCE ADVISOR
Natalia is a behavior-change maker and founder of a behavior change consultancy Behava specialized in sustainable and health behaviors. Behava is on a mission to empower companies with a better, deeper understanding of their users to speed up the adoption of human- and planet-friendly products and solutions. In her work, Natalia uses a multi-disciplinary approach based on a variety of social sciences, qualitative and quantitative data, behaviour insights and the most recent research. She has a background in marketing and business development and a degree in Behaviour Change from the University College London. She is based in Paris with clients across Europe and North America.
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Umair Surani
ELECTRIFICATION & COMMERCIALIZATION ADVISOR
Umair brings a breadth of experience in commercializing nascent clean energy and sustainable technologies. He spent the first decade of his career in accelerating the adoption of heat pumps, with stints at AHRI and Fujitsu, and since then on commercializing city-scale digital twins. His career is a testament to bridging cultures – between technology and business, tradition and innovation, and today's practices and a sustainable tomorrow. Umair holds a BS in aerospace engineering and an executive MBA.
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Steve Isley
GENERATIVE AI & SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH ADVISOR
Steve Isley brings a depth of experience in behavioral science and generative AI. He led sustainable customer research at Amazon for five years, helped launch The Climate Pledge, served as the company's first carbon offsets expert, and cofounded a sustainable shopping startup. Before that, he was a behavioral scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where he did research in smart transportation, home energy management systems, and augmented reality informed consumer choice. Steve holds a BS and MS in aerospace engineering and a PhD in policy analysis.
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Gray Graziani
PRODUCT STRATEGY ADVISOR
Gray is a seasoned product leader with over 15 years of experience, skilled in B2B SaaS, IoT, PLG, AI, UX, games, e-commerce, and cookies. He has grown and lead product teams at Siemens and AKQA. With a proven track record in designing, launching, and scaling innovative products that exceed customer expectations, his expertise lies in driving product vision, strategy, and roadmap. He also founded a cookie company, and still has an entrepreneurial spirt, as well as a passion for sustainability.
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Kate Selfridge
SAAS GROWTH & FOOD WASTE ADVISOR
As an advisor to the Zemlia team, Kate brings a decade of growth-stage startup experience in roles that combined business growth strategy, data analytics, and project management to drive revenue growth and operational efficiency. Passionate about climate change, she transitioned her career into the space to make a positive impact, joining the Spoiler Alert team in October 2023. Prior to joining Spoiler Alert, she completed the Climatebase Fellowship and OnePointFive Academy sustainability accelerator programs, and is currently pursuing a Master's in Environmental Policy at the University of Denver.
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Christine Djan, PE
ENERGY, WATER, RESILIENCE ADVISOR
Christine brings seven years of climate adaptation and mitigation experience to her advisory role at Zemlia. Christine believes that everyone has a role to play in addressing the climate crisis. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Engineering, she worked on stormwater and coastal resiliency projects before pivoting to the energy industry. She currently manages clean energy programs for Con Edison in New York City while concurrently pursuing a Masters Degree in Sustainability Management. She has been with Zemlia since its early stages and is excited to keep building this essential tool that will remove barriers to individual climate action.
Contributors & Collaborations
Artists
Anastasiia Khmelevska, Natasha Kasatka & Ieva Ziede
Climate Base Fellows
The ideas behind Zemlia and its tools started through a Capstone project during the Climate Base Fellowship, and many fellows from Cohort 2 and 3 contributed to the development of the ideas, data, prototypes and visual strategy approach in the early days. Some of these fellows are listed below, though many others provided important encouragement and feedback!
Stuart Maxwell, Farah Assir, Micah Elm, Kellie Sukhi, Wendi Wu, Miah Shull Olmsted, Adam Gordon, Nathalie Tchorek, Patrick Shipway, Alejandro Fernandez, Bryant Karin, Shannon Koy, Tessa Alford, Megan Mayzelle, John Tripp, Kate Selfridge, Shubhashree Venkatesh, Iris Zhan, Lionel Church, and Thomas Ebrahimi.
Collaborations
Chitra Ramesh, Sayur
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