Color Of Water

Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Roland Jones

CIS

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

Moisés Moreno-Rivera

Trust for Public Land

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Brenda Coley

Milwaukee Water Commons

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

Esteban Ortiz

The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Victor Galvan

Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Paula Buchanan

National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Alai Reyes-Santos

Alaí Community Consulting

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Olga Morales

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Guadalupe Fernandez

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Olga Cano

HUD

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Afia Zakiya

Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

Aria Harris

TYLin

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Benu Amun Ra

S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Talia London

The Common Acre

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Andrea León-Grossmann

Vote Solar

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Walt Walker

TYLin

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Alastair Bitsóí

Near the Water Media & Communications Group

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

trending topics

These are the top topics that reporters, decision makers, and partners are looking for experts to speak about.

Video Library

Watch water experts share their stories and perspectives with reporters, event audiences, podcast hosts, and more.

About Us

The Color of Water Initiative was created by the Water Hub to build voice and visibility for people of color in the water movement. Our goal is to connect reporters with a more diverse set of experts, and build capacity for these experts to elevate the stories of their communities, which have often been left out of conversations around water. 

 

From water access and drought response in the West to lead pipes and PFAS pollution in the Great Lakes to recurring flooding and water infrastructure failures in the South, Color of Water members have deep expertise and first-hand experience on water challenges and solutions all across the country.


Read the joint statement by Color of Water members on the importance of equity in the water world.

explore the Color of Water directory

experts across the country

Register to Join our Expert Directory

If you identify as a person of color with expertise in water (including lived experience or ancestral knowledge) or work in fields that intersect with water (like health, farming, housing, planning, etc.) please submit your information to us!

Are you a current member?

Update your color of water profile.

Can’t access your email?  Get in touch with us!

Are you a journalist?

Download the directory and opt-in to get pitches featuring Color of Water stories.

What are Color of Water members talking about?