Color Of Water
Elevating Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and other voices of color to change the narrative around water.
Maria Elena Kennedy
Kennedy Communications, Inc
Gabe Vasquez
US Congress
Frank Ruiz
The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz
Alai Reyes-Santos
University of Oregon
Thea Louis
MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Jo Banner
The Descendants Project
Jazmin Ricks
University of Pennsylvania
Jasmine Walker
Ohio Environmental Council
Emily Warren Armitano
Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Val Schull
GreenLatinos
Joaquin Esquivel
California State Water Resources Control Board
Pallavi Bharadwaj
SEG
Arohi Sharma
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Xochitl Bervera
Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters
Patricia Lindsay-Harvey
Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority
Rene Henery
Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno
Dira Johanif
Charles River Climate Compact
Carlos Calderon
West Michigan Environmental Action Council
Cindy Donis
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Walt Walker
TYLin
Carolan Sonderegger
For Love of Water
Sapna Mulki
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Portia Shepherd
Blackbelt Women Rising
Cathie Chavez-Morris
Equidad Group
Sydney Garcia
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation
Talia London
The Common Acre
Aria Harris
TYLin
Crystal Sanders-Alvarado
Seaworthy
Ciara Horne
SBG Digital
Cheyanne Harris
Brown and Caldwell
Ruthie Redmond
UC Berkeley
Ashwin Dhanasekar
Brown and Caldwell
Alyssa Senturk
California Water Data Consortium
Gia Moreno
Hood Community Council
Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George
Ferris Institute
Charming Evelyn
OceanWell Water
Cate Mingoya-LaFortune
Groundwork USA
Veronica Garibay
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Pita Juarez
Comms Consultant
Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Arsum Pathak
National Wildlife Federation
John Echohawk
Native American Rights Fund
Nahal G. Ipakchi
BluePoint Planning
Esteban Ortiz
The Gorge Association of Aspirations/La Asociacion de Aspiraciones del Gorge
Julia Fay Bernal
Pueblo Action Alliance
Cyatharine Alias
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Keiko Wilkins
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Sarah Traore
The University of Texas at Austin
Quentin Stubbs
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Oluwole (OJ) McFoy
Houston Public Works
Beth Roach
Sierra Club
Ngodoo Atume
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Heather Tanana
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Nusrat Molla
Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University
Julian Gonzalez
Earthjustice
Marc Oliver Quijano
Jacobs
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Alex Ortiz
Austin Water and Wastewater Commission
Jeremy Orr
Earthjustice
Daniel Cordalis
Native American Rights Fund
Jessica Thrasher
Colorado State University
Chriscilia Cox
SUMA Consulting LLC
Shama Perveen
Ceres
Nadine Robertson
Veolia North America
Nureen Faiza Anisha
Oregon State University
Alondra Hernandez-Bose
WEAT
Cate Caldwell
Illinois Environmental Council
Andrea León-Grossmann
Vote Solar
Sri Vedachalam
Cisolutions
Lucero Sanchez
San Diego Coastkeeper
Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes
GreenLatinos
Usman Mahmood
Bayou City Waterkeeper
Nicole Nelson
Equity Legal Services, Inc
Sanjiv Sinha
Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.
Allen Townsend
World Wildlife Fund
Charles Cassagnol
Western Ecology, LLC
Brenda Coley
Milwaukee Water Commons
Damian Shapes Padilla
Spirit Rock Consulting
Tony Bridges
The Maryland General Assembly
Jessica Dandridge-Smith
The Water Collaborative
Ehab Meselhe
Tulane University
Paula Buchanan
National Center for Domestic Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School
Bleu Adams
IndigeHub
Crystal Davis
National Parks Conservation Association
Olga Morales Pate
Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated
Dezaraye Bagalayos
Allensworth Progressive Association
Marccus Hendricks
University of Maryland - College Park
Analise Rivero
California Trout
Rhysea Agrawal
The Xylom
Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš
Azul
Sandi Matsumoto
The Nature Conservancy
Sonali Abraham
Pacific Institute
André Sanchez
California Wilderness Coalition
Mallika Nocco
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Billie Li
Wright-Pierce
Newsha Ajami
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
Nathaniel I Kollie
University of California Santa Cruz
Vicky Espinoza
CaliWaterAg
Parsa Saffarinia
University of California, Davis
Elizabeth Ruiz
CA State Water Resources Control Board
Rachele Lopez
Justice Outside
Alastair Bitsóí
Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President
Shandin Pete
University of British Columbia
Pedro Hernandez
GreenLatinos
Daniela Sherrill
ASU / AZ Water for All
Martin Griffin
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Priscila Alves
University of Maryland
Direlle Calica
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)
Bridget Ray
Washington State Department of Commerce
Ani Jayakaran
Washington State University
Victor Galvan
Denver Mayor's Office for Climate Action, Sustainability and Resilience
Maisah Khan
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation
José M. Rodríguez-Flores
California State University, Monterey Bay
Michael Méndez
UC Irvine
Monica Driggers
Massachusetts Rivers Alliance
Khalid Osman
Stanford University
Angela M Chalk
Healthy Community Resources Services
Carlos Moran
Northeast Trees
Benu Amun Ra
S.A.C.R.Ed Eco-Center
Tanner Yess
Groundwork USA
Nataly Escobedo Garcia
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Jahan Taganova
City and County of Denver
Afia Zakiya
Independent Africana Studies and EJ scholar-activist, currently Executive Director of Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation
Oday Salim
University of Michigan Law School
Ean Tafoya
GreenLatinos
Nicole Chavas
Greenprint Partners
Nieves Vazquez
Water For People
Nikki Tulley
University of Arizona
Maritza Mendoza
Empower DC
Felice Green
Milwaukee Water Commons
Vinicius Taguchi
North Carolina State University
Jaiden Willeto
Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop
Jacob Bernal
American Rivers
Lenise Marrero
Brown and Caldwell
Danielle Rivera
University of California Berkeley
Rob Larson
Grand Valley State University
Nasim Pica
WSP in the U.S.
Breanna Gonzalez
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Kabir Thatte
The Vessel Collective
Chakena Sims
NRDC
Adriana Renteria
State Water Board
Chauncey Foster
we.grow.eco
Angela Guyadeen
NRDC
Bre’Shaun Reddick
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Susana De Anda
Community Water Center
Cheyenne Holliday
Verde
Emma Robbins
The Chapter House
Rhea Drozdenko
Connecticut River Conservancy
Sidney Opiyo
University of California, Santa Cruz
Fernando Ramirez
Bridges 2023 International
Joy Banner
The Descendants Project
Kedar Dabhadkar
Lam Research
Andrian Lee
BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC
Kimbaya Carriere
Nuxalk First Nation
Diana Piña Yitbarek
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Angela Mooney D’Arcy
Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples
Olga Cano
HUD
Tiffany Sevilla
Greenprint Partners
Silvia R. Gonzalez
UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute
Mahtaab Bagherzadeh
NWF/Clean Water for All
Harshini Ratnayaka
Save the Dunes
Ayako Tischler
Xylem
Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
Temiloluwa Akinyemi
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Huda Alkaff
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Pablo Ortiz
Union of Concerned Scientists
Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz
Greenroots Institute
Briana Muñoz
Pacific Coast Carbon LLC
Tanasia Swift
Billion Oyster Project
Ed Marin
Louisville Water
Roland Jones
CIS
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.
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?
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?

Environmental justice raised over data centers targeting rural NM – KRWG Public Media
GreenLatinos believes states should approach regulation of artificial intelligence data centers from a mindset of community protection and adopt a high bar for regulation. [from

Colorado River Water Access Calls for this Sensible Solution | Opinion – Arizona Institute for Resilience
The old ways of managing the shrinking Colorado River aren't helping Arizona. But there is a way all of the compact states could find a
