Color Of Water

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

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Oday Salim

University of Michigan Law School

Daniel Cordalis

Native American Rights Fund

Guadalupe Fernandez

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Olga Cano

HUD

Julia Fay Bernal

Pueblo Action Alliance

Bridget Ray

Washington State Department of Commerce

Alai Reyes-Santos

Alaí Community Consulting

Cyatharine Alias

Center for Neighborhood Technology

Cheyanne Harris

Brown and Caldwell

Brenda Coley

Milwaukee Water Commons

Jaiden Willeto

Northern Arizona University / K'é Infoshop

Arsum Pathak

National Wildlife Federation

Wendy “Poppy” Ferris-George

Ferris Institute

Afia Zakiya

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

Bleu Adams

IndigeHub

John Echohawk

Native American Rights Fund

Ean Tafoya

GreenLatinos

Jose Luis Ortiz y Muniz

Greenroots Institute

Quentin Stubbs

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Vicky Espinoza

CaliWaterAg

Elizabeth Ruiz

CA State Water Resources Control Board

Oluwole (OJ) McFoy

Houston Public Works

Jessica Thrasher

Colorado State University

Damian Shapes Padilla

Spirit Rock Consulting

Usman Mahmood

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Benu Amun Ra

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

Jeremy Orr

Earthjustice

Adriana Renteria

State Water Board

Ashwin Dhanasekar

Brown and Caldwell

Analise Rivero

California Trout

Ayako Tischler

Xylem

Joy Banner

The Descendants Project

Mallika Nocco

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Pallavi Bharadwaj

SEG

Joaquin Esquivel

California State Water Resources Control Board

Danielle Rivera

University of California Berkeley

Charming Evelyn

OceanWell Water

Angel Santiago Fernandez-Bou

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Marccus Hendricks

University of Maryland - College Park

Chauncey Foster

we.grow.eco

Shandin Pete

University of British Columbia

Julian Gonzalez

Earthjustice

Huda Alkaff

Wisconsin Green Muslims

Esteban Ortiz

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

Crystal Davis

National Parks Conservation Association

Angela Guyadeen

NRDC

Arohi Sharma

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

Roland Jones

CIS

Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud

Bayou City Waterkeeper

Nicole Nelson

Equity Legal Services, Inc

Nureen Faiza Anisha

Oregon State University

Nadine Robertson

Veolia North America

Fernando Ramirez

Bridges 2023 International

Alex Ortiz

Austin Water and Wastewater Commission

Carlos Moran

Northeast Trees

Jahan Taganova

City and County of Denver

Talia London

The Common Acre

Marc Oliver Quijano

Jacobs

Dira Johanif

Charles River Climate Compact

Mahtaab Bagherzadeh

NWF/Clean Water for All

Temiloluwa Akinyemi

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Frank Ruiz

The Office of U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz

Jacob Bernal

American Rivers

Khalid Osman

Stanford University

Briana Muñoz

Pacific Coast Carbon LLC

Sarah Traore

The University of Texas at Austin

Kimbaya Carriere

Nuxalk First Nation

Patricia Lindsay-Harvey

Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority

Sidney Opiyo

University of California, Santa Cruz

Vinicius Taguchi

North Carolina State University

Nathaniel I Kollie

University of California Santa Cruz

Andrian Lee

BCM Environmental and Land Law, PLLC

Rene Henery

Trout Unlimited/ University of Nevada, Reno

Shama Perveen

Ceres

Thea Louis

MSC Industrial Supply Co.

Cate Caldwell

Illinois Environmental Council

Maisah Khan

Regenerative Agriculture Foundation

Aria Harris

TYLin

Harshini Ratnayaka

Save the Dunes

Xochitl Bervera

Near Futures Projects/Water is Life Oysters

Michael Méndez

UC Irvine

Maria Elena Kennedy

Kennedy Communications, Inc

Ehab Meselhe

Tulane University

Monica Driggers

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance

Tanasia Swift

Billion Oyster Project

José M. Rodríguez-Flores

California State University, Monterey Bay

Angela M Chalk

Healthy Community Resources Services

Newsha Ajami

Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability

Cate Mingoya-LaFortune

Groundwork USA

Carolan Sonderegger

For Love of Water

Jessica Dandridge-Smith

The Water Collaborative

Daniela Sherrill

ASU / AZ Water for All

Sonali Abraham

Pacific Institute

Ed Marin

Louisville Water

Keiko Wilkins

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Jasmine Walker

Ohio Environmental Council

Rachele Lopez

Justice Outside

Pablo Ortiz

Union of Concerned Scientists

Chriscilia Cox

SUMA Consulting LLC

Ciara Horne

SBG Digital

Alondra Hernandez-Bose

WEAT

Diana Piña Yitbarek

NC Department of Environmental Quality

Nataly Escobedo Garcia

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Lucero Sanchez

San Diego Coastkeeper

Rhysea Agrawal

The Xylom

Jazmin Ricks

University of Pennsylvania

Ani Jayakaran

Washington State University

Charles Cassagnol

Western Ecology, LLC

Sanjiv Sinha

Corvias Infrastructure Solutions, LLC.

Breanna Gonzalez

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Sandi Matsumoto

The Nature Conservancy

Ruthie Redmond

UC Berkeley

Angela Mooney D’Arcy

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples

Ngodoo Atume

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Maritza Mendoza

Empower DC

Andrea León-Grossmann

Vote Solar

Susana De Anda

Community Water Center

Veronica Garibay

Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability

Gia Moreno

Hood Community Council

Dezaraye Bagalayos

Allensworth Progressive Association

Victor Galvan

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

Bre’Shaun Reddick

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Rhea Drozdenko

Connecticut River Conservancy

Kedar Dabhadkar

Lam Research

Heather Tanana

University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Walt Walker

TYLin

Nicole Chavas

Greenprint Partners

Sri Vedachalam

Cisolutions

Billie Li

Wright-Pierce

Tony Bridges

The Maryland General Assembly

Moisés Moreno-Rivera

Trust for Public Land

Allen Townsend

World Wildlife Fund

Parsa Saffarinia

University of California, Davis

Chakena Sims

NRDC

Nieves Vazquez

Water For People

Felice Green

Milwaukee Water Commons

Emily Warren Armitano

Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Pita Juarez

Comms Consultant

Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš

Azul

Nahal G. Ipakchi

BluePoint Planning

Sapna Mulki

Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Alyssa Senturk

California Water Data Consortium

Martin Griffin

Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District

Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes

GreenLatinos

Emma Robbins

The Chapter House

André Sanchez

California Wilderness Coalition

Direlle Calica

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI)

Jo Banner

The Descendants Project

Priscila Alves

University of Maryland

Nikki Tulley

University of Arizona

Portia Shepherd

Blackbelt Women Rising

Tiffany Sevilla

Greenprint Partners

Olga Morales

Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated

Beth Roach

Sierra Club

Paula Buchanan

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

Cheyenne Holliday

Verde

Nusrat Molla

Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University

Sydney Garcia

The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation

Cathie Chavez-Morris

Equidad Group

Alastair Bitsóí

Near the Water Media & Communications Group

Crystal Sanders-Alvarado

Seaworthy

Val Schull

GreenLatinos

Cindy Donis

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice

Pedro Hernandez

GreenLatinos

Rob Larson

Grand Valley State University

Nasim Pica

WSP in the U.S.

Silvia R. Gonzalez

UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

Tanner Yess

Groundwork USA

Lenise Marrero

Brown and Caldwell

Carlos Calderon

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Kabir Thatte

The Vessel Collective

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?