EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mayra (she/her/ella) is an environmental justice advocate and community leader dedicated to uplifting frontline communities through equitable climate solutions. Born and raised in Waukegan, IL, Mayra currently serves as Executive Director of Community Roots for Environmental Justice, where she leads efforts to advance climate justice and a just transition for communities impacted by pollution. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Policy and has worked in conservation, community engagement, and sustainability across the public and nonprofit sectors. Her experience includes strategic planning, public policy, and developing community-centered programs. Mayra is passionate about building partnerships that prioritize lived experience and cultural knowledge. She brings a collaborative, values-driven approach to every space she enters and remains committed to environmental justice rooted in care, accountability, and collective action. Outside of work, Mayra loves going on bike rides and hikes around the Lake County Forest preserves and spending time with family and friends.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

Kiera (she/her) was raised in Lake County, where she fell in love with the weeping willow and the sandhill cranes. Her professional background includes program coordination, education, and community outreach for forest schools in Washington state and Barrington, IL. Kiera holds a Master of Arts in Public Ministry from Garrett Seminary with concentrations in ecological regeneration and pastoral care; essentially, Earth care and people care. She has her Permaculture Design Certificate through Earth Activist Training. Kiera’s academics trained her ear to hear the cries of the Earth and her neighbor, to see and acknowledge their sufferings, and to join with compassion rooted in profound hope in the reparative work of justice. Kiera has bold dreams of restoration and reconciliation for the communities that nurtured her and her spouse, and for all of society. She has dreams that all people would thrive and that resources would be shared across boundaries once marked by injustice. Kiera loves working with Community Roots for Environmental Justice - the very work that feels like a natural extension of her personal mission. Outside of work, Kiera loves visiting off-leash dog parks with her spouse and two high-energy pups, long walks in forest preserves, attending Zumba classes, growing her own food, making, and eating yummy vegan dishes, and traveling to new and long-beloved places with family.