Women4Climate Mentorship Program

The Women4Climate (W4C) program aims to contribute to the next generation of climate leaders through a mentorship program dedicated to women working in climate to create a healthier, greener, more resilient, and economically prosperous urban future. Vancouver is the eighth city to launch a local C40 Women4Climate Mentorship Program External web site, opens in new tab.

We matched political and business sector leaders, as well as leaders from international and community organizations with emerging women leaders.

Over the 10-month mentorship period, mentors will share their knowledge, experiences, and support the mentees to develop their leadership skills in their chosen field, including politics, NGOs, business, media, and community groups.

2020 participants

Coral Buitenhuis

Coral is developing a climate mitigation and adaptation plan. 

Mentor: Sarah Buckle, Director, Enterprise Risk and Sustainability at Translink

Holly Alyea

Holly works to engage, educate, and empower citizens on climate action through community centre associations.  

Mentor: Christianne Wilhelmson, Executive Director at Georgia Strait Alliance

Jenna McNeil

Jenna is developing a tool to help visualize the demand for high performance building products and technologies.

Mentor: Sue Paish, CEO at Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster  

Julie Strilesky

Julie is working to convert plastic waste from Canada's shorelines to energy.

Mentor: Susan Koch, COO and VP of Accounting at Carbon Engineering

Laurel Hart

Laurel supports young families as they advocate for collective climate action.

Mentor: Sherry Yano, Manager, Community Renewable Energy at David Suzuki Foundation

Marina Timmins

Marina is working on building energy benchmarking.

Mentor: Sophie Mercier, Vice President, Building Science West at Morrison Hershfield

Michelle Austin

Michelle is developing a sustainable school lunch program. 

Mentor: Brianne Miller, CEO and Founder at Nada Grocery

Rowena Farr

Rowena is working to expand various workplaces’ cycle to work initiatives. 

Mentor: Marion Town, Director, Environment at Vancouver Airport Authority

Sara Blenkhorn

Sara is addressing the issue of apparel waste.

Mentor: Jeanette Jackson, CEO at Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre

Sarah Lusina

Sarah works to engage, educate, and empower citizens on climate action through community centre associations.  

Mentor: Christianne Wilhelmson, Executive Director at Georgia Strait Alliance

Yasmin Abraham

Yasmin is working to ensure energy initiatives are accessible to newcomers, immigrants, lower income, and indigenous families.

Mentor: Karen Tam Wu, Managing Director, British Columbia at Pembina Institute