What is UNLEASH?
UNLEASH is a global initiative committed to bringing the world’s top talents together to share ideas, build networks, and create solutions to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals. UNLEASH brings together young people from across the world for an annual innovation lab, organizes local hacks, and supports ongoing capacity building and solution implementation.
Since 2017, UNLEASH has run three annual Innovation Labs in Denmark, Singapore and China. UNLEASH has been recognized as one of the world’s most influential sustainability brands, having engaged 3,000 talents from 160 countries and facilitated the development of 580 SDG solutions with +300 partners.
Check out our mini-series with SDG Talks!
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Meet the Team
Organizing Team
Content Team
Nandita Ahuja
Environmental Engineer
UNLEASH 2019 Talent
I am a water and wastewater engineer who is passionate about providing reliable access to clean water and sanitation facilities to all. I am looking forward to the innovative solutions that the 2020 UNLEASH cohort develops to address the sanitation challenges faced by the unsheltered communities.
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Ankita Nalavade
Urban Designer
UNLEASH 2017 Talent
I am a sustainability enthusiast, currently working at the City of New York as an Urban Designer. I am passionate about exploring ways to achieve urban sustainability and enjoy interdisciplinary nature of the work. I am looking forward to welcoming a new batch of passionate Unleash Talents.
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Lindsey Broderick
Structural Engineer
UNLEASH 2019 Talent
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I am currently an Engineer with ZFA Structural Engineers and long-time Engineers Without Borders volunteer. I am passionate about using my skills and expertise to move the SDG’s forward. I am excited for this new cohort of UNLEASH participants to develop innovative and tangible solutions through the USA Hack program.
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Activation Team
Melanie Wilson
Events Support
UNLEASH 2018 Talent
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I am an event planner currently working at Girl Scouts of the USA and have a background in business development working and volunteering with various sustainability organizations. The USA UNLEASH Hack teams will put their design thinking skills to work to ideate for this important Sustainability Development Goal.
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Divya Jain
UX Researcher
UNLEASH 2018 Talent
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I am trained in Design Thinking and Innovation and support the Waze team at Google with design research. I am passionate about applying those skills to address pressing issues affecting Climate Change and everything it affects in turn - example, the unsheltered community. The UNLEASH Hacks combines my skills and passion, and I’m excited to uncover innovative solutions the SDGs
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We collaborated with
Nicholas Harnish
MBA Candidate, Class of 2022
Unleash Talent 2019
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I am a current MBA Candidate at the College of William & Mary and former Peace Corps Volunteer with service in Vanuatu. Prior to pursuing an MBA I worked for Chemonics International on their Global Health Supply Chain program. I’m passionate about sustainability within the natural resource management and clean energy space. This hack offers a remarkable opportunity to rethink water resources management in the Bay area and introduce innovative solutions through the lens of sustainable cities.
Chris Olivares
Environmental Engineering Postdoctoral Researcher, Lecturer
UNLEASH 2019 talent
At the University of California, Berkeley, I study chemical and microbial strategies to clean up pollutants in groundwater and soil. Often, unhoused populations do not benefit directly from these advances in pollutant and pathogen clean-up because they are removed from the safety net of a utility grid that comes with a home. I am very excited to encourage our UNLEASH 2020 talents to develop solutions that address the challenges of being homeless in the Bay Area.
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Ryan Janke
Molecular Biologist
UNLEASH 2019 talent
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I work at Novozymes where I am passionate about finding biotechnology solutions that reduce the impact of industrial processes on the environment. As someone who grew up in the Bay Area I am excited to help UNLEASH 2020 talents bring forward their innovative solutions to improve the lives of community members who are vulnerable to, or experiencing, homelessness.
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Facilitators
Kevin Sofen
SDG Talks Podcast Producer
UNLEASH 2019 talent
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I am a water guy that loves technology, entrepreneurship, the fire service, and helping others. I full time as a Business Development Manager at W.S. Darley & Company while actively working on many side hustles that include the social enterprise he founded Wristsponsible (www.Wristsponsible.com) and the SDG Talks Podcast
Barry Liner
Chief Technical Officer, Water Environment Federation
"Solving sustainability problems using systems thinking, I enjoy finding order and purpose in what otherwise may be seen as chaos. I seek to make connections to advance solutions for intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs working for social benefit"
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Shannon O'Brien
Innovation Lead @ Deloitte Digital | Entrepreneur | Start-up Advisor
"Effective social change requires relentless empathy and a passion-filled drive to change the current state of being. I co-found new ventures with entrepreneurs to shape tomorrow's future – today. A true hybrid, I apply design thinking and agile development to societal, business, and product challenges to rapidly ideate, validate and launch businesses that create impact."
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Megan Yoo Schneider
President, Seven Management and Consulting, Inc. | Director, Municipal Water District of Orange County
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"I grew up on legos, Tonka trucks, and k’nex. I still enjoy figuring out how things are put together and determining the best way to approach a project. Time is money, and improvement and innovation are key. Everything I am passionate about involves people: helping people, improving our community, and preserving our environment -- for now and the future. I've worked for the County of Orange Board of Supervisors where homelessness has been one of our top issues. I am looking forward to helping the hack teams explore ideas and brainstorm on innovative ways to address this issue. I'm here to help!"
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Noah Miller
Innovation and NPD Consultant | Owner of IF Real Estate | Global Shapers Community Champion - NE USA
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"You never know what you are going to find me doing at any given time and I like it that way. I am a community leader at home and abroad, I run a real estate company with a social edge to make my community a better place and make my way around the world helping companies innovate toward a dynamic future. I am excited about the Hack knowing that the work that comes out of this process will help people in San Francisco and beyond!"
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Dakota Stormer
Carbon innovation @ Shell | CEO Footprint App Inc
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"UNLEASH was life changing and inspired me to tackle entrepreneurship and is why I started Footprint App, Inc." Dakota currently serves as the chairman of the student board for the Johns Hopkins University Energy Policy and Climate program, while also serving as a leader of a grassroots network of over 2000 energy industry employees tackling the energy transition. He has founded four organizations and served on the board of over ten community and educational associations.
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Experts
Steven Samra
Associate/Recovery Specialist
C4 Innovations
Expertise:
Public Health
Mental health / behavioral health, substance use disorder
Service delivery of assistance programs
Lived Experience
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Elgin Rose
Program Manager
Code Tenderloin
Expertise:
Workforce development
Program Implementation
Community Engagement and Networking
Mental health / behavioral health service assistance
Lived Experience
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Shelby Fredrickson
Research Fellow
Pratt Center for Community Development
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Expertise:
Inter-relations between climate change and homelessness
Emergency response services for homeless communities
Green jobs / workforce development
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Chris Block
Director of Chronic Homelessness Initiative
Tipping Point Community
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Expertise:
Housing
Implementation and scaling
Public - private - NGO nexus
Early intervention
Chronic homelessness prevention programs
Design thinking
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Phoebe Grow
Supervising Wastewater Control Representative
East Bay Municipal Utility District
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Expertise:
Water and sanitation (wastewater focus)
Public utility operations
System operations
Public outreach
Design and planning
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Judges
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Joey Fried
Replication Community Engagement Lead
LavaMaeX
Expertise:
Water / sanitation / hygiene
Implementation
Community insights
Solution innovation
Mechanical systems
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Michael Ashford
Director, Water, Energy, and Sustainable Cities Practice
Chemonics
Expertise:
International and domestic project management and development
Scaling solutions
Start-ups and Social Enterprise
Clean energy and clean technology
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Donna Hilliard
Executive Director
Code Tenderloin
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Expertise:
Workforce development for homelessness community in SF
Local program operations and delivery in SF
Tech experience and sales expertise
Private and NGO experience
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Adam Vera
Operations Manager
LavaMaeX
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Expertise:
Water / sanitation / hygiene
Strategy development and operational efficacy for the Bay Area programming
Non-profit accelerator experience
Tech experience
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Alicia Chakrabarti
Manager of Wastewater Environmental Services Division @ East Bay Municipal Utility District
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Expertise:
Water and sanitation
Public utility operations
Renewable and alternate energy
Community outreach and education
Engineering innovation
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Nathan Roth
National Housing Policy Expert
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Expertise:
Housing
Public policy
Fair housing / housing discrimination prevention
Civic engagement
Strategic planning and change management
Wayne Lifshitz Asia Director, Supply Chain Management Division,
Chemonics
Expertise:
Systems Thinker
Business Strategist
Mentor to Social Entrepreneurs
Private, Public and Non-Profit experience
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