OSE is thrilled to announce six new (and returning!) staff members who are joining the team to help Seattle advance climate justice, food access and sustainability, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and transportation sectors. New staff include:
Kristin Brown (she/her/hers) – Climate Communications Advisor
Kristin moved into this new communications role in January and serves as the primary media contact and communications staffer for the office.
About Kristin:
Kristin Brown joins OSE with more than 10 years of experience running digital and advocacy campaigns to support environmental causes and candidates. She most recently was embedded with OSE as a “Climate Advisor” through the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge (Climate Challenge), where she worked to advance Seattle’s transportation and building policies with an emphasis on racial equity and environmental justice. Prior to the Climate Challenge, Kristin served as the Digital Organizing Director for Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign. She completed her Masters of Public Administration specializing in Environmental Policy at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance. While pursuing her MPA, Kristin worked as a consultant providing digital and marketing guidance for Rock the Earth and Spark Northwest. Prior to moving to Seattle, Kristin served as the Director of Digital Strategy at the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in Washington D.C. She is a proud alumna of two UWs — the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. Kristin loves the outdoors and getting her hands dirty wherever plants and gardens can be found, and loves curling up with her 60 pound rescue “lap dog” named Charlie Brown.
Robbie Carrasco (he/him/his) – Resource Conservation Specialist
Robbie manages energy reduction projects at city-owned buildings.
About Robbie:
Born and raised in Seattle, Robbie grew up in the city but was always finding himself outdoors and in nature. This led him to attend college at Western Washington University where he took classes in environmental policy and energy economics. Robbie continued to pursue outdoor interests such as snowboarding, hiking, and biking. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, Robbie became a river raft guide and snowboard instructor for several years. Robbie then travelled to Asia to work for a Seattle based non-profit called Mangrove Action Project. He worked within the local community organizing volunteers to create sustainable agriculture and fisheries with the overarching goal of mitigating climate change by protecting the mangrove forests along the south shores of Thailand. After traveling and working in Asia, Robbie returned home to the Pacific Northwest to continue working in the environmental space gaining employment as an Energy Advisor for Seattle City Light and eventually working his way into the Office of Sustainability and Environment where he is happily working on project management of energy upgrades in City of Seattle owned buildings.
Lisa Chen (she/her/hers) — Equity and Environment Manager
Lisa joined OSE in February and will provide strategic leadership to the Environmental Justice Committee, Environmental Justice Fund and the Green New Deal Oversight Board.
About Lisa:
Lisa has spent more than a decade deeply invested in building power for low-income communities of color around issues of health equity, worker’s rights, immigration and environmental justice. Most recently she was a strategy consultant for local organizations and institutions including: 4Culture, City of Seattle, Seattle Foundation and King County Public Health. She was the Executive Director at FEEST, an organization dedicated to fostering radical joy for youth of color through organizing for food justice in South King County schools. Under her leadership, FEEST’s operating budget tripled in less than 4 years, doubled youth engagement capacity and underwent a major strategic planning initiative. Prior to FEEST, she was an organizer with UNITE HERE, a labor union representing low-wage hospitality workers, predominantly immigrants and refugees. In 2009, Lisa was an immigrant rights advocate at the esteemed Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco where she helped build the nation’s first undocumented Asian youth project, ASPIRE, and organized for both the state and federal DREAM Act. She has a B.A in Political Science & International Studies from UC-San Diego and was a UC Berkley Goldman Public Policy & International Affairs Fellow. When Lisa is not supporting leaders you can find her writing, reading poetry, trying new soup recipes, rock climbing, or attempting to go running with her rescue dog, Odie.
Lauri Jordana (she/her/hers) — Fresh Bucks Communications Specialist
Lauri joined OSE in March and will be with us for several months to manage the communications strategy and implementation for the rollout of both the new e-benefits card and the Fresh Bucks rebrand.
About Lauri:
Lauri’s career has been mostly focused on Hispanic marketing and communications, and she is excited to now be making a meaningful, local impact to residents in her own hometown! Lauri spent the past eight years as senior advertising manager at T-Mobile, where she managed all national Hispanic advertising campaigns and served as primary stakeholder for all Spanish-language communications companywide. Before that, she had a small firm specializing in Hispanic marketing strategy and communications, Conexión Marketing. In fact, it was there that Lauri served a similar role as today—leading the Latino communications strategy and execution for King County’s Farmers Market Access Project, promoting fresh produce access opportunities for recipients of WIC benefits. Lauri’s undergrad degree is from WSU, in Foreign Languages & Literature, and she earned her MBA from Seattle U. She lives on Capitol Hill with her husband Alan and cat Zucca. You may see the cat on calls from time to time, but you’ll never see the camera-shy husband.
José Manuel Vasquez (he/him/them) – Green New Deal
In his new role, José will establish and staff the Green New Deal Oversight Board as well as provide strategic leadership on workforce development & economic opportunity in the climate space.
About José:
José is a displaced immigrant — descendant of the indigenous people from the Mixteco region of Oaxaca, Mexico. His family immigrated to the South Park neighborhood in the early 90’s, where he grew up near the banks of the Duwamish River. José graduated from the University of Washington Foster School of Business and throughout the years has successfully launched and led small businesses, non-profits, and equity initiatives across our city and region. He helped establish and lead the Latino Community Fund of Washington State for close to a decade, spent two years serving as a bridge between our local immigrant and refugee populations and local government through the City of Seattle’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and is now joining the amazing Climate Justice team here at OSE. He was deeply involved in the development of Seattle’s Equity and Environment Agenda and establishing the Environmental Justice Fund, ensuring that our communities most impacted by climate change are at the forefront of leading Environmental Justice efforts across the city.
José is also a passionate supporter of the Sounders Football Club, and is a board member of both La Barra Fuerza Verde, the Latinx supporter group and the RAVE Foundation, the official charitable arm of the Seattle Sounders FC.
Alyssa Patrick (she/her/hers) – Strategic Advisor
Alyssa currently wears many hats on the OSE food policy team. Her work ranges from supporting the City’s emergency food response through federal and state policy analysis to leading projects increasing access to fresh fruit and vegetables for students and Fresh Bucks customers.
About Alyssa:
Alyssa’s life and work is deeply rooted in Washington State and a desire for a more equitable future. She grew up in Yakima and her career has included supporting Washington State University economic development efforts through storytelling and legislators and councilmembers through policy analysis. At OSE, she has had the opportunity to work alongside colleagues and community groups on access to nutritious, culturally relevant food. She earned her bachelor’s from WSU and Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Washington. Alyssa is also on the Jackson Foundation Leadership Committee, where she is helping develop sustainable structures for a growing network of public service-minded leaders. She is also passionate about supporting young people, something she has done through Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Technology Access Foundation. Outside of work you can find Alyssa cooking, nerding out about some food or music podcast, spending time with family and friends, reading, exploring a park, or dabbling in creative writing.