Reina started her non-profit journey working on climate change awareness and innovative renewable energy projects in her home province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Since then, she has supported and led sustainable public transportation and solar programs in several cities, with the most significant one being in Leyte province, Philippines in the aftermath of super-typhoon Haiyan. In more recent years, Reina joined Habitat for Humanity International, where she was part of the team that piloted market systems interventions for disaster-resilient housing for low-income households in central Philippines. She then became the project specialist for the Global Foundations, Organizations and Institutions team in Habitat’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. She is currently a Corporate Campaigner with Canopy’s MMCF Producers team.
More about me:
I now live in Atlanta, Georgia, which is also known as a “city in a forest”, it being an urban area with an unusually large tree canopy cover. This is where I truly experienced the direct benefits of living amongst trees. Atlanta is also where I earned my Masters in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and interned with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. I enjoy being in the non-profit space because I get to learn about and be part of creative solutions and meet the most interesting people. After working on housing issues in recent years, I am happy to return to my first love in the nonprofit space: being part of an environmental nonprofit — Canopy.
Why forests are important to me:
For most of my life, I’ve lived in urban areas and did not really get to experience first-hand the glory of being in a forest in my younger years, but I’ve had the privilege of going to school where awareness of social and ecological issues was part of my education. Growing up in one of the most disaster-prone and climate-vulnerable countries in the world, major typhoons and flooding were regular occurrences in my consciousness, and I understood that if we had more forest cover, a lot of the disasters would have been prevented. Since then, I have become more aware of the many benefits forests and trees have for us humans. It’s now our turn to help protect forests!
Why Canopy:
I’ve always been interested in how corporations and organizations can work together in sustainable ways to implement solutions to our world’s problems. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we are facing, and there is such a small window of time to act and enact solutions, and Canopy plays a big role in ensuring our Ancient and Endangered Forests remain protected. Canopy’s work consists of intelligent and thoughtful systemic interventions, and it is also full of intelligent, thoughtful, and fun folks!
Ask me about:
My latest attempts in gardening, being second-time Taiko drum student, the non-fiction books I am trying to read (as a fiction girlie — ask me about fiction too!), K-pop girl group music, my favourite places in the Philippines, and my sustainable personal care journey.
What ruffles my feathers:
Apathy, people littering and not recycling if there are recycling systems in place, and people in power and corporations who only have their own interests in mind without regard to humanity and the ecosystem.
