Green Queen on the Scene @ Circularity 25 🌱

May 2025

The Green Queen (aka me!) touched down at Circularity ’25, dressed in my favorite kind of green: thrifted, recycled, and ready to make a statement. You might be wondering… what exactly is circularity? Don’t worry, I was asking the same thing at first.

Even though I’ve always considered myself a Green Queen—from attending the first LEED-certified high school in my county, to organizing classmates around recycling and environmental action, to interning at The Nature Conservancy and later in undergrad,  working to reduce food waste and boost composting efforts, I just didn’t realize I was already practicing circularity.

Dr. Lyla June’s powerful keynote on Day 1 reminded me of what I’ve always known: Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities have always been at the forefront of this work. We’ve led environmental and social justice movements, modeled circular ways of living, and championed community care long before terms like "circularity" or even "environmental justice" were coined.

So let’s get to the nitty gritty, circularity is a sustainable model, process, or economic system centered around reuse and the elimination of waste. At Circularity ’25, I had the chance to learn from innovators building emerging circular models, launching bold startups, and reimagining systems to create a better future for both people and the planet. Here are a few things that really stuck with me:

In "Making Reuse a Reality," one of the biggest questions we tackled was: how do we normalize reuse—so that it’s as second nature as having a smartphone? Yes, we need funding and investment (more moolah, please!)

But most importantly, we need to close the imagination gap. That means demystifying and de-risking circular solutions for communities, corporations, and local governments. Circular systems are already cost-competitive—and not just in theory. They make economic sense, reduce long-term risk, and offer returns through job creation, resource efficiency, and waste reduction. As one speaker put it:

"We can pay now—or pay later." If we don’t invest in circular systems today, we’ll bear the long-term consequences across business, society, and the environment.

In "What Does It Really Mean to Be Regenerative?" we didn’t land on one singular answer, but I wanted to highlight the work of jøn kent, co-founder of Sanctuary Farms in Detroit, Michigan. He made space in naming the barriers to advancing regenerative models: the very intentional role of the government in systematically denying Black and Brown communities access to healthy food, leading to many folks in Detroit living in a food apartheid. By emphasizing a hyperlocal approach through Sanctuary Farms, his work shows how building community power and resilience is necessary work and regeneration starts from the ground up, literally and figuratively.

Continuing on the environmental justice train, I sat at the EJ lunch roundtable with Brian Ilcoma from Green Latinos. We dove into the history of state violence perpetuating environmental justice issues and devastating the infrastructure of Black and Brown communities. From the Tulsa Massacre to the work of the Black Panthers (who also ran hyperlocal food programs) to modern-day overproliferation of toxic facilities in BIPOC neighborhoods, the pattern is clear. We also talked about what it means to be an ally vs. an accomplice. For privileged folks, being an ally might feel easy “yes I stand in support”—but following through with action and true commitment is what takes real effort. It might be inconvenient, but for Black and Brown people, it’s our livelihood.

I ended the conference with a beautiful sunrise hike to Mount Galbraith with Akiera and Erada, two other Emerging Leaders as we debriefed our experience and learnings. The cold, slippery terrain was sprinkled with fat, juicy earthworms, cacti, and some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. It made me think of Dr. Asha Singhal’s talk on biomimicry and the lessons we can learn from nature: beauty exists even in the harshest, toughest climates. And so do the solutions we need. 

Bryan Lewis, Emerging Leader Program Manager, kept posing the question: what’s inspiring you? And as a sustainability superhero-in-training, being at Circularity 25 reminded me that I’m not alone in this mission. I’m deeply grateful to everyone I spoke with this past week at the conference. A special shoutout to the Emerging Leaders cohort and alumni—an incredible, diverse group of young people, each bringing their own cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and visions for sustainability. Some of us are in tech, others in waste, design, AI, or the blue economy. And guess what? We need everyone.

We’re not just here to be included—or welcomed into existing rooms and tables—we're here to lead, to redesign systems, and to challenge the notion that the path of least resistance will get us where we need to go. We're here to shift culture and make circularity accessible, joyful, and rooted in community care.

That’s what being a Green Queen is all about. <3

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