Sustainable Works Home2021-06-10T21:27:48+00:00

We help people activate sustainable behaviors

Sustainable Works fosters healthy and more equitable communities to heal our natural environment

through interactive events, educational programs and green business initiatives

About Us

Sustainable Works partners with cities, businesses, organizations, and educational institutions in LA County in order to help them reach their sustainability and climate action goals.   Our programs are designed to provide key stakeholder groups with the motivation, knowledge, and resources needed to integrate more sustainable solutions into their daily lives.

We’re grateful for our sustainable office space located at the Center for Environmental and Urban Studies at Santa Monica College where we’ve been assisting Santa Monica – and other cities – since 1998.

Community Programs

Our Community Sustainability Program targets city residents with a range of educational and interactive  events focused around various aspects of sustainability. These events educate, inspire, and empower residents to take action and reduce their personal environmental impact.

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Community Residents Engaged

Business Programs

Our business programs helps cities create more sustainable businesses. Climate Action and Sustainability are crucial elements of a clean & safe city. Sustainable Works provides businesses with the knowledge, tools, and resources to green their operations and achieve a green certification.

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Businesses Greened

Student Programs

Our Student Program creates peer-to-peer educational opportunities to expose students to important environmental issues and help them incorporate sustainable practices into their everyday lives.  Students also learn about careers in the emerging green economy and the paths they can take to pursue them.

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Students Educated

Events

Working with cities and communities, we co-create innovative, educational events to engage and inspire their residents, businesses, and students to make more sustainable decisions. These events include sustainable film series, student contests, and green prizes and awards for notable achievements in diverse categories from the arts to business and community at-large.

Current Events

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Past Event Highlights

An Inconvenient Sequel Film Screening and Q&A with Al Gore

Thank you for attending the Environmental Documentary Screening of An Inconvenient Sequel on January 6th! We had an amazing panel discussion with former Vice [...]

January 19th, 2019|
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Check out more of our past events

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Team

Staff

Co–Executive Director & Green Business Program Director

Susy Borlido
Co–Executive Director & Community/ Residential Greening Program Director

Gina Garcia
Green Business Program Senior Account Executive

Tamsyn Hunnewell

Co–Executive Director & Green Business Program Director

Susy Borlido

Susy moved to Los Angeles in 2001 shortly after obtaining her BA in Environmental Studies and Resource Management from the University of Toronto. In addition to her Co-Executive Director role, Susy Borlido leads the Green Business Programs at Sustainable Works. She is also a GBCI TRUE Advisor, and California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) Certified Professional in Sustainable Resource Management who has helped over 700 companies green their bottom line.  She was a key player in the development, and launch of Santa Monica’s Green Business Program and the City of Santa Monica’s Green Business Certification Program. Today, Susy leads a team to assist businesses in several municipalities’ sustainability goals under the guidelines of the California Green Business Network.  In 2017, Susy spearheaded the Sustainable Works contract to develop and implement a Sustainable Business Certification Program for the City of Culver City. Prior to this, she managed many grants to engage Los Angeles businesses in LADWP’s green initiatives.  For over 17 years, Susy has been a member of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Sustainable Business Council (SMSBC). She is a key player in co-producing the annual Chamber’s Sustainable Quality Awards (SQA) and chair’s the SQA subcommittee. Her Green Business Program leadership provides the SQA’s with several strong business winners each year. Susy received two Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Awards for her hard work in business communities.

email::susy.borlido@sustainableworks.org

phone::310.458.8716; ext. 2

Co–Executive Director & Community/ Residential Greening Program Director

Gina Garcia

Originally from New York, Gina has lived in Los Angeles for so long she considers herself a native. Gina joined Sustainable Works in 2007 as an Outreach Volunteer and was also trained as a Volunteer Workshop Instructor. In early 2009, she became the Coordinator of the Student Greening Program and supervised its expansion into the Los Angeles Community College District and broke participation records at Santa Monica College. In August 2010, Gina became the Director of the Residential Greening Program, a position which allowed her to bring issues of sustainability to a broader segment of the Los Angeles Community. Since adding the role of Community Greening Program Director in 2013 she has coordinated over 35 city wide community events. Gina became Co-Executive Director of Sustainable Works in July 2014. In addition to directing the Residential and Community Programs she manages overall operations and continues to work to expand the environmental education and action mission of Sustainable Works. As an Advisory Board Member of Super Eco Kidz, a nonprofit environmental organization which educates children to care for the environment and themselves and Climate Action Santa Monica (CASM), a local grassroots organization which moves people into action on Climate Change, Gina has the opportunity to connect with and learn from other local nonprofits. She draws inspiration from her family and strives to be a model for her two daughters. She holds a BA in Speech & Theater from Montclair State University and a certification in Horticulture from UCLA

email:gina.garcia@sustainableworks.org

phone:310.458.8716; ext. 4

Green Business Program Senior Account Executive

Tamsyn Hunnewell

Tamsyn Hunnewell has over twelve years of experience in environmental management and consulting with an emphasis on water, waste and energy systems. Tamsyn is a GBCI TRUE Advisor and California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) Certified Professional with expertise in zero waste and sustainable resource management. She is also a LEED Accredited Professional who has assisted on LEED project teams. Since her arrival to Southern California in 2006, she has been involved with Sustainable Works, starting out as a volunteer. Since then, she has greened over 200 companies, successfully helping them integrate comprehensive sustainability strategies and policies, and fostering strong business community leaders. A graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in environmental engineering, Tamsyn worked for several years as an environmental engineer on billion dollar transportation-related projects in New York City. She has also consulted with local organizations, Tree People and California Climate Registry. Prior to Los Angeles, she lived in New Zealand where she assisted the work of several environmental conservation non-profits, including the World Wildlife Foundation’s Climate Change Initiative

email:tamsyn.hunnewell@sustainableworks.org

phone:310.458-8716; ext. 3

Green Business Program Account Executive

Ivannia Perez-Schlamm
Student Program Coordinator

Brenda Medina-Maldonado
Green Business Program Associate

Patricia Vinant
Santa Monica Shines Account Executive

Elektra Grant

Green Business Program Account Executive

Ivannia Perez-Schlamm

Originally from Chile, Ivannia is a bilingual English/Spanish professional who is on a mission to live a life that supports the natural environment and improves the lives of others. A believer that education is a strong pillar for change and personal improvement, Ivannia feels Sustainable Works’ mission is a perfect fit for her passion to make a difference in today’s and tomorrow’s world.  Ivannia’s career spans from sales and customer service management to marketing and advertising. In addition to a Bachelor’s Degree in Food Engineering from the Catholic University of Valparaiso in Chile, Ivannia completed the Recycling and Resource Management (RRM) Certificate of Achievement Studies from Santa Monica College. She is a USGBC LEED Green Associate and certified TRUE Advisor from Green Business Certification, Inc

Professional development:LEED Green Associate | Recycling and Resource Management Certificate of Achievement

phone:310.458.8716 x3

email:ivannia.perez@sustainableworks.org

Student Program Coordinator

Brenda Medina-Maldonado

Having lived in California all her life, Brenda is continually inspired by California’s lead in policies to combat climate change. She attended the University of California Santa Barbara and in 2013 received a Bachelor of Arts Spanish and a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics. After being in the workforce for a couple of years she decided in 2018 to go back to school to learn as much as possible about what can be done to help the environment. While at Santa Monica College she completed an Associate of Arts in Public Policy and an Associate of Science in Recycling and Resource Management. To round out these degrees she also got certified in Organics Aide and as a Sustainability Assistant. Looking to further her active involvement in promoting positive changes, she completed the Sustainable Works program as a student at Santa Monica College, and later led for several semesters as a volunteer student workshop leader. Through this experience she found that the key to change is through teaching the future leaders of America. Brenda is most inspired by the changes students make through the workshop once they learn the power they hold as individuals and community members to implement sustainable solutions in their everyday lives.

email:brenda.medina-maldonado@sustainableworks.org

phone:310.458.8716

Green Business Program Associate

Patricia Vinant

Originally from France, Patricia moved to California over 25 years ago. Patricia has a Masters in Management from EDHEC Business School and began her career internationally working in the corporate space and consulting for businesses in Silicon Valley. Now a Santa Monica resident, Patricia is a mother of four and recently completed the Recycling Resource Management (RRM) Certificate from Santa Monica College. Patricia co-founded Dellaterra, a green lifestyle blog that chronicles her journey to reduce her environmental impact and shares resources with readers on how to live better. 
As Green Business Program Associate, she is passionate about applying sustainability to business management principles. Her goal is to help companies that partner with Sustainable Works craft sustainable strategies, which can benefit their bottom line as well as the local community. Patricia strongly believes that business is the most scalable mechanism we have to solve the climate crisis.

email:patricia.vinant@sustainableworks.org

phone:310.458-8716; ext. 3

Santa Monica Shines Account Executive

Elektra Grant

Elektra has over eighteen years of experience as a sustainability professional with an emphasis on business outreach, facilities assessments, and education. She is a LEED Green Associate and a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor with a Masters in Science in Regenerative Studies (Sustainability). 

Elektra became involved with Sustainable Works in 2003 as Office Manager/Program Associate, primarily assisting with the management and administrative development of Sustainable Works’ 9-week workshop series for Santa Monica College students.  Since then, she has onboarded over 500 businesses and multifamily dwellings to the City of Los Angeles’ recycLA program, performed sustainability assessments for arts and cultural facilities, participated in over 20 sustainability projects on three college campuses, and taught or mentored several college-level sustainability courses.  Elektra is happy to return to Sustainable Works, to support Santa Monica businesses in operating safely while navigating the shifting landscape of COVID-19.

email:elektra.grant@sustainableworks.org

phone:310.458.8716

Advisory Board

Board Chair

Vicki Liao
Vice Chair

Albin Gielicz
Board Member

Bonny Bentzin
Board Member

Diane Forte
Board Chair

Vicki Liao

Vicki has 10 years of business development, sales and strategy experience in the media and entertainment industry. She is passionate about sustainability and an advocate for environmental education. She currently serves on the Greener World Board at Sony Pictures studio, which is responsible for planning initiatives to educate employees on sustainability and environmental issues. Additionally, as the co-head of Sony’s employee garden, she launched a learning program in partnership with Sony’s Daycare and Employee Resource Groups to teach sustainable gardening.

In her free time, Vicki enjoys gardening, biking around downtown LA and reading sci-fi books. She holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. 

Vice Chair

Albin Gielicz

Albin is a co-author of a recently published book for children about sustainability and climate change called The Super Sustainables. It was through his Coro Fellowship program in 2013 that he got a close up look at the harsh reality of our recent drought and its impact on our lives. At that point he put pen to paper upon realizing that we all play a role in mitigating the effects of climate change and making sure that we have a healthy planet for generations to come.

Originally from Arlington Heights, Illinois, he now considers Santa Monica to be home.  Since moving here in 2007, he’s chaired the Social Services Commission, North of Montana Association and Virginia Avenue Park Advisory Board. Currently he also serves on the Recreation and Parks Commission, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism Board and Buy Local Santa Monica Executive Committee.  Albin is committed to improving the quality of life for all Santa Monicans, and is a strong advocate for supporting local businesses in order to sustain a healthy economy.  You can often find Albin biking around town, running along the beach bike path or walking his dog Zoe in Palisades Park.

Albin graduated from Miami University (Ohio) and received an MBA from Thunderbird, School of Global Management.  

Board Member

Bonny Bentzin

Bonny is a key member of the leadership team for sustainability at UCLA, helping manage sustainability across the university and working to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to create a world class living laboratory for sustainability. Bonny began her career in higher education sustainability as the Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainability Initiatives and the Director of University Sustainability Practices at Arizona State University, where she was instrumental in designing the overarching sustainability vision and executing the campus sustainability strategy for the university. Her role as the founding Director of University Sustainability Practices included an expansive project portfolio spanning all area of operations for the University’s four campuses, as well as working on community engagement, organizational change management and the academic and research missions for the institution. She then served as the Director of Sustainability for GreenerU, a greater Boston area consulting firm focusing on the higher-ed sector in New England.

Prior to joining UCLA, Bonny was the Head of Sustainability and Project Integration for the Trust for Sustainable Development, working on Spirit Bay Developments, coordinating all sustainability aspects and planning key projects for a new town concept being developed in partnership with the Sc’ianew First Nation (Beecher Bay Band) near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Board Member

Diane Forte

Diane enjoys building on more than 10 years of experience in environmental policy and external affairs to help provide advice to nonprofits on their strategic planning. Her current position is in Government Affairs/Local Public Affairs for the Westside Cities for Southern California Edison. Prior to this position, Diane was Deputy Director External Affairs with the Public Interest Network, where she developed strategies for increasing visibility, access and funds for the network of 70 environmental and consumer groups.

Working in collaboration with the nonprofit Move LA, Diane developed the strategy, managed and implemented the plans and coalitions to ensure passage of Measure R, the sales tax that raised $40B for transportation in LA County, and the renewable energy policy at LA Metro. Diane was also Southern California Director of The Climate Group, an international nonprofit developing corporate partnerships for climate action, and, Sustainability Director, for Environment Now Foundation.

Diane graduated from Brown University and received a Masters of City and Regional Planning from Harvard University. Diane lives in Santa Monica.

Board Member

Nurit Katz
Board Member

Bonnie Nixon
Board Member

Steve Rounds
Board Member

Bill Selby
Board Member

Nurit Katz

UCLA’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, Nurit Katz is working to foster partnerships among academic, research, and operational departments to facilitate creating a world class living laboratory for sustainability at UCLA. As Executive Officer for UCLA Facilities Management, Nurit also provides strategy support to make the university more operationally efficient and coordinates with Emergency Management on resilience planning. Nurit is also an Instructor for UCLA Extension’s Sustainability Certificate Program. In 2017 she received the Dean’s Award from UCLA Extension for outstanding instruction and contributions to the UCLA Extension community and her class was featured as one of the top 10 classes in LA in the 2012 LA Weekly’s Best of LA.

Nurit holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a Masters in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and a BA in Environmental Education from Humboldt State University. Nurit was honored as one of 100 Inspirational Alumni for the 75th Anniversary of UCLA Anderson, Public Policy alumna of the year in 2015, and recently she was recognized as one of the top 100 business trailblazers in the Women Worth Watching in Profiles in Diversity Journal.

Board Member

Bonnie Nixon

As a relentless optimist and courageous catalyst for change, Bonnie has held many high-profile positions at the global forefront of a new low carbon, resource protected and just economy. Bonnie  has served as a corporate sustainability executive, owner of an environmental planning and communications consultancy, and university educator in the following  roles; Senior Partner with Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Director of Sustainability for Mattel Toys, Executive Director of Sustainability Consortium, Director of Global Sustainability for HP, Chairwomen of Sustainable Silicon Valley, Vice President of Circlepoint, Inc. and Director of PR for Boston Harbor Cleanup Project.  

Today Bonnie is a Sustainability Strategist and Human Rights Educator with BonnEco, Inc. and specializes in complex supply chains. Bonnie graduated from Penn State in Sociology and more recently obtained her Masters’ Degree in Learning Technologies and is pursuing a PhD in Global Leadership and Change, both at Pepperdine University. Ms. Nixon believes in the power of web-based collaboration and understands that blockchain technology, gamification, social media, online education using multi-media platforms, augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, robotics and visual animation can and will dramatically accelerate a more sustainable future for future generations.

Board Member

Steve Rounds

Steve Rounds is a senior consultant at Cognizant where he focuses on supporting Fortune 500 healthcare, technology, and retail corporations in organizational change management, digital transformation, strategic assessments and business process reengineering projects. Steve is passionate about sustainability–particularly from a viewpoint of digital technology (i.e. artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, automation, etc.) which can radically empower companies and citizens to adopt environmentally sustainable behavior.

Prior to Steve’s work in consulting, he served as a paralegal at the U.S. Department of Justice within the Commercial Fraud sector.

Steve holds an MBA from the University of Georgia and a BA in International Affairs and Spanish from the George Washington University. Steve lives in Santa Monica and, in his free time, enjoys biking along the beach, participating in the rich local music and arts culture, and taking in as many spectacular sunsets along Palisades Park as he can.

Board Member

Bill Selby

In addition to teaching a wide range of courses at Santa Monica College and serving in several leadership roles, Professor Selby is recognized as an accomplished speaker in geography and earth science. In addition to being an advisor to the City of Santa Monica, Professor Selby has also been a guest lecturer at UCI and for UCLA and has taught courses at UCI as a Visiting Professor. He continues presenting at teacher training workshops, has been one of the most requested speakers for SMC’s Speakers Bureau for community groups, and presents papers each year for professional organizations, such as the AAG, APCG, and CGS.

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    The Student Sustainability Workshops will resume Fall 2021. Stay tuned for more information.

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