Lola Ajigbotafe lajigbotafe@ocsustainability.org
Intern
Lola Ajigbotafe is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine and has a degree in Applied Ecology. Lola is passionate about sustainable development and attained accreditation in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in June 2009. Previously, Lola interned with the City of Irvine’s Environmental Programs section where she participated in the Climate Action Plan, LEED Projects, and ARRA funding and reporting for projects. Currently, she is volunteering as a legal assistant at a new law office, Lee Law Associates, and as an intern at OCSC.
Whitney Barlow wbarlow@ocsustainability.org
Sustainable Development Coordinator
Whitney was born and raised in Orange County and is a recent graduate of Sonoma State University with a degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Planning. Whitney has many interests in the sustainability field and is looking for her place in it where she can grow and thrive. Naturally drawn to the sustainablity-green movement, her background is primarily City and Urban Planning oriented.
Whitney desires to become more involved with the larger sustainability/Sustainable Development and the whole systems concept. She is considering getting LEED certified to support the possibility of working for small firms that support sustainability and sustainable development. Whitney is helping the OCSC with education/training, research, website development, and efforts in making Orange County more public transportation friendly, and to keep businesses and the community up to date on climate change.
Diane Bucka dbucka@ocsustainability.org
Communications Coordinator
Diane launched her career in the corporate training arena, doing instructional design and facilitating management and organizational development programs, ultimately becoming Nationwide Training & Program Development Manager for a large financial institution. In that role she led the department responsible for creating instructional material to meet product knowledge, management, customer service, and sales training needs and conducted train-the-trainer sessions for Regional Managers across the U.S.
She recently founded Responsible Business Registry, a source of news and resources on energy, environment and sustainable business. In addition to her own site, her work has been seen on TriplePundit, Green Business Bureau, CleanTechOC, and Environmental Health Science Journal. In her work as a freelance writer and marketing consultant, she creates powerful content, including website copy, brochures, email campaigns, presentations, training and instructional needs, or partners with clients to polish their existing materials. Diane’s community-based nonprofit marketing efforts have supported Habitat for Humanity, Families Forward, Irvine Public Schools Foundation and Northwood High School.
Diane earned her B.A.in Communication Studies at UC Santa Barbara and a Paralegal Certificate at UC Irvine. In 2011, she began UC Irvine’s Sustainability Management program and was a Finalist in the Chapman MBA Scholarship Competition “Tomorrow’s Leaders.”
Lynne Cheng lcheng@ocsustainability.org
Community Sustainability Education Specialist
Lynne Cheng is a junior at the University of California, Irvine studying Social Ecology and Business Management. Her classes focus on planning, policy and design and environmental sustainability. She is involved with the UCI Green Initiative Fund, which allocates funding to campus organizations to promote sustainable solutions and projects to enhance student life.
Having experienced life in various countries and cultures, she learned from an early age the importance of respecting one’s community and resources. In her free time she enjoys dancing to the radio and exploring the world of food. She is pursuing a career in corporate planning and/or consulting on the subject of sustainability.
Edna Cruz ecruz@ocsustainability.org
Community Transportation Advocate
Edna migrated from Mexico when she was 6 years old and grew up in the city of Santa Ana. Self-made, she put herself through Santa Ana College during which she married and had a child, receiving an Associate of Arts degree from Santa Ana College in 2008 (The first college graduate in her family). She transferred to Cal Poly Pomona in the Fall of 2009 as an Urban Planning major. She began working on a bicycle master plan for the city of Pomona including completing surveys, field observations, and research on different ways to implement a Bicycle Master Plan and bicycle parking. Her instructor, Dr. Urey, nominated her and she was chosen amongst 4 other participants in Washington D.C. in January 2012 as a participant for the 2012 Transportation Research Board- Minority Fellowship. She is continuing her focus on bicycle transportation and her senior project is based on planning for bicycle facilities in lower-income communities.
She has strong interest in community outreach in the transportation field, specifically, educating lower-income households and Spanish speaking communities about the importance of public transportation and what needs to be done to achieve stronger sustainability efforts. She plans to go back to school for her graduate degree in Transportation.
Jan Johnson jjohnson@ocsustainability.org
Public Outreach Coordinator
Jan Johnson is an experienced communications professional with a track record of implementing effective corporate and marketing communications programs for emerging and complex technologies, for companies ranging in size from start-ups and spin-offs to Global 100 companies. Jan specializes in simplifying complex technologies in understandable ways for a wide range of technology, business-to-business and business-to- consumer companies.
With a background in technology, Jan’s current focus is clean technology, sustainability and renewable energy. Jan has related experience in algae-based renewable fuel and related technologies, SMART GRID technology, waste-to-clean-energy systems, OLED and LCD displays, solid-state drives, industrial electric vehicles, fuel cells, LED lighting and other low power or energy-efficient technologies. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Pacific Lutheran University, and an MBA in Marketing from Youngstown State University. She has also completed an MBA Update Certificate Program at the University of California, Irvine, Paul Merage School of Business.
Jan is involved in many community charitable organizations, and encourages others to support local food pantries, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and Hope4Kids International. Other business networking organizations in which she participates include the Tech Coast Venture Network, an organization in which business professionals in Orange County support entrepreneurs, and for which she is on the Executive Board; the Orange County Renewable Energy Society; SoCal Business Marketing Association; the Public Relations Society of America and the Professional Communications Exchange.
Paul Samuels psamuels@ocsustainability.org
Urban Sustainability & Planning Specialist
Paul Samuels is a fifth year undergraduate student majoring in Urban Studies and minoring in both Urban and Regional Planning and Global Sustainability. He has worked with Parson Brinckerhoff as a environmental planning intern which allowed him to utilize his studies as an undergraduate and apply them into the real world. He has the proven capability to successfully map and code data using ArcGIS. His skill set includes ArcGIS Mapping, AutoCAD, and Microsoft Office Suite.
Paul also has an administrative background working as an office assistant at the Bren Events Center, coordinating special events and assisting in the preparation of agenda reports and documents. He also helped several professors in conducting research, developing his organizational, time management, and communication skills.
Clara Tobin ctobin@ocsustainability.org
Business Sustainability Specialist
Clara is a passionate environmental advocate whose life has been shaped by a love for the natural world. Born in San Francisco, and raised in the small rural town of Auburn, CA., she has a love of the outdoors and is an avid rock climber with trips to such majestic places such as Yosemite, Joshua Tree, and Alaska. She studied abroad with a local community college in Buenos Aires, Argentina for three months. She relocated to Orange County and continued community college, eventually transferring to San Diego State University where she is currently pursuing a degree in Environmental Studies and Public Policy. There she is the Chief Operations Officer for the Enviro-Business Society, an organization that promotes sustainability both on campus and in the community.
She is passionate about all aspects of sustainable and healthy communities, from environmental justice and green development to clean energy. Her goal is to build a career upon raising awareness about the importance of sustainability and a focus on sustainability in business.
