The Climate Leadership Circle

A leadership journey for powerful women actively shaping climate resilience.

Supporting women leaders guiding our climate future

The Climate Leadership Circle is an invitation to step out of the urgency of climate work and into a space for reflection, connection, and leadership growth.

This six-month journey brings together a small group of women working in climate resilience to explore what it means to lead thoughtfully and sustainably in a field defined by complexity and urgency.

Each cohort includes 6–8 women who gather regularly in facilitated conversations designed to support deeper inquiry into leadership, purpose, and the challenges of navigating climate work.

The Climate Leadership Circle offers something that is often missing in professional environments: a trusted community of peers who understand the realities of this work and who are committed to supporting one another’s growth.

  • Each session is intentionally designed as a space for thoughtful dialogue and reflection.

    Participants explore a range of topics relevant to women’s climate leadership, including:

    • navigating complexity and uncertainty

    • leadership identity and purpose

    • sustaining energy and resilience in climate work

    • balancing professional ambition with personal wellbeing

    • building influence and confidence in collaborative environments

    Through facilitated conversation and reflective exercises, participants examine how they show up across different facets of their work and lives.

    Equally important, the cohort creates space for participants to listen deeply and support one another as they share their own experiences, challenges, and insights.

  • Climate resilience work often requires leaders to hold enormous complexity—technical, political, and emotional.

    Yet many women working in this field do not have spaces where they can step back, reflect, and connect with peers navigating similar challenges.

    The Leadership Circle provides that space.

    It is not a traditional leadership training. Instead, it is a shared journey of reflection, inquiry, and connection that supports participants in developing a more grounded and sustainable approach to leadership.

    • Small cohort of 6–8 participants

    • Approximately six months in duration

    • Facilitated group conversations and reflective exercises

    • Confidential and supportive environment

    • Connection with women across the climate resilience field

    The small size of the cohort allows for deeper relationships and meaningful dialogue.

  • The Leadership Circle is designed for mid-career women working in climate resilience and related fields, including professionals in:

    • government

    • nonprofit organizations

    • consulting and planning

    • philanthropy

    • research and policy

    Participants are often navigating expanding leadership roles and seeking a space to reflect on the direction of their work and leadership.

  • Through the Climate Leadership Circle, participants will:

    • Strengthen their leadership identity by gaining clarity on their values, strengths, and leadership style.

    • Build confidence and influence in complex professional environments through peer dialogue and reflection.

    • Develop a more sustainable approach to leadership, with practices that support resilience and long-term impact in climate work.

    • Cultivate a trusted network of peers across the climate resilience field for ongoing support and collaboration.

    • Clarify their next leadership edge, identifying the opportunities and challenges they are ready to step into next.

Let’s step into transformative leadership together.

The challenges ahead require thoughtful, resilient leadership. Through shared reflection and connection, the Climate Leadership Circle supports women working across the climate resilience field as they continue to grow, lead, and shape the solutions our communities need.

I'm ready

Meet the 2025 Cohort

  • Abigail Doerr

    Abigail Doerr (she/her) is a climate and transportation policy leader with a track record of building impactful coalitions and driving transformative policy change at the local, regional, and state levels.

  • Jessica Tovar

    Jessica Guadalupe Tovar is the Executive Director with the Local Clean Energy Alliance based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  • Susan Silber

    Susan has more than 30 years of experience working as program creator, fundraiser, project manager, strategic planner and educator in the field of community resilience and sustainability.

  • Naama Ras-Yaseef

    Naama serves as the Senior Manager of the Climate Ready Communities Program at The Watershed Project, a program she envisioned and initiated to build community resilience through participatory design and nature-based solutions.

  • Katie Robinson

    Katie Robinson is a Senior Innovation Fellow with the Pisces Foundation, where she supports and advises the foundation’s impact-oriented program strategy and operations focused on collaboration and movement building.

  • Francesca Pedraza

    Currently serving as Program Director of Rise South City, Francesca Pedraza has been involved in community-based work since 1993, when she joined the Young Latino Leaders program in Redwood City.

  • Kelly Havens

    Kelly Havens is a San Francisco Bay Area centered climate resilience practitioner. Kelly has over fifteen years of experience leading projects with public and private clients focused on climate adaptation, urban greening, stormwater quality, integrated water resources management, and community co-benefits.