One big lesson from The New School was
to challenge everything.
By challenging traditional models of thinking,
that type of environment really allowed me to
learn from others, to trust myself,
and to really imagine new ways to do things.
I'm Alexandria McBride and I'm the
director of environment and
sustainability at ITI.
ITI stands for Information Technology Industry Council
and we're a global tech trade
association based in Washington, DC.
I work with technology companies and try
to figure out ways that we can work with
governments to come up with policies
that work.
Policies that help the environment
but also policies that make
our companies continue to innovate.
And what's exciting is the work that these
companies are doing is very closely
related to environment sustainability
and the types of changes we need to see.
I'm able to go to different Congressmen
with really clear solutions and kind of
say like, "hey how can we come up with
smart policies that allow our companies
to continue coming up with those
solutions?"
I received my degree in
environment and sustainability
management from The Milano School of
International Affairs, Management & Urban Policy.
Environmental policy can be
taught in one way, i.e. the policy side
or i.e. maybe with more science
or maybe with a more social justice angle
and the benefit of my program is that I was able
to get a sample of each.
The New School
helped me develop my passion for
environmental justice by giving me a
chance to study it and examine it in a
way that I had not done before.
I walked away with an experience that was
valuable to my work here at ITI
as well as to the work that I do in the community.
I also now chair the environmental
justice and climate committee for the NAACP DC chapter.
And that means I work on issues
affecting the DC community around environment and climate justice.
One thing I've learned at The
New School
is how to enter a space respectfully.
I got to know other
organizations that were on the front lines,
that were within the communities that
were being affected worst
or hit the hardest.
We are working together to
convene and share best practices and
advocate as a group.
We took some time to partner on Earth Day back in April.
-Yes, so many people out.
-Yes, we had folks from the mayor's office,
we had our resident manger, and
and DC Housing Authority behind us.
DC Empowerment.
A lot of folks came out that Saturday
in all that rain.
I love this city.
And being able to fight for
and advocate for the people in this city
helps me come to work every morning
and feel good.
I'm able to take the expertise I'm developing here
to communities that don't often get those types of resources.
This is exactly what I wanted to do after graduating.
