We recently connected with Olivia Collins and have shared our conversation below.

Olivia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

The CLEO Institute is a women-led 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization exclusively dedicated to climate crisis education and advocacy. Founded in 2010, The CLEO Institute’s mission is to educate & empower communities to demand climate action, ensuring a safe, just, & healthy environment for all. Our vision, is to live in a world in which all people, governments, & organizations are informed, engaged, & taking action on critical climate issues.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have been in this field for a long time. I am blessed to have had a meandering career in the environmental space. I did not follow straight career path, but rather worked and volunteered in different capacities, in different fields, till I really found what I ultimately wanted to focus on, which is the climate crisis.

Following graduation from San Francisco State University, in Sustainability and Social Justice, I worked with many different organizations on community engagement work. I did internships across the US and abroad. Working with food security nonprofits, island conservation, natural building in New Mexico, community education and waste management in India and more. It wasn’t until years later, after completing a master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment that I realized that climate change was where I needed to focus my energy. It was THE issue that not only threatened everything else, but that tied everything together. After bouncing around from California to Canada to Puerto Rico, I settled in Miami and found The CLEO Institute.

When I moved to Miami permanently in 2017, a few months before Hurricane Irma, I started looking into climate in Miami. At that time, I only found a few articles mentioning sea level rise. After further digging, I got in touch with former Pinecrest Mayor, Cindy Lerner, who put me in touch with CLEO’s founder, Caroline Lewis. And the rest is history. I began volunteering with CLEO and in the fall of 2018, I was onboarded as a part-time coordinator. A year later, I became a program manager and a year after that, a Program Director.

The CLEO Institute is an incredible organization. I’ve had the privilege of watching it grow from a 4-woman organization based in Miami in 2018, to a 20+ person staff in 2023, working across the state of Florida. Having the opportunity to work on issues that are so aligned with my personal values, alongside a special team of incredible humans has been the biggest privilege of my life. Through our work, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with municipalities, artists, elected officials, universities, other nonprofits, community leaders and stakeholders across the state, to move the needle on climate policy. And I can say with certainty that the climate space in Miami is radically different than it was, when I first moved here in 2017. The conversation on policy has moved from just looking at sea level rise, to including crucial issues like climate justice, the intersections of climate and health, climate gentrification, extreme heat and more. Seeing change happen in real-time these past years has given me hope that we can win this race.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Since 2010, CLEO has been a trusted community partner with a long history in building climate literacy across Florida, while emphasizing the urgency of climate data and the seriousness of its impacts on vulnerable communities. Founded by Caroline Lewis, CLEO’s focus has been and remains, education, engagement, & advocacy. Long before I became a team member, The CLEO Institute was a leader in the climate justice movement empowering and advocating for a just transition. Our success is in large part because our approach includes a top down, bottom up strategy, to make sure everyone has a seat at the table; and we bring the table to the community. Therefore by bringing all stakeholders into the fold, we are more successful in accomplishing our goals.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting and shifting gears is part of our daily life in the nonprofit space, especially if your work involves the climate crisis. In this field we need to move fast and act quickly, because the climate science is constantly evolving and predictions are changing rapidly. The urgency has never been so clear. We have less than a decade to make significant changes if we want to avoid the worst of the climate impacts between now and the end of the century. In addition, climate has also become a hot button political issue, which means election cycles also impact how we do our work. We have to be quick on our feet and constantly adjust our approach, as opportunities and information change. One of our goals has always been to support and galvanize the youth, since they will bear the brunt of climate impacts and have been so vocal in the fight to mitigate the climate crisis. Therefore a large part of our work is aimed at providing tools, opportunities and capacity building trainings to our high school and college GenCLEO members. These include how to write op-eds, how to speak to elected officials, how to speak accurately on climate science, citizen science work and more. We are equipping them with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for themselves, their families and a better future for all. Overall, this strategy has been widely successful, as our youth members have really stepped up and been the catalyst for many local climate policy wins. So we try to jump on as many of those opportunities as possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cleoinstitute.org
• Instagram: @CLEOInstitute
• Facebook: The CLEO Institute
• Linkedin: The CLEO Institute
• Twitter: @CLEOInstitute
• Youtube: @TheCLEOInstitute
• Other: TikTok: @CLEOInstitute

Image Credits
Image credit for First image uploaded with me and the little girl and the t-short, is named Jorge Castillo Photography to credit him. Otherwise all other 4 images were taken by CLEO staff and partners.