Meet the DEAL Community

Brazil

Researcher at the Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture, a postdoctoral fellow at the Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" at the University of Sao Paulo.  Research interests:  technological, circular and sustainable agriculture, pasture and  forest management; food security; sustainability standards; biodiversity; renewable energy; use of technology for socio-environmental governance; responsible finance, and the sustainable circular bio-economy. 

Puerto Rico

Recently moved to an island and am realizing how unsustainable (and fragile) everything is because of the dependence on imports. Highly interested in sustainability and regeneration and how to empower my new community to consider alternatives that are better for them and the planet. 

Belmar NJ

World citizen

Burnaby, B.C. Canada

I am an educator and facilitator with over 15 years of curriculum design experience. I have been a small business owner for the last 8 years– 5 of which were spent running a profitable regenerative farm. I am passionate about bringing Regenerative Practices to small businesses. My superpower is making complex subjects accessible and fun to learn.

Melrose, MA, USA

I'm a food systems educator, change strategist, advocate, attorney, and scholar; a mom of two young boys; and a passionate trail runner who feels most at home in the woods. For nearly fifteen years, I have developed, led, and implemented a broad range of initiatives addressing the health, environmental, and economic impacts of the food system, and promoting regenerative, equitable, and healthy food and agricultural production.  I am writing my first book, Feeding the Future: Restoring the Planet & Healing Ourselves.

France

I have a background in assisting leaders and teams in navigating change to cultivate a culture that's in tune with today's rapidly evolving landscape. My primary focus is on enabling organizations to become more flexible, meaningful, and human-centric. Over the years, I've partnered with change-makers across various industries, introducing innovative programs and practices aimed at reimagining the traditional ways of working that often hold us back. I'm excited to be part of the DEAL Community to explore the intersections between Doughnut Economics and organizational development. Specifically, I'm interested in how we can create systems that are efficient, socially just, and environmentally sustainable. I look forward to both learning from the community and contributing my own insights on how organizations can evolve to meet the complex challenges of our time. #OrganizationalChange #Sustainability #DoughnutEconomics #HumanCentricDesign #Innovation

Ivan Vazov, Sofia

Arch. Iva Stanisheva (ARB Architect, MArchD, Ba(hons) graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a specialization in Urban Design and Emergent Hybrids: Disaster and Flood Resilience. She worked in an Australian architecture and interior studio in London for 7 years where she familirise herself with the fastpased complex dynamics of the construction industry.  Her interests are focused on urban planning and the future of cities and their relationship to the environment and sustainable development. She is Assistant Professor and Lecturer in Architecture at Coventry University and an active member of the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), where she was until recently Coordinator of the Circular economy group. Took part in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) - From a linear to a circular economy in 2018 and is preparing for the 'WELL Certification' . Currently has a small design studio in Sofia and is part of the board of directors of the Circular Economy Institute in Sofia. The institute works on a variety of projects but she mainly focuses on educational projects that include guest lectures at universities, schools, etc. Currently, together with a multidisciplinary team of 5 other teachers, he leads a new elective course for the 5th year of Architecture at UASG - 'Circular Models in Construction'. The work on her project "Climate literacy, inequality and the foundations of the circular economy" funded by the program "Equality and climate justice" from the Bulgarian Women's Fund was recently completed.

West Yorkshire

Silo breaker or ‘Boundary Spanner’. Pragmatic optimist, currently juggling conflicting desires to save the planet and be a world famous popstar. Debut album and Sustainability studies both works in progress.

I help organizations, movements and people shift power to their communities using curiosity, compassion, creativity and collaboration.  I design safe spaces for diverse groups to have uncomfortable conversations about power and privilege while working collectively to shape complex, intangible wriggly things like services, strategies, organizational and systemic change. I am a firm believer in designing with, never for. My work centers the needs of people closest to a problem, the impact of design on the planet, the potential of technology, and a desire for positive, equitable, sustainable change.

USA

I am a  passionate about food and animal . I became aware of doughnut economics while researching ways to fund startups led by diverse founders. How can traditional be reimagined with doughnut econ principles? This is what my co-founders and I are currently asking ourselves. We shifted gears to start a profit and nonprofit food literacy project for universities and corporations. How can I apply regenerative and distributive thinking to US based professional service organizations? Contact me to brainstorm, to create, to organize.

Leeds, UK

I am an Ecological Economics student with a particular interest in environmental governance and policy development. My previous research has focused on the use of menstrual products, aiming to understand how their consumption can become more sustainable by tackling social, technical and infrastructural barriers. I have a strong passion for all things sustainability, and the Doughnut Economics model is no exception.    #periodpoverty   

London

Professional with a diverse design, management, and entrepreneurship background. Demonstrated commitment to driving social impact through research, design thinking, and innovation expertise. Experienced in the fintech sector, adept at leading teams, crafting user-centric experiences, product management and implementing transformative changes. With a master's in prosperity that enhances my understanding of complex systems and equips me with social approaches for addressing diverse challenges. Seeking opportunities to contribute to reimagining complex systems, delivering holistic solutions, promoting complexity, fostering learning and relationship-building.

Zürich, Switzerland

Hello, I'm Myriam Best, welcome to my profile ! As a core team member of the Swiss Donut Economics Network, I am committed to making the doughnut a reality in Switzerland. My contribution focuses on advocacy, communication and consulting for public and private actors. A few words about my journey thus far ... The unfolding social, environmental and climate crises have led me to rethink my personal and professional aspirations. A slow and complex process, accelerated by motherhood in times of the gloomy outlook synthesised by the IPCC reports. 2022 was a pivotal year that took me back to university, 15 years after my first Master's degree! Guided by a burning need to dedicate my skills, time and energy to making the world a better, fairer and more livable place for all, I joined the Masters in Degrowth: Ecology, Economy and Politics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. In doing so, I equipped myself with the best available knowledge on the causes of the social, environmental and climate crises, and delved into the discovery of post-growth economics and politics as a plausible way out of the polycrisis. More importantly, I joined an international network of committed change-makers! I am also a professional with 15 years of international corporate and client consulting experience in strategy, human resources, change management, digitalisation and organisational design. I have successfully led complex transformation programmes in international corporations and SMEs across a range of sectors. Former colleagues and clients praise my ability to make the complex accessible, to engage people of all backgrounds and to remain cool under pressure while keeping spirits high.  Happy to be in touch! Areas of interest: 

London

Career Sustainability specialist, UN recognised and award winning leader in climate education, risk management and reporting.  Currently Head of Climate risk and reporting at Simply Sustainable 

Lake Constance, Germany and Roses, Spain

My name is Christine Handte, I've been sailing around the world on the R/V Heraclitus since 1986 as both Captain and more recently as Expedition Chief. Currently I am rebuilding this 24m threemasted junk in Roses, Spain. We are hoping to launch in 2024 and continue our work in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Magdalena and Amazon rivers.  I organised expeditions and studied coral reefs, dolphins, whales as a field researcher.  Now I am particularly interested in the hands on stories of people living on and by the water. Their vision of the future of the ocean and experience of the climate emergency as real data of what is happening. 

Portland, OR

I've been in the startup/tech space for a long time after starting my career in corporate work (Accenture, Target, Viacom).  I was a founding member of Fullscreen, a pioneer in the creator economy that we sold to AT&T in 2014, and went on to strategy and product roles at Snap & TikTok.  In 2017, I also began making investments in the climate and sustainability spaces and started my own podcast discussing various solutions in climate and conservation.  In recent years I became increasingly concerned with how our current economic model alongside technology are driving long term problems both to our planet and social fabric, and that is when I found Doughnut Economics.  I left TikTok to pursue building solutions to help solve the loneliness epidemic, and continue to do advocacy and investment work in the climate sector.  

Exeter

[Every Litter bit helps!!] [ Every Litter bit helps!! ] My enthusiasm and passion for environmental resilience empower me to commit to powerful actions for combatting climate change.  

Kyiv, Ukrainw

Ukraine needs innovative approaches to recover in parallel with the ongoing war. As a lecturer on Geogglobalistics and Tourism at Taras Shevchenko National University (Kyiv, Ukraine), I consider myself responsible for providing students and professionals (in tourism and geospatial governance, in particular) with alternative approaches within the sustainability imperative framework. #climate friendly travel, #indicatorss of sustainable development, #spillover effects, etc.

Porto, Portugal

I want to learn and also share. I am a researcher on Circular Cities.  

Amsterdam

Connecting people to causes they care about. 🌱 #purposeledrecruitment

Ireland

UX designer currently enrolled in a Master's in User Experience and Service Design. My interests lie at the intersection of many themes within environmental and social sustainability.

Buchlyvie, Scotland

#degrowth #art #workshops #community

Cape Town, South Africa

Stefano  is always doing his best to follow Life’s example, in everything that he does. He celebrates that his efforts are successes even when they are failures, because he learns from and through these. Some of Life’s Principles are easier to emulate than others. Biomimicry is a philosophy with which he chooses to explore life, and to  question the deepest assumptions  of the anthropological project that is humanity’s progress.  His initial academic training was in mechatronic engineering (BEng). Thereafter, he spent half a decade working in mechanical design/engineering (in the deep sea mining, oil and gas industry), and business development and project management (in the solar energy industry).  Thereafter, he began traveling continuously and extensively for another five years (and counting), while undertaking an intuitive yet rigorous, self-directed curriculum comprising online courses, prolific reading, workshops and more. In the process, he encountered a diversity of perspectives and solutions being brought forth in service of life, and experimented with creating a few of his own.

Boston

Seeking grad school or research opportunities to deepen understanding of financial markets and practical ways to redesign them to better serve people and planet. Worked in ESG and net zero. Former shareholder advocate at Ceres: supported proponents of climate-related shareholder resolutions, and engaged large proxy voters on business case.  B.S. in Sustainability from ASU, class of 2019.