Invite Us to Speak and/or Lecture
Kier Blake (They/Them) is a black, non-binary person of Jamaican heritage. In addition to being the co-founder and current co-director of Start:Empowerment, Kier studied Nonprofit and Collective Organizational Management & Development at NYU. Now, they are a candidate in pursuing an MSc in Environmental Policy and Sustainability with a focus in Environmental Justice and planning at the New School.
Topics Kier
Covers:
Alexia Leclercq (She/They) a first-generation immigrant to the U.S is of Taiwanese and French nationality. In addition to being the co-founder and current co-director of Start:Empowerment, Alexia is a graduate student at Harvard and graduated summa cumm laude studying Politics and Economics of Inequality at NYU. Alexia believes in riding the gap between education and action to create meaningful change.
Topics Alexia
Covers:
Environmental Justice
Grassroots Organizing and Campaigning
Climate Policy: Land and Water Advocacy
Capitalism Studies & Political Ecology
Developing & Implementing Social & Environmental Justice Programming
Reframing Youth Activism
Systems Change Frameworks Beyond "Sustainability": Our reGENERATION
Creative Community Building & Development
Urban Design & Spatial Transformation
Promoting Popular Education in the Environmental Movement
Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism
Kier's honors:
Alexia's honors:
Kier's work has been recognized by actress Regina Hall's Solutions Project, the NYU Liberal Studies Social Impact Panel, the NYCDOE Office of Sustainability, and more. Furthermore, they have been invited to speak on their consulting work and management experiences at multiple events and panels hosted by the NYU Florentine EU Working Group, NYC Urban Fellows Alumni Association, NYU Sustainability Office, and EarthJustice.
They have reached over 6,000 people and hope to continue inspiring action.
Alexia's work has been recognized by NYU Gallatin, NYU Global Awards Center, the NYCDOE Office of Sustainability, Earth Island Institute and more. Furthermore, they have been invited to speak on their work as an environmental justice organizer at multiple events and panels hosted by NYU Gallatin, Bioneers Conference, Future Coalition, Solar One, Our Climate Voices, National Student Divestment, EarthJustice, Austin Youth River Watch, and more.
They have reached over 10,000 people and hope to continue inspiring action.

Start:Empowerment gave an excellent guest lecture in my course, introducing my students to issues of justice, food security, and climate change. They covered these complex topics clearly and passionately, engaging students with a wide range of existing familiarity with these topics. After class, my students were asking follow-up questions about the best ways they could get involved and requesting future lectures on environmental justice. I am so glad Start:Empowerment was able to give a guest lecture, and I will absolutely be inviting them back to speak to my students in the coming semesters!
— Talbot Andrews, PhD
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science
University of Connecticut
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