TAIYA SMITH Taiya Smith, ’89, is Director of the Climate Leadership Council’s China Program, which focuses on the nexus of climate change and economic growth, including carbon pricing and trade. Running this program depends upon collaboration and teamwork, skills she learned years ago on the BFS playground.
alumni SP
TLIGHT
Knitting Together the Fabric of a New Future KATELYNN CONNOLLY
Taiya thoughtfully describes the path she took to where she is today: Climate change is the biggest crisis that we are facing. I was in the private sector working on getting clean technologies to market, when it became clear that policy is just not moving fast enough here or in China. In 2017, I folded my business and decided to focus on policy development. My current work is like hiking up a mountain everyday. It is not just the challenge of the issues, but also the political dynamics that appear to pit all sides against each other. I see my job as that of a seamstress, carefully knitting together the fabric of a new future. I am focused on China, but the U.S. and China are so intertwined it isn’t possible to separate them entirely. Instead, we try to tailor solutions to situations, and making sure to emerge with a climate policy that is strong enough to carry us forward into a sustainable future, while weathering the volatile political storms of today. Luckily, I love climbing up mountains. She began her career in government at the State Department in 2003, working in Washington, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. She had previously served as a member of the facilitation team for the Burundi Peace Negotiations, led by Nelson Mandela. Diagnosed with dyslexia at an early age, Taiya attributes her success to the perseverance of her mother. “She used to type for me,” she recalls. “I learned to think analytically without being trapped in my inability to write words correctly. Instead, my mother freed my brain to explore ideas and concepts… Under her tutelage I grew up feeling lucky that I didn’t learn like other people. I had the confidence to do things differently, the way that worked for me.” Taiya earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.P.P. from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Committee on United States-China Relations. In addition, she’s an external advisor to McKinsey & Company and a nonresident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Taiya also leads an initiative to create a dynamic map of the global carbon supply chain. She lectures regularly on China, climate change, and the U.S.China relationship. Previously, Taiya was Managing Partner at Garnet Strategies. In this capacity, she advised multinational companies, financial institutions, and trade associations on climate and energy policy, U.S.-China relations, geopolitical risk, and matters arising in global forums. She was previously an expert advisor to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern in the lead up to the Paris Accord. In a recent conversation, Taiya discussed her work, and the influence that BFS has had on her career:
16
|
SEEDLINGS
