ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

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.

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:

I work in politics and diplomacy. This means that I am interacting with people from different places, either geographically or intellectually, almost every moment of the day. It is my job to find areas of agreement, or help us work through controversial issues. Fundamentally, it is about consensus building – each negotiation is iterative. Because you know you will be back to discuss the same, or a different, topic on another day, you learn not to burn bridges.

At BFS, I learned some of the core values that guide my work today:

• That consensus is possible in all situations, though sometimes it requires people to stand down from their beliefs. It can take a long time before people see the value in putting the greater good before their own.

• That there is a Light in all people, and fear too. Recognizing the difference between the two is critical. Focusing on finding the Light that connects us all together is essential to finding agreement.

• Simplicity is always the best route. Speak straightforwardly, be honest and open, and others will follow your lead.

• Silence is the most powerful tool – it encourages others to talk and allows me to listen.

• Violence is never the only option – asking alternative options is hard work, but there is never just one solution to a problem.

I learned these values in elementary school at BFS. They have helped me through peace negotiations with Darfurian rebels and recalcitrant government officials; through meetings with countless presidents and ministers; through trade talks in Beijing; the release of political prisoners; and, today, as we struggle to bring our own country to confront climate change.

My time at BFS taught me to look every person in the eye – no matter what his or her rank, background, or position is in the world – and see him or her as a person, full of fears and insecurities, but with that Light inside that allows us to connect.

Taiya credits her Friends upbringing with being critical to her ability to exercise leadership and take a different perspective than the norm. Inspired by her family and her love for the earth, she works every day to make a difference.

Being on the road a lot and missing moments of her children’s development is perhaps the hardest part of her adult life. Yet, she reflects, “I feel a strong draw to make the world a better place for them and all their peers growing up in different parts of the world. They will undoubtedly have plenty of challenges to manage. Still, I hope that we can leave a few things in a better place.”