The Green Leaders Fellowship program is run by EarthShare Texas annually and made possible by generous contributions from H-E-B. The program is designed to cultivate emerging environmental professionals through hands-on experience, strategic mentorship, and mission-driven placements across the state.
This blog series highlights the work of our Green Leaders Fellows, showcasing the research, storytelling, and advocacy they contributed to their individual host organizations. From policy analysis to community engagement, each fellow brought a unique lens to the environmental challenges facing Texas today.
While starting the 2024 Green Leaders Fellowship, Cara Johnson was finishing up her M.A. in Sustainability Studies from Texas State University. Cara had her sights set on an environmental career, but she wasn’t sure what specific field to focus on.
By working with Solar Austin, Cara got to explore a potential career path and work on a master’s thesis in a field that was interesting to her. Solar Austin’s mission involves expanding everyone’s access to the benefits of solar energy. Inspired by the work they were doing, Cara focused her thesis on social justice and equitable access to renewable energy. In the end, the fellowship helped Cara confirm that energy was the field she wanted to pursue after graduation.
The Fellowship Project
Through EarthShare Texas’ GLF program, Solar Austin applied to host two fellows because they wanted to revamp their communications approach but didn’t have the staff capacity to do it all themselves. EarthShare paired them with Cara and Luis Caballero, another fellow who we’ll write about in a future post. They were thrilled with the work Cara and Luis started, and wound up hiring Cara to keep working there after the fellowship ended.
After meeting with leadership, Cara and Luis realized the best way to help Solar Austin reach their goals was to fully re-design their website, print collateral, and social media graphics. Cara used her fellowship to create a prototype of a new website. While she already had a bachelor’s degree in Media Studies, it was her first time managing a professional web design project.
The fellowship was also a catalyst for Cara’s Master’s thesis. It allowed her to conduct real research on equitable pathways for deploying renewable energy.
Networking
During her fellowship, Cara built a close relationship with a member of Solar Austin’s leadership, who has continued mentoring her even after she left Solar Austin and moved out of state.
“The fellowship afforded me opportunities for true networking: not only meeting new people and discovering the breadth of the industry, but also forming meaningful mentorship relationships.”
After the Fellowship
Solar Austin liked Cara’s work so much they hired her part-time to bring her prototype to life and publish a fully revamped website. Many of the frameworks and designs she created are still in use today at solaraustin.org.
“Being exposed to the intersection of energy and environmental and social justice opened my eyes to what my future career could look like.”
More recently, Cara became an Energy Innovator Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy, who placed her with North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives. In her current role she studies the reliability, resilience, affordability, and sustainability of microgrids. (Microgrids are like mini power grids that often include a renewable power source and operate either independently or connected to the larger power grid.)
Cara says she wouldn’t have found her current role without having gone through EarthShare Texas’ Green Leaders Fellowship program. Thanks to another Green Leaders Fellow who she continued networking with after the program was complete, Cara found out about the Energy Innovator Fellowship she’s currently participating in. Without having made that connection, Cara might not have heard about the job opportunity.
To learn more about the Green Leaders Fellowship, visit earthshare-texas.org/earthshare-texas-fellowship.
