Celebrating Sumona Majumdar, our Chief Executive Officer with Earth Island Institute 

In honor of Women’s History Month, KIDS for the BAY is thrilled to highlight Sumona Majumdar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of our fiscal sponsor, Earth Island Institute, and her leadership in the environmental field. Before working with Earth Island as the General Counsel and Director of Earth Island Advocates, Sumona served as a trial attorney for the Environmental Enforcement section of the United States Department of Justice. Sumona stepped up to take the helm of Earth Island in March 2023, replacing Dave Phillips, one of the founders and the previous Executive Director for 40 years, along with John Knox. Read the full story.  

KIDS for the BAY staff were excited to sit down with Sumona to discuss her journey and her goals for the future of Earth Island. “How has your work in federal environmental law influenced your goals for Earth Island Institute?” we asked Sumona. “As a trial attorney, I studied the intersections of environmental issues, gender and class. My work in federal environmental law led me to realize the importance of learning how environmental issues impact all groups of people and how all of our solutions need to be intersectional. At Earth Island, we are prioritizing environmental solutions that address intersections between environmentalism, race, class, gender, and other crucial areas.” 

Sumona also spent part of her early career serving in the Peace Corps in a small agricultural village in the Middle Atlas mountains in northern Morocco, and discussed how the experience influenced her. “My experience serving in the Peace Corps shaped the person I am today. I planted fruit-bearing trees and helped restore native trees in an area impacted by deforestation and erosion. The people in my host community had so much lived experience and I learned so much from them. The only way to learn was if you spoke with others and worked with the community, so I also learned Darija, a dialect of Arabic spoken in Morocco.” 

Sumona discussed what brings her the most joy in her work. “What I enjoy the most about my role at Earth Island is seeing the impacts of all the work that our projects do. I enjoy connecting with and working alongside Project Directors, and seeing all of the positive solutions to pressing environmental issues that we’re supporting through Earth Island Institute.” 

KIDS for the BAY has been a project of Earth Island since 1995. There are currently more than 75 projects under Earth Island sponsorship that are creating solutions to the interconnected challenges and threats facing our planet. KIDS for the BAY is proud to be a part of the diverse network of environmental solutions that Earth Island supports. 

“I am thrilled to work with Sumona, as a Project Director of Earth Island, and to support her work and leadership. Within a few months of starting her new role, Sumona reached out to me about a collaboration with Earth Island’s lawsuits against big plastic polluters. She had the creative idea for KIDS for the BAY students to include plastic trash brand audits in their watershed cleanup projects. These efforts have inspired the KIDS for the BAY team to increase our focus on corporate responsibility for the plastic pollution our students are finding in their neighborhoods. Sumona has even offered to speak to our students about the importance of this work. As the mom of two young children, Sumona really understands the value of meaningful environmental education experiences. Sumona has also increased the capacity for project support at Earth Island, and I am excited to see the outcomes of the strategic planning process she is currently leading.”
Mandi Billinge, Executive Director/Founder, KIDS for the BAY

KIDS for the BAY is also thankful for our Earth Island Program Advisor, Cecilia Mejia, and her support for our work. Cecilia’s role as liaison between KftB and Earth Island Institute and her background working with diverse communities, nonprofits and government stakeholders to educate and empower frontline communities, make her an invaluable resource for KftB.

Cecilia shared who inspires her and her work: “Women in the field really inspire me. My peers inspire me. My friend from college hosted an event for New York Climate Week last fall. It was a wonderful experience to be in the audience for that event and see how far we’ve come since college. Sage Lenier, the Founder/Executive Director of Sustainable & Just Future, and a recognized climate leader, also really inspires me because her work has such an impact and she follows her heart so truly.”

To conclude our conversation with Sumona, we asked, “How do you see KIDS for the BAY’s mission aligning with Earth Island Institute’s broader goals?”

“Broadly speaking, Earth Island Institute exists to create a world that is more sustainable and just, where all life can thrive. When you think about the problems that we face, as a planet, and as all of humanity, there are all these interconnected and very complex problems. These problems are going to require a diverse set of solutions coming from a diverse set of communities, and that’s whether you’re talking about environmental problems or any other social justice issue. Our hypothesis as an organization is that we can have an immense impact by creating the infrastructure that lets diverse solutions and communities thrive,” said Majumdar. “KIDS for the BAY is one of those solutions that, along with around 79 other projects, forms a network of solutions that result in a bigger impact than if all of these individual projects was its own organization. That’s the beauty of what Earth Island is; we are this collection of solutions! Our hope is that we can provide the services that allow you to really focus on your mission without too much time spent on the administrative side of things.”
Sumona Majumdar, Chief Executive Officer, Earth Island Institute

Thank you, Sumona and Cecilia, for all the wonderful work you are doing for people and for our planet.