Yani Zoilo (she/her)

How are you using education to build more sustainable and equitable communities? Tell us about your EE work and impact.

Through Local Earth Club, I use education as a bridge between science and community life. In Northern Sierra Madre, we advance climate literacy by co-building a Sea Turtle Research and Learning Center and designing immersive eco-learning experiences that weave climate science with local knowledge. These programs help communities, youth, and local leaders better understand their environment and strengthen their adaptive capacity.

In Bicol, we focus on disaster education through play, art, storybooks, and child-centered workshops that help children process trauma and learn safety and resilience skills. Through Babayi, a social enterprise I co-founded, we extend this learning through livelihood, transforming Bicol weaves and natural fibers into sustainable products that fund disaster education and community recovery.

Meanwhile, Hellokasyon turns travel into education, offering immersive trips that allow travelers to learn directly from local communities about conservation, weaving, and resilience.

Across these efforts, education becomes a way to reclaim agency, empowering children, women, and local leaders to take an active role in protecting and sustaining their communities.

Tell us about your journey to where you are today. What inspired you? What has your path been like?

I grew up in a flood-prone region in the Philippines, where typhoons shaped how I experienced school, home, and community. Every storm meant canceled classes, crowded evacuation centers, and uncertainty that lingered long after the rain stopped. In 2024, when Typhoons Kristine and Pepito struck consecutively, the devastation was unlike anything we had faced. I co-led the Monitoring Team under the Tarabangan Bicol Volunteer Disaster Network, responding to urgent rescue requests from over 29,000 people.

From these experiences, I realized that climate literacy and nature-based solutions are essential for communities to not only survive but thrive. Understanding the science behind our environment helps us rebuild stronger and safer.

Before this, I built my career in human resources, focusing on people development and systems building, skills that later became the foundation of how I listen, organize, and mobilize communities.

I eventually left the corporate path to co-found Local Earth Club, Hellokasyon PH, and Babayi Weaves. What began with heartbreak has grown into a mission: to reach those often left out of climate conversations and create spaces where learning fuels dignity, resilience, and hope. My journey is shaped by storms, but also by communities who refuse to be left behind.

A Little More About Me

What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
Lead gently but bravely. Real change happens when we listen deeply, build trust, and create spaces where communities can lead their own stories.

What is the wildest or most surprising environmental/nature fun-fact you know?
Sea turtles return to the exact beach where they were born. Imagine that level of loyalty, even I can’t commit that hard to a coffee shop.

Do you prefer sunrise, sunset, midday, or midnight?
Sunset. It feels like a soft exhale, the world saying, “you did your best today, now you can rest.”

What’s your favorite food to celebrate with? 
I always celebrate with mango cake, especially those topped with lots of fresh Philippine mangoes!