Dr. Sonia Villaverde, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, spent 14 years as an associate professor at Lynn University, Florida, teaching courses such as Global Warming and Climate Change, Environmental Photography, and the Impact of Climate Change in Human Health. She returned to her beloved Puerto Rico in 2013 with the mission of contributing her knowledge and skills to her people, as boricuas say: “para contribuir con su granito de arena”. She combines her background in teaching, communications, grant proposal writing, and university degree program management, with her expertise in a variety of topics including environmental science/justice, natural resources/water conservation, coastal ecology, and human health. While in Puerto Rico, she has developed expertise in non-profit management, community outreach and photovoltaics which has helped her lead transformative outreach programs using an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on environmental conservation education via the expressive arts. In her recent role as a program manager at GRID Alternatives, Sonia has had the privilege of empowering the people of Puerto Rico with the valuable skills required to join the solar industry in the island. Her unique blend of community involvement, educational principles, and photovoltaics allows her to recruit people to take advantage of the Solar IBT 120 program, which is offered at no cost and includes CPR, OSHA10, and a stipend for the contact hours during the program. She also works with the trainees of the program to assist them in securing employment. Her work at GRID Alternatives has allowed her to employ a variety of skill sets to not only successfully complete the Solar IBT 120 Program pilot program, but to continue running it beyond that this year and for many years to come. She states that one of the main reasons for the success of the program is thanks to the extraordinary leadership from GRID Alternatives in combination with the amazing team members of the Puerto Rico IBT Program. Sonia continues her commitment to environmental conservation via education, community engagement, and sustainable solutions as her main mission in life.