meet our steering committee

Stefania Tomaskovic, Ph.D., (she/her) serves as Coalition Director for the Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience. She believes that a strong, resilient Texas is possible: one where every person can access safe, affordable housing, where every neighborhood has healthy air, water, and soil, and where our economy is strengthened by meaningful work opportunities that support healthy livelihoods without doing harm to each other or the environment.

Prior to joining CEER, Stefania worked with Public Citizen, a national nonprofit group dedicated to representing the people’s voice in the halls of power.Stefania has also worked as a chaplain and a geologist.

 Carmen (she/her/ella) is a foreign medical graduate who has experience working to educate and engage communities around health equity. Carmen worked with epilepsy patients in Corpus Christi and along the Southern border of Texas. She relocated to Houston from California, where she worked for community health centers in risk management, patient relations and conflict management. Prior to emigrating to the US, she worked as a physician in community health centers in Mexico in primary and public health. Carmen has lived in several states and seen the impact humans and industry are having on our environment.  

Andy (he/they | el/elle) is a born and raised Houstonian from the northwest Cypress suburbs & identifies as a bisexual man of non-binary/gender non-conforming experience. They come from a working class disabled Tejano Mexican American household and became a First Generation college graduate from The University of Texas at Austin. Passionate about anti-oppression, he has over ten years of facilitation, public speaking, volunteering, fundraising, community organizing/building, social justice advocacy, and progressive political activism. As board member of the Houston chapter of Impulse Group International, Andy works to create a brave space to engage, support and connect gay men as well as lesbian, bi, trans, & other queer folks in a stronger & healthier community. He is a Taurus dog parent to two daughters, stereotypical millennial, watches way too much TV, and has not eaten meat since 2007.

Stephany (she/her/ella) is a multilingual professional from Laredo, TX and relocated to the Houston area in 2016. She comes from a working class Mexican household and is a First Generation immigrant. She has comprehensive knowledge of Spanish and English, which she has been using as an interpreter in the medical and legal fields helping be a voice for the Spanish speakers in her community. In addition to her political advocacy & community organizing, Stephany enjoys cooking, learning about plants, nature walks & hanging out with her nieces and nephews.

Paolo (he/him/his) serves as the Regional Resilience Campaign Policy Coordinator and Organizer. He comes from a working-class family from the suburbs of Detroit. Educated at Michigan State University in Public Policy, where he gained the passion for protecting our land, air, and water through creating an economy that supports clean energy jobs. Prior to joining CEER, Paolo worked on community organizing projects to help voter turnout during the Michigan presidential election and special senate run-off elections in Georgia in 2020. He followed this with an environmental coalition building project, ensuring a couple of Michigan’s Representatives voted yes on legislation that would positively protect Michigan’s nature resources and reduce impacts affecting Michiganders.