staff
Shannon Anderson, Director of Advocacy
Shannon Anderson is the Director of Advocacy for Earth Charter Indiana where she works with Indiana cities and towns as well as youth climate leaders. Her academic background is in cell biology, with many years of laboratory research on fundamental mechanisms that direct the life cycle of an eukaryotic cell and how DNA compression is managed. She transitioned to political advocacy in 2007 as a result of personal mission to end inaction on climate change, working on many election campaigns, be they for candidates or specific issues, in the Greater NYC Area and several other states. She moved to Indiana in 2013 and immediately became active in the Indiana Climate Collaboration, Indiana Moral Mondays where she served as the Chair of Legislative Action, and in the Power Indy Forward Campaign. She took a job with Earth Charter Indiana as the Communications Director for Sustainable Indiana 2016, their Bicentennial Legacy Project, in 2015. She has served on the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Executive Committee for 4 years. She was the Hoosier Environmental Council Climate Activist of the Year for 2016 and was named Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute’s Resilience Hero in 2020.
Colleen Donahoe, Communications Manager
Colleen Donahoe (she/her) helps streamline internal and external communication through administrative support, volunteer recruitment, event organization, and social media. She has a degree in Wildlife Science from Purdue University and a decade of experience in horticulture. Her commitment to environmental justice and conservation lead her to work for several years as an environmental educator in schools, camps, organic farms, and local parks. She started studying and teaching yoga regularly in 2009 and in 2015 she founded Persimmon Herb School with her husband.
Miranda Frausto, Latino/x/e Outreach Coordinator
Miranda Frausto graduated from IUPUI in May 2021 with a degree in Sustainable Management and Policy. She has lived in three countries -- born in Mexico City, raised in Toronto, and grew up in Carmel. Miranda began her climate advocacy work in high school, serving as the Head Youth Leader for the Promise Project. She and her peers worked with elected leaders in Carmel to draft and pass the first youth-led climate resolution in the state. Two years later, she helped put the resolution into action as the City of Carmel’s McKinney Climate Fellow. There, she conducted the city’s first greenhouse gas inventories of local and community emissions and laid the groundwork for Carmel’s climate action planning process. Miranda interned with the IUI Office of Sustainability for all four years of her undergrad, focusing on waste reduction and food recovery efforts. In her previous role, she served as the Manager of Volunteer Programs at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and led the volunteer appreciation and engagement of hundreds of volunteers across the city. In her current role, Miranda works to engage the Latine community in eco-therapy and nature programming. Her primary (bilingual) initiative is Proyecto SOL, connecting Latine students and families with nature to support mental and physical health, as well as to strengthen personal relationships with nature.
Chris Hartley, Operations Manager
Chris Hartley (he/him) grew up in North Carolina and Georgia and received a degree in Political Science from Beloit College in Wisconsin. As Operations Manager at Earth Charter, Chris uses various technical skills to build processes, connect silos, solve mysteries and answer tough questions. He has two young children and enjoys learning everything, exploring the world, running, and climbing things.
Jim Poyser, Director of Advancement
Jim Poyser joined ECI on Sept. 1, 2013, as Executive Director then transitioned to Director of Advancement in early 2022. His diverse employment history includes delivering the South Bend Tribune (ages 11-15), serving as an orderly at the Bloomington Convalescent Center (after college), running a house painting business, teaching language arts at The Children’s House, and editorial staff leadership positions at The Bloomington Voice, Breeze Magazine, NUVO Newsweekly and Indiana Living Green. Throughout the 90s and early 2000s his essays and news haiku were published in free weeklies around the country. As for his climate crisis education work, he was trained by the Climate Reality Project in 2013 and has presented to thousands of people, including live presentations, radio and TV interviews, sermons, and a TEDx talk. He is the creator of a climate change game show, The Ain’t Too Late Show, and his newest theater project is Climate Follies, short comedies about the unfunniest thing ever. He is Producer of Little Warriors, the award-winning documentary that tells the story of youth climate action in Indianapolis, and he is author of a book of short stories, The Last Actor and Other Stories (2020). In 2015, he was honored by the Hoosier Environmental Council with an Environmentalist of the Year award, and in 2019 was named one of United Way of Central Indiana’s 100 Heroes. He lives in Indianapolis where he enjoys kayaking on the White River and bicycling pretty much everywhere.
tatjana Rebelle, Director of Engagement
Tatjana Rebelle (they/them) is the Director of Engagement for Earth Charter Indiana, focusing on youth programming and leadership development, sustainability projects for schools through the grants program Indiana Thriving Schools Challenge and the development and implementation of ECI’s summer camps. They have been active in the Indianapolis social justice movement for nearly a decade focusing on connecting international indigenous solidarity movements into a local lens to create systems change in Indiana.
Tatjana has served as an Mayoral appointed member of the Indianapolis Food Access Advisory Commission and spoken locally about the connections of food and climate, including at 2023 Farm Aid. They are a grower for Kheprw Institute's Growin’ Good in the Hood community garden. They also recently received the Ambassador award during the 2024 Best of Green Schools Award presented by the Center for Green Schools and the Green Schools National Network.
Interns
Isabel Reina
Latino/x/e Relationships Intern: Isabel is a senior at Brownsburg High School. She enjoys playing soccer for her high school and competing in speech and debate. In the past few years, Isabel has discovered her interest in environmental studies. She plans to attend Purdue University to pursue a career in electrical engineering and continue in solar engineering. Isabel believes that anyone can make a difference by playing their part in their community. She is passionate about both engineering and sustainability and will continue this work after high school.
Veda Thangudu
Youth Environmental Press Team: Raised in Fishers, IN, Veda is currently studying Biology at Purdue University and part of the John Martinson Honors College. Her long term goal is to work in the research field. She has been passionate about combatting the climate crisis and uplifting young voices since high school, and served as one of the directors for Youth Environmental Press Team. In addition to her work with Earth Charter Indiana, she’s involved in various student organizations and research on Purdue’s campus. In her free time, Veda enjoys painting, photography and having fun with friends and family. We’re thrilled Veda stayed with ECI to work as an intern with the YEPT throughout the year!
Nyela Waiss
Bilingual Nature Intern: Nyela is a recent Graduate of Winston-Salem State University with a degree in Political Science focusing on public administration and policy. With her minor in Spanish she developed a deep appreciation for Latinx culture and a desire to advocate for the Latinx community. She has worked for several years at Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, first as a Youth Tree Team member/ leader, and now as an Urban Naturalist. KIB helped expand her interest in nature and conservation. At ECI, Nyela works directly with Miranda to support our bilingual after school club, Proyecto Sol and is eager toteach youth about the different ways to care for and protect our environment.