Staff and Board of Zero Waste Washington

Heather Trim, Executive Director, joined Zero Waste Washington in 2016. Prior to Zero Waste Washington, Heather has been active in zero waste issues, including helping lead the Seattle bag campaign and helping get the ban on styrofoam serviceware products passed. Previously, Heather was Director of Science and Policy at Futurewise, focusing on habitat, shoreline, stormwater and other issues related to landuse. Before that, she worked on similar issues and including toxic pollution and plastics. Heather earned a BS in geology from Yale University and a PhD from UCLA in geochemistry (Contact: heather[at]zerowastewashington[dot]org or 206-441-1790)

Tareq Fayyad is an environmental sustainability educator and coach serving eco-conscious Seattlites under Trillium Sustainability (@trillium.eco). They’re living their best life working with individuals and groups to change the culture of consumption and reclaiming our role as stewards of our backyards. Tareq also works as an instructor for Dirt Corps helping students get practical experience and discover new job possibilities in the green sector. Before transitioning to the environmental field, they worked in telecommunications for twelve years. Outside of work, you can find them in the kitchen cooking family recipes or tending their messy wild garden!

Samantha Kwok is an Account Supervisor at C+C, a Seattle-based communications agency built to do good, working with brands and organizations seeking to make a positive impact and moving the needle on making the world a better place. She has supported marketing campaigns that have focused on recycling and public health for nonprofits and government agencies. Sam works remotely from Los Angeles, CA.

Alessandra Pistoia is the Director of Circular Economy Strategy at Microsoft, where she leads initiatives that drive waste prevention and material reuse and recovery across global operations. Her work embeds zero waste and circularity as a core business strategy, influencing industry-wide change. Alessandra has an academic background in ecology and business administration, which informs her approach to creating innovative solutions for a circular economy. Outside of work, Alessandra enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, and reading a range of genres. Alessandra’s professional and personal interests align around a shared goal: fostering a healthier planet for communities and individuals.

Madhuri Venkatasamy is the Sustainability Specialist at the Tribal Solid Waste Action Network (TSWAN), where she leads waste management initiatives across tribal communities in Washington State. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Practices and another in Computer Science Engineering. Her professional background includes conducting waste assessments with Republic Services and managing recycling education outreach for TrashTalk Project WA. Committed to living her values, Madhuri embraces a minimal‑waste lifestyle by celebrating sustainably, sharing recycling knowledge with her community, and carrying reusable essentials in her daily life. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time outdoors with her daughter and connecting with friends.

Susan Vossler agrees that “The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.” (Chief Seattle). She is passionate about waste reduction and litter mitigation and leads a team of Adopt a Highway volunteers. Susan was previously a registered nurse but then put that aside to raise three kids and volunteer in their schools including setting up composting and recycling programs in the school cafeterias, with guidance from King County Green Schools Program. Volunteering in her community and on behalf of the planet is ongoing even now that her kids are grown. She believes her individual acts of recycling and picking up litter must be supplemented by policy and legislation to bring about real change.

Holly Alpine has a passion for making big impacts for positive change towards a more sustainable, greener, cleaner, more equitable world. Holly is Co-Founder of the Enabled Emissions Campaign which works to confront the role of advanced technologies – including AI, IoT, and cloud computing – in driving increased fossil fuel production. Previously at Microsoft, Holly started and led the global Community Environmental Sustainability program for Microsoft’s Datacenter Community Development team; building a program to positively impact the long-term environmental health of the communities in Microsoft’s global datacenter footprint. Beyond work, Holly is on the Board of Directors for American Forests, frequently engages publicly to share her sustainability experience, and is very active in the outdoor community rock climbing, ice climbing, ski mountaineering, paragliding, trail running, and mountain biking, and has several speed records on Washington peaks.

Moji Igun is the founder of Blue Daisi Consulting which offers zero waste + sustainability consulting services to small businesses. She serves small businesses by connecting them with the tools and resources they need to reduce waste and implement more earth-friendly business practices. Moji is certified as a TRUE Zero Waste Advisor and enjoys drawing connections between zero waste and the broader spectrum of sustainability. You’ll likely find Moji nerding out about plants, cats, or sustainable small businesses.

Teresa Jones has over 30 years of experience working in television. In late 2006, she joined the Startup Sales Team at KUNS-TV, the local Univision affiliate, where her current title is Multi-Media Market Consultant. In the course of her career, Teresa has produced and co-hosted several Spanish Language TV and Radio programs. She does Voice-Overs on TV/Radio commercials, documentaries and promotional videos, and has Emceed at several local community events. Teresa is very involved in the Latino Community. Over the last 10 years, she has sat on several Boards, including Casa Latina and the Pierce County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. More recently, she served as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Washington Hispanic Media Association or WAHMA.

Kyle Loring detests waste, and fondly recalls a time when the local dump on Anderson Island doubled as an exchange depot, and when a youngster could collect and turn in recycling to earn a little pocket change. Although a few decades have passed, Kyle continues to look for ways to reduce waste in his personal life and is thrilled to support Zero Waste’s efforts to curb waste at a grander scale. In his day job, he wields environmental and land use laws to empower clients to save species and beautiful places from extinction. In his off hours, he explores as many of those places as possible, preferably with his wife and his bike.

Mai Nguyen serves at as the Chief Operating Officer of Seattle Goodwill and oversees a wide and critical scope of service for the organizations operations across Northwest Washington including information technology, asset management, financial operations, and risk management.  Mai has been recognized for her commitment to her community throughout her career, including receiving the Denise Louie Education Center 2016 Dream Award for her dedication to early education for children and families in the Seattle area. She currently serves as the board treasurer for George Pocock Rowing Foundation.

Shirlee Tan, PhD has been working in the field of science policy for over 17 years, with a main focus on the effects of chemicals on human health. Her career has primarily focused on chemical regulation and science policy at the national, international, and now local levels. Her early career began at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where she served as an Environmental fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has since worked for the Smithsonian Institution, the EPA, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France, as a consultant to the Endocrine Society, and now as the lead toxicologist for Public Health Seattle and King County. Shirlee strongly believes that everyone has the right to know how chemicals affect health, and an informed public can help decision-making and the market towards safer and cleaner products and policies. In her spare time Shirlee loves exploring the natural world with her family and experimenting in the kitchen.

Sally Wolf has been an enthusiastic volunteer on environmental issues for many years. She worked on the successful ban on styrofoam, opting out of yellow pages delivery and the Green Bag Campaign in Seattle, and as a former member of the Board of Directors of CELP (The Council for Environmental Law and Policy) has worked on the Columbia River Treaty and other clean water issues in Washington State. She is a retired attorney whose career included most recently serving as the Internal Auditor for the Seattle Housing Authority. She was a long-term member of the board of Building Changes, addressing the complicated issues of homelessness. In her free time she enjoys hiking, biking, traveling and spending time with friends.