Songqiao Yao

Biography

Songqiao Yao is an innovator that believes in a holistic approach to solve social and environmental issues. As an educator, activists and entrepreneur, she has experience working on global environmental challenges such as food, water and climate change.

Since 2009, she has been a key organizer for Chinese youth delegation to UN Climate Conference and on the board of China Youth Climate Action Network. In 2012, she helped build the environmental NGO International Rivers' China office and strengthened its program on river protection in China through extensive field research and policy publications. Her ethnographic research along the Nu/Salween river has won a National Geographic Global Explorer Award.

As a social entrepreneur, she has co-founded a healthy juice and snacks brand in Beijing and is now working on projects in Sierra Leone to reduce food wastage and strengthen local food security. Passionate about building the social innovation ecosystem in China, Songqiao frequently writes and comments on sustainability and social entrepreneurship in Chinese media, and designs transformative educational experiences for Chinese youth. In December 2015, she has launched a campaign on Antarctic conservation and climate change at the Paris COP21 Conference and plans to impact 2048 children to take actions for a sustainable future.

She graduated summa cum laude in Critical Social Thought from Mount Holyoke College and has an Mphil in Geography from University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar.