Get to Know Selena Feliciano, Reimagine Power's Public Relations and Outreach Consultant

Selena Feliciano (she/her) is the Public Relations and Outreach Consultant for? Reimagine Power. Growing up in Los Angeles, Selena has always appreciated the diversity of the city and the way that her cultural heritage has been represented, as well as the beautiful landscape.

Selena attended the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies. During her collegiate studies, she focused on cooperative structures like housing and business, as well as interpersonal and communal organization. Selena drew a lot of inspiration from the way humans can come together to shape a structure out of shared values and motivations that existed outside of profit. After graduating, Selena began searching for occupational roles that could uphold the values of her heart.

While being curious about the way that energy plays a central role in moving past the era of climate change, Selena began working at a large energy company. While working there, she met Allie Detrio , Reimagine Power’s founder and Chief Strategist, and learned much more about the policies that limit the ability to think about possible transitions of our energy system. Following this experience, she dove deeper into work that explored how energy could support shifts away from capitalism, colonization, and oppression. Selena wishes the world to shy away from the idea of “sustainability” because she believes it to be incorrect for our society to sustain ideals such as neo-colonialism and extraction. In her own words, “We need to move beyond sustainability to transformation…transforming systems to honor the sanctity of the land and one another”.?

Selena’s favorite part about working with Reimagine Power is being able to work with people who understand the essential knowledge and aspects of renewable energy policy. Recently, Selena worked alongside Allison Hilliard , Reimagine Power’s Senior Policy Analyst, and Maia Adams , Reimagine Power’s Junior Policy Analyst, to develop a map of microgrids throughout California. This visualization showed a clear picture of where there are concentrations of microgrids versus where resources are failing to be shared.

Throughout the broader stroke of 2023, Selena has also worked with Hilliard and Detrio, as well as Rachel Bird , Reimagine Power’s Policy Strategy Consultant, to produce a report that examined the roadblocks for public transportation agencies to shift their fleets. This project brought joy to Selena because it is reflective and indicative of Reimagine Power’s culture, where team members come to the table with their specific skill sets and produce collaborative resources for their clients or the public.?

Aside from her work with Reimagine Power, Selena dedicates much of her time to organizing a national campaign with the Energy Democracy Project, called Reimagined Energy for Our Communities (REFOCUS) Campaign. The narrative campaign is about linking the stories of organizing by real, everyday people across the country who are using renewable energy as a tool for a just future. With REFOCUS, Selena and her collaborators aim to invite more people into the conversation around our energy system and the possibilities for local, clean energy in communities hit first and worst by climate change.

In Selena’s free time, she enjoys surfing, biking, and camping. After graduating college, Selena moved to Oakland where she has been active as an artist, writing songs about ecology, grief, and belonging. Her music has led her to join a bicycle theater touring troupe, Agile Rascal, where they create performances about the environment. Recently, she and her troupe biked 450 miles of northern New Mexico in the span of two weeks while performing an original play. Selena enjoys being in nature, specifically, the native areas of the Redwood trees of California which she believes are “a true testament to the resiliency and community of beings that have been living for hundreds of years, and who will outlast our lifetimes”.

Looking into 2024, Selena is awaiting productive collaboration and is expecting a slew of challenges to face Reimagine Power and the renewable energy industry as a whole. Personally, she is looking forward to more movement-building as it relates to energy democracy, as well as weaving in music and artistry in an intentional way to express both grief and joy.

December 8th, 2023

Author: William Vochelli