Introducing Jess Taylor, our partnerships manager

Introducing Jess Taylor our dynamic Partnerships Manager who combines her passion for climate action and expertise in business development to lead our partnerships program. With enough energy to power Greater Sydney and beyond, Jess is a valued member of the Climate Salad team and it's our great pleasure to introduce her to you.

Q. Jess, what inspired you to work in Climate Tech? 

• Since high school, I had begun to realise the unsustainable behaviours and habits of our society and the impact this was beginning to have on our beautiful planet. I continually seek to check and improve my own actions to reduce my footprint while being the friendly but squeaky wheel to my friends, family and anyone who’d listen. Early in my career I realised that I felt most fulfilled in a role when my contribution was supporting something larger than myself and had a meaningful positive impact. I knew that I wanted to align myself with a business that was sustainable and seeking to shift how we operate and have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to support the Climate Salad community to grow and enhance the value we provide back to the ecosystem. 

Q. What are your main responsibilities at Climate Salad? 

• My contribution is to seek out businesses that align well with our ethos and mission, understand the mutual value that we can bring to the Climate Tech ecosystem and secure partners for our various projects to empower us to support the amazing work of the Climate Tech community.  

Q. What are your super powers? 

• I am an empath and love building strong, genuine connections with people. I enjoy going beyond the surface to deeply understand and relate to others. I am also your typical Type A person in the way that I love a list, am extremely organised and methodical with how I go about my tasks. 

Q. What excites you most about Climate Tech? 

• It is so inspiring to see the scope and breadth of incredibly innovative ideas that seek to solve big and very complex problems. But this isn’t enough, we need to inspire mass behavioural change, engage governments to implement relevant policies and break down barriers to scaling up the viable solutions to our biggest Climate-related problems. 

Q. How do you take your coffee? 

• While I’ll typically go for an Oat Milk Flat White, I am much more of a tea drinker. Love me some flavoured water. 

Q. What do you do for fun on the weekends? 

• For some me-time, I love to hike and be out in the sunshine. I’m also incredibly social so I’m usually catching up with friends and when possible (cheers COVID), having a boogie to funky music. 

Q. What do you do to help our Climate apart from all the amazing work you do at Climate Salad? 

• I am always researching and seeking new ways that I can reduce my impact. I’ve convinced my housemates to switch over our electricity to a green source, switch over our light fittings to LED, compost and minimise both food and packaging waste. I’ve offset my car carbon emissions (although I am doing my best to reduce driving as much as possible) and seeking out volunteer opportunities for businesses doing great work in the sustainability sector.