WRISE Member Profile: Meet Tenley Dalstrom

Tenley Dalstrom
Director of California Programs
New Energy Nexus

How did you get involved with WRISE?
I had the great fortune of being involved in the launch and management of the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Program for Women in Clean Energy. Kristen Graf was the Education Awardee in 2013 before WRISE had evolved out of WOWE, and when we met I had immediate respect for her vision and dedication in advancing women in the clean energy workforce. When I moved from DC to the Bay Area, I knew that WRISE was an organization I could connect with to build on my network of brilliant, superhero women in the field of clean energy.

What advice would you give a woman trying to start her career in renewables?
1. Build your network
2. Seek out a mentor and a champion
3. Be clear in what you want, and put it into the universe
4. Be thoughtful and follow through

How did you get started in this field?
Public television serves as my magic 8-ball for life… I saw a show on PBS when I was 5 or 6 years old about a lady serving in the Peace Corps, and how she was helping a community with her skills. I decided then that was what I wanted to do, and that focusing on environmental sustainability would be a good way for me to gain skills to best serve my community. The deeper I got into the field, the more I recognized that the transition to a clean energy economy would have the greatest positive geometric impact of any sustainability effort, so that became my focus. I thought it was terrific how clean energy improves health, safety, the environment, the economy, provides energy security – which strengthens national security, can enable access to education and provides job opportunities. The positive impact ripples out.

If you could give a high five to any person dead or alive who would it be?
Greta Thunberg

If your life had a theme song what would it be?
Tribe Called Quest “Scenario”