Born and raised in Costa Rica, Monica started working on sustainability when she was 19, and has worked on this non-stop for more than 20 years. In 2014, she founded Nivela, a thought-leadership group devoted to clean development and Costa Rica Limpia, a citizen initiative. She studied Economics in Costa Rica and Environmental Management in the US. She obtained a Ph.D. in Environmental Management at Yale University. Monica is a Senior Associate at E3G in London and at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs named her “Personality of the Future” in 2014. ("Personnalité d´avenir"). In December 2016 a dream came true: Monica went to Antarctica as a member of the world's largest all-female expedition organized by Homeward Bound - and a part of her is still there.
Website: http://www.monicaaraya.org/