Communications Director/Vice President, Carollo Engineers, Walnut Creek CA

Twenty-five years ago, I stumbled into environmental communications by pure chance. A temp agency mentioned a company doing something called “environmental remediation” – cleaning up radioactive waste and unexploded ordnance at old Navy bases. It sounded fascinating, so I jumped at the opportunity. Today, as Communications Director at Carollo Engineers, I spend my days figuring out how to help people understand the invisible systems that provide life’s most precious element. Most folks don’t think about where their water comes from or how it’s treated; they just turn on the tap and expect it to work. I love figuring out how to make the brilliant engineering behind that simple act make sense to everyone.

The projects I’m most excited about often start as challenges. Like when our team handed me a 50-page technical document about water reuse and said, “Make this useful for people.” We turned it into The ABCs of Water Reuse – a vibrant, illustrated guide that utilities now use to help communities understand the safety and many benefits of purified recycled water. I’m lucky to work with incredibly smart people who trust me to translate their expertise into something meaningful. That collaboration makes this work so rewarding.

Tell us how and why you became involved in socially responsible design, any thoughts on why design is an especially effective tool in achieving positive goals, and, if you wish, give us an example of a project of which you are proud?

Growing up in New York, I thought water was unlimited. It rained often, there were beautiful lakes everwhere, and I spent summers catching salamaders in streams. Moving to California 23 years ago opened my eyes. Suddenly I was living somewhere that doesn’t see rain for months, where drought cycles are part of life, wildfires feel inevitable, and the landscape is breathtakingly different. I started thinking about water differently – as something precious we can’t take for granted.  I now realize most people experience water the way I used to. They expect it to work without understanding the incredible engineering required. But with climate change, aging infrastructure, and growing populations, “business as usual” isn’t sustainable.

But here’s the exciting part: we’re living in an era of incredible innovation. Engineers are solving problems that seemed impossible decades ago. The opportunity is helping understand these solutions. When we created The ABCs of Water Reuse, we weren’t just making information prettier – we were helping people understand something complex, multifaceted, and mired in misconcpetions. Sometimes the biggest breakthrough isn’t the engineering itself; it’s helping people understand concepts that can be transformative.

Given the confluence of events and challenges our society now faces, does this moment in time present any special opportunities, urgencies or particular obstacles to designing for good?

There is an urgency for water communications. Extreme weather impacts water systems, while aging infrastructure is vulnerable to failure. But the opportunity is enormous. When storytelling and design work together, we can reshape public perception, build support for critical infrastructure, and inspire people to invest in sustainable water solutions.