Andrea Gracia Duran

Bio
Andrea Gracia graduated with honors from the University of California, Merced in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in Management and Business Economics. During her undergraduate career, Andrea focused on sharpening her marketing skills through internships with various local organizations to help them effectively communicate their message to target audiences. Her favorite experience was with the Merced County Office of Education, where she networked with leaders, shared community resources, and highlighted uplifting student stories happening all throughout the county. Upon graduation, she began a career in sales at a promotional marketing products firm, where she learned first-hand the importance of responsible business practices. Independent research and reading fueled her curiosity about sustainability, environmental challenges, and ways she could use her education to help solve them. She became particularly  interested in exploring ways to merge current technologies, innovation and policy with natural science research to help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. At Bren, she will integrate her background in Economics with her desire to protect the health of our planet. There, she will pursue specializations in Corporate Environmental Management as well as Energy and Climate, with a focus on Strategic Environmental Communication and Media. Her goal is to lead sustainability initiatives that both increase business value and reduce carbon footprint through investment in technology, lowered resource consumption, and increased use of renewable energy.