Sasha Tenenbaum

Director, Public Engagement & Media Relations

Sasha Tenenbaum brings to her role more than 20 years of experience using media, messaging, and digital strategy to advance mission-driven organizations.

Sasha works within the CALSTART policy team to decarbonize the transportation sector, which is urgently needed to drive down greenhouse gas emissions responsible for warming our planet.

Prior to CALSTART, Sasha spent eight years enabling the Environmental Defense Fund’s parent-led climate advocacy project, Moms Clean Air Force, to become a recognized leader in the energy and environment advocacy space through earned and paid media, high-level speaking engagements, and social media campaigns. She deployed environmental, public health, science, technological, and legal data—as well as personal narratives—to lift up the benefits of climate action. This portfolio included bringing visibility to the many ways that federal policies can enable zero-emission transportation, including by funding electric school buses in priority communities. This experience landed placements in media outlets ranging from network TV (e.g., Good Morning America, TODAY Show) and cable news (e.g., CNN, MSNBC, The Weather Channel) to print outlets (e.g., The New York Times, The Washington Post, POLITICO, Bloomberg News, E&E, Associated Press, O, The Oprah Magazine, Martha Stewart, Prevention).

Across her career, Sasha’s issue focus has ranged from climate change and clean energy (Environmental Defense Fund, The Climate Group, Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition) to criminal justice (Interpol, Coalition for the International Criminal Court) to humanitarian and cultural affairs (International Rescue Committee, Center for Jewish History).

Sasha is based in Washington, DC, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and dog. She holds an MA in international affairs from Columbia University, a Political Science Certificate from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Lyon (France), and a BA in journalism and French from the University of Oregon. Sasha is fluent in French and proficient in Spanish. In her spare time, Sasha is an amateur photographer with a passion for portraiture and news photography. She is also an avid hiker and humble gardener. She is active in the Washington DC Climate Coalition that helped to pass the city’s first clean energy act in 2018.