issue no. 6: Diandra Marizet Esparza
On taking off the ED hat and cooking lunch from scratch.
Diandra Marizet Esparza (she/her) is a cultural researcher, community organizer, writer and poet. Diandra co-founded Intersectional Environmentalist in 2020 and has spent the last four years serving as the Executive Director, before recently transitioning to her new role as Director of Impact. A natural curator with a knack for visual communication, her work building Intersectional Environmentalist (IE) has reshaped and shifted the narrative of the modern environmental justice movements in the United States and beyond. Here’s how Diandra navigates being in the movement for the long haul.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity — July 2024.
On falling in love with the planet:
As far as environmental seeds that are planted, we're all primed as kids, I think, to love the planet. We learn our ABCs literally by identifying animals. For me, I think of a childhood on Mexican ranches, being surrounded by horses, and elders that had permission to scold children. That was a really cool way to grow up in Texas and the horses played such a big role — it was normal for people who were finished practicing or performing to hand the reins to one of the little chitlins running around, and we would walk and cool down the horses to keep them well. All those little experiences really primed me to feel the connection between being outside and taking care of the environment around us so that we can continue to practice outdoor recreation together.
In high school and college, assimilation starts to take place for everyone — we assimilate to a culture of capitalism. We assimilate to cultures of professionalism. We assimilate to all these things that are White supremacist, capitalist friendly, or whatever it is, and that's what causes us to shed those habits that allow us to express a connectivity with animals, with the planet, and with each other. We all have different things we're able to hang onto in the face of capitalism when we're in our teens and early 20s - for me, it really was animals. In college, I had a really cool opportunity to volunteer for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Getting to rehabilitate dolphins was a really awesome experience that planted a lot of seeds for me — Why do dolphins get stranded? What is it that they're ingesting? What's happening to the water that's causing them to swim away from their pods? I learned a lot without really knowing how it would connect to all the things I would do later on.
On finding your own unique lens within an issue:
After college, I moved to New York and started working in fashion. That's where all my dots connected. I really loved branding, storytelling, marketing and consumer behavior. For whatever reason, likely because of the artistic side, fashion was what I chose. It wasn’t that I was going to become some fashionista; fashion was where I was going to get to explore the human mind — What makes people happy? What makes people feel connected to things? It was going to be this psychological journey for me, and I was so pumped for it.
I started learning more about sustainable fashion. At this time, the term “sustainability” was new to the fashion space. “Eco-friendly” was kind of on the scene but “sustainability” was really new. I think because of who I am, because of the experiences that I have and the cultural things that I care about, I thought it was normal to learn about sustainability from a lens that also included the impact to people. It didn't clock for me yet that there were people that were only learning about sustainability from a low waste, Mason jars, everything glass, eco-friendly mentality — basically, how do we just swap eco-friendly for sustainability? It took me a second to register that. Meanwhile, I'm learning about fair labor and also about toxins in the water. Obviously, I'm clocking that because of my background in understanding what harms dolphins but those toxins also bleed into people’s soil, their water sources, and the soil to grow their food. The environmental issues that are connected to the fashion industry go on and on, and I’m learning how it connects to people. But whenever I enter panels, events, and networking meetups of what is starting to emerge as the sustainable fashion scene, no one wants to talk about the people side. Everyone wants to talk about the material, technical, or innovation sides but no one wants to talk about the people side.
When you're willing to stick with it, you find your people that way. I was able to build a really cool sustainable fashion community for myself until I came to this point of what I knew would be the end of my career in fashion — I was feeling so misaligned. Even if ten years from now people are looking at sustainability the way I am, it did not feel like my medium anymore. I saw a lot of people that I resonated with that were going to stick with it, and I'm glad they did. We need people that do that for every industry.
On the origin story of IE:
I wasn't vibing in fashion. I quit my job, and I decided to go back to Texas. This was a month before the COVID-19 lockdown in the United States. I felt very lucky and privileged that I was able to go home to Texas and quarantine with my family. I took some time to be with my family and reconnect with communal care in a way that I wasn’t able to in New York. While I was kind of “not working,” I was pursuing this passion blog that no one read. I loved writing and was obsessed with curating people, solutions, alternatives, and products that I thought could reshape the world. Again, no one was reading my little Squarespace blog, but I ended up meeting Leah Thomas. I DM-ed her and I was like, “Hey, I really like your blog,” and we got to chit chatting like virtual girlies do during the pandemic.
Eventually, we got to talking about creating our own space whether people read it or not, and I did this really cute interview with her on my blog. Days before I was going to publish, Leah's post started going viral. This is summer of 2020, during the uprisings of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Leah makes her viral, very beautifully designed Canva post that says, “Environmentalists for Black Lives Matter” and that post starts going viral.
I was in Austin, Texas at the time with some of the other co-founders of IE - we’re literally going to or just getting back from a protest - when we hopped on the phone and Leah's like, “I feel like we need to do something.” We decided to create an Instagram account specifically for IE, which I'm so glad we did. While we’re launching the Instagram account, I took my blog template format and turned it into IE's first ever resource hub. Meanwhile, all these brands are having PR crises saying, “People of color don't go outside,” and then two seconds later they look really silly because we launched the blog, and it's a beautiful showcase of amazing work that people of color have been doing across so many different spaces. To be able to promote, what people did or didn't call but certainly was, intersectional work in those spaces — man! I think I’ve been sucked in ever since.
On just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should:
When you're building an organization, people tend to not know that there are a lot of pieces that have to be put in place so that you can function and operate as an organization — I certainly didn't know and was learning along the way. Thankfully in my fashion era, I engaged in trend analytics, so my Excel skills were on point. What comes with that is at least enough acumen from a budgeting, financing, and forecasting standpoint to be like, “Can we make this happen?” Was I well versed in how to start a nonprofit? No. Was I well versed in all the things you need to do with the IRS so that you can function properly? No. Was I aware of how to follow compliance rules, HR rules, and formally start a nonprofit? No, I didn't know any of that, but I knew how to move money.
Between the little crew of us that started IE, there was a lot of emphasis on the creative and that is what I think IE should have been focusing on. As a result of that, there was no one to take on the operational side, to develop the infrastructure, or to be on the phone with IRS for two hours — all those things that have to be put in place so that you can redistribute those micro grants that you want to redistribute to your community, accept the money from brands that want to pay you to create incredible resources, etc. All these things were happening and somebody had to step up.
It sounded really cool to be executive director at the time - I was an assistant in my last job in the fashion industry, so this was great. It really was the coolest experience. I learned so much, and honestly I feel like I killed that. While I was doing all of that, my real love of storytelling, curating, writing and artistic communications meant also overseeing our resource development — What are we saying? How are we altering someone's existence? How are we making the world better through this artistic communication? I was overseeing resource development, the launch of our podcast, and the drop of a lot of our new toolkits, while I was also largely supporting the operational side of IE. Like anybody in a startup environment, I was choosing actively to wear all those hats because I wanted us to thrive, to survive, and to be able to do all the things because I didn't want to lose sight of the things that I loved.
Four years later, we are finally in a place where we've worked really hard to grow to be able to afford and actually hire an executive director that does know about compliance. I'll never forget my team asking me, “Do you want to learn that?” And I responded, “No, I really don't.” I have such an incredible support system on the team, and I think we always knew that nobody wants to do this shit but somebody’s got to. It came to the point where it was clear that we have such an option, which is such a cool, privileged place to be in because we worked our asses off to even have these options. I could totally learn about compliance and become an expert in grant writing, operations, and more, but I don’t want to.
On mentors needing mentors, too:
We put a call out for our new ED, and I'm so excited because my transition to being the Director of Impact has been so amazing. I'm still overseeing everything, but I'm shedding all the operational things and the past few weeks have been such a cool experience for me to be able to have all these ideas that actually feel plausible. I have the time and energy to grow this program, to activate a community member in this way, to come up with more consulting offerings that will not only bring us into the room with corporations but also bring some of the grassroots organizers that we work with, too.
For the past four years I've had to mentor others and trickle down all the things that I know to the best of my ability. I've certainly learned so much from the people around me, but I've never actually had that opportunity to have someone mentor me. I was in my 20s when we started IE and now I'm in my early 30s, and I'm excited for someone to be able to mentor me because that's not something I've gotten to experience in this space. My formal entry point into environmental justice work has been me having to care for everybody, which has been beautiful and amazing, but I haven't had that chance to have somebody invest in me. I think that's something people should be excited about when they enter the space — even if you're leading all these amazing things, still being excited for somebody to be able to oversee and support your growth, too.
On a typical day:
I love my day in the life now. I wake up, go outside, probably with a cup of coffee, and I read for at least ten to fifteen minutes. I will say that most mornings I get sucked in and end up reading for an hour but some days I don’t. Morning reading has been such a cool grounding habit for me. Then, I come in and might make a little breakfast if I'm feeling hungry. Usually before I'm willing to hop on any calls, I'm reviewing a lot of the really cool resources that we're posting on Instagram every day. This means I'm reviewing really cool designs or I'm working with the folks on our social team to talk through our messaging and our rhetoric around certain topics — What's happening in the world? What needs to come up next? I'm reviewing the rhetoric and resource development that we're doing for our socials, our podcast, our toolkits, or consulting projects. Whatever it is, especially in the mornings when I have a fresh brain, I’m really diving in and assessing how we're showing up from a resource standpoint.
Then, I may or may not have lunch depending on how long that took me. I really like to take full hour long lunches, because I love to cook and cooking is super grounding for me. So pretty much every day, I'm making lunch from start to finish - including washing the dishes, putting them away, and cleansing the space every day. I love that.
Afterwards, I start to hop on calls — usually that looks like me hopping on calls with some of the organizers that we work with through our new Amplifier Program. Since IE was founded, we have used our platform to amplify really incredible work on the ground from different organizers or individuals. Because I have more time now to really focus on our impact and how we show up programmatically, I was able to launch the IE Amplifier Program which is a media capacity building program. It's a two-part program where we partner with different organizations to amplify their message by taking the communication and design lift off their plates while cultivating messaging that we can amplify on our platforms that's tailored to their goals. Those goals might be boosting a campaign or fundraising efforts, getting thousands of signatures on a petition, or building local awareness so people know they can volunteer and engage. Based on the partner’s goals, we’re able to design beautiful communications that really hype them up and those posts have been doing so well.
Evening time is usually me going on a walk, calling my family and making the rounds — How’s mom doing? Sister? Brother-in-law? How are we doing, everybody? — before cooking dinner. Cooking dinner is pretty much just as elaborate as lunch, because I only get to eat three times a day so I got to make it special. When I’m cooking dinner and cleaning the kitchen, I might as well be non-verbal. I’m meditating so hard. Then ending with evening bathroom spa time and that wind down time, usually listening to some music.
On acknowledging workaholism:
As I am transitioning into this new role and it's still feeling really new and exciting, I'm also very aware of some of the workplace hardships that led to workaholism habits. When we started IE, it was exciting, fast-paced, and we were literally going viral in front of everyone's eyes. Because it was such an exciting time, my workaholism kicked in in a way that felt affirmed every day — ie. we’re growing, we’re doing this, the White House called us, etc — all these things were happening that affirmed I'm doing everything right. I'm hustling, I'm waking up at 7AM, I'm going to bed at 11PM, and I've been looking at my laptop the whole time. It was really intense the first two and a half years.
Right around that two and a half to three year mark, I began to think, “Maybe I'm working too much.” What was really interesting was I went through a period of time where I had to go beyond acknowledging workaholism. When you acknowledge it, you can go forever continuing to exist that way, cracking jokes about being a workaholic. I had to take a step back and ask, “How do I not only practice an alternative way of being but how do I also ground myself in a ‘why’ that's going to inform that every single day?” Now, I do feel a lot more grounded. I do feel like I've unlearned a lot of workaholism habits, why they developed, and how to protect my energy from them.
I feel like I’ve shed so much of the workaholism, but as I'm transitioning into this new role, it does trigger a little bit of, “You're not doing compliance anymore or you're not having to do payroll as much, so how are you filling up that space with more?” When really it's okay. Under American capitalist society, very few of us get to just deepen our relationship to the work that we do and that's why the work that we do loses its community value and connectivity. That's why the work that we do isn't built on reciprocal systems, because we're not spending the time to build them.
Like intrusive thoughts, the pressure point is that workaholism is there anytime you get triggered to do more. The Amplifier Program is keeping me really grounded right now — every time I hop on a call with an org that we don't know yet or we're getting to know, some people are ready to go and we dive in. Meanwhile, some people are like, “This is the first time I’ve felt seen and heard in a really long time,” and it turns into a 45 minute conversation where I'm just making space. That has been really grounding for me because it's like, dang, I cannot afford to speed up.
On moments when empathy creates extraction:
When I was operating at such a high speed for years, that impacted the way I was able to show up for my team, my clients, and myself. Right now, there is that pressure point activating those intrusive thoughts that I need to do more, produce faster, and all these things. But as soon as I hop on a call with an org, I am there to make space for them and in order to do that, I’ve got to be super grounded. The workaholism was causing a lot of harm that goes on, maybe not unnoticed, but certainly underappreciated because you're on the outside of it receiving so much daily affirmation that it's worth it.
This is one example that I think a lot of newer org founders or business startups face when you're first starting out — There's always that question of what does our team need to look like? How many people do we need? What roles do we need? What is going to help us create the thing that we want to create? I remember it was the middle of the pandemic, the economy was scary, and our team was big. It felt so good to be able to provide this opportunity for people - from the outside people were applying to IE like it was going to be their dream job and that was a lot of pressure. Because I was moving a thousand miles a minute at all times, it prevented me from taking a step back and being like, “It's great that you're concerned and you don't want to rattle anybody's personal life,” even though it was clear that there were a few roles that just weren't a good fit for the org. I wasn't able to zoom out and say, “Hey, you're empathetic and you don’t want to take away people’s job security. That’s super valid, but you’re ultimately doing the org, them, and you a disservice.” Those are difficult enough tensions and then you strip your ability to show up to those tensions in a really productive, reciprocal way when you’re moving a thousand miles a minute.
Thankfully, we did have really great mentors. We've been so fortunate to be mentored in all kinds of ways since the beginning — a lot of elders flocked to IE. When it came to team tensions, it always came down to me thinking or leaning on the wrong thing because I was moving so fast — like “we’re really talented” or “the economy is scary” or “it’s COVID.” Leaning on all these things felt right because I thought leaning on my empathy was the right thing to do. Then, mentors would ground me with, “It's great to be empathetic, but how is this a reciprocal or even regenerative relationship? Are you putting them in a position where they're extracting from the company? Because they’re not doing that, you're doing that.”
That issue in and of itself is a normal thing when you're a new org or business — you're always going to come across needing a new role and later realizing that maybe you don’t or it needs to change. That's such a normal workplace tension as a new founder or a builder of any kind, but because I was operating a thousand miles a minute, I just couldn't zoom out and really approach that as strategically as I wanted to, in that I couldn't see the systems of reciprocity that were missing. Thankfully building IE was such a team effort, so whenever I was in the weeds, I had such a beautiful support system helping balance the ecosystem that is IE and ensure we were always moving in an empowering direction.
🤎 Follow Diandra Marizet on Instagram for updates on her work. Follow, support, and donate (if you’re able) to Intersectional Environmentalist. Don’t forget to also check out IE’s Database to find grassroots orgs in your area and tune into the latest season of IE’s podcast, The Joy Report.
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