Hannah Yang - Co-founder + Co-leader

Hannah is a high school student in Los Angeles, California. Her passion for environmental advocacy grew out of frustrations with common childhood experiences of evacuating from local gas leaks and wildfires. Driven to bring her youth perspective to the climate crisis, she has served on the LA Zoo’s Teen Council for Conservation and the LA Metro Youth Council. Currently, she focuses on leading YCAN and assisting in programming and event planning for LA Climate Week. Outside of her climate work, Hannah is nationally ranked in speech and debate and hopes to one day catch a Tame Impala or Gorillaz concert!

EUGENE LEWIS - CO-CHAIR + aDVISOR

Eugenie Lewis makes it her mission to support youth and people of all ages to have a good life – filled with hope and optimism through cross-generational work around climate change.

Eugenie’s professional work has focused on integrative physical and mental health services, school social work and positive youth development. In 2019, she started a company called Creative Life Mapping with the goal of providing career, education, self-discovery, growth and wellness services. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, career and college counselor, and serves as a youth mental health advocate with the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health. 

In 2025, Eugenie formed the Blue and Green Career Fellowship with the purpose of engaging Los Angeles area high school and college students in exploring climate solution careers, while contributing to a body of knowledge about how people can take action to address climate change through their career, volunteer and advocacy work. To date over 100 youth have participated in the program.

Youth Climate Action Network

Youth CAN (Climate Action Network) is aimed at empowering young individuals aged 14 to 30 to embark on career and educational development in the environmental space. With a vision to inspire the next generation, this committee plans to offer a mentorship program, career talks, and opportunities to support climate policy.

In 2024, Audrey Ma and Hannah Yang, along with mentor Eugenie Lewis, built Youth CAN to create a network of 100+ youth climate leaders. Youth CAN holds meetings with outreach to climate speakers, collaborating with organizations such as SGA Marketing, TRAA (Torrance Refinery Action Alliance), and others. Learn more about the YCAN team below!

Upcoming meetings: April 26, July 19, and October 18.

LEADERSHIP

audrey ma - Co-founder + Co-leader

Audrey is a student and a climate activist. She founded the Sustainability Club at her school and was part of a team of students that implemented a food sorting and composting program school wide to reduce her school’s greenhouse gas emissions. She then built Sortify to spread sorting and composting to schools across Southern California. Audrey is also the youngest member of the Organizers Committee for Pasadena100, a nonprofit that advocates for the City of Pasadena to transition to carbon free electricity by 2030. Audrey enjoys using  different mediums to raise awareness about our looming climate crisis, including poetry, visual art, and filmmaking.

Cara king - Policy chair

Cara King is the Policy Chair for YCAN. She is super passionate about environmental policy, specifically protecting native species, lowering carbon emissions, and advocating for a healthier planet. She is a senior at El Segundo High School and also the author of El Segundo’s Little Secret.

Paige Esposito - Outreach coordinator

Paige Esposito serves as Outreach Coordinator for YCAN.  She is motivated to help people around the world to become more educated on environmental topics and encourage them to take a stand and fight to protect our environment. She is part of the Green Youth Leaders program and interns with the Blue and Green Careers Fellowship Program. Her goal is to study public health to make our world cleaner and better for those who come after us. She loves to hike and hang out with my friends in her free time. She is a rising College Student and currently attends Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach.