Sophia Kianni is a 19-year-old Iranian-American climate activist specializing in media and strategy. She is the founder and executive director of Climate Cardinals, an international nonprofit with 8,000 volunteers in 40+ countries working to translate climate information into 100+ languages. She represents the United States as the youngest member on the inaugural United Nations Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
Sophia’s work has been featured in news outlets including Forbes, CNN, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, NBC, and even on the front page of The Washington Post. She was previously a fellow with PBS NewsHour and has written for news outlets such as MTV News, BuzzFeed, Teen Vogue, Refinery 29, and Cosmopolitan. She is an adamant public speaker and has spoken to people around the world from Doha, Qatar to Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also works as a climate advisor at the American Lung Association and sits on the board of directors at COMMUNITYx.
In 2020, she was named VICE's youngest Human of the Year, selected as a National Geographic Young Explorer, and chosen for Energy News Network's 40 under 40 list.
