GCV Education Fund Team

Brionte’s love of the Georgia environment grew from a striking moment in her childhood:

“When I was ten years old, my family and I got in our car and drove away from our military base in the hot, dry Mojave Desert to start a new life in Warner Robins Georgia. I will never forget waking up in the car after four long days of travel and being blown away by the view outside of my window of Georgia’s thick, green forests blanketing the landscape as far as the eye could see. Before that moment, I had only seen so many trees in textbooks. It was this experience that ignited a fire in me to love, explore and protect the environment.”

My love for the Georgia environment began at a young age. My most vivid memories stem from my childhood. My grandparents were school teachers who would visit every summer and Christmas. During the summers, we would visit several places in Georgia such as Ocmulgee Mounds National Park, Okefenokee Swamp, High Falls State Park and the Callaway Gardens, to name a few. My grandfather was a science teacher so many of the trips were lessons about nature. He also would stress the importance of why we should protect and take care of nature. The beauty of these sites always left me in awe, and I developed a great appreciation for nature.

I want to use my professional experiences as well as her personal ones to help the GCV team succeed in promoting conservation and equity for all.

With a background in Education and a Marketing degree from Clemson University, Ashley Rodriguez is a seasoned professional with a knack for orchestrating engaging events and crafting captivating marketing content. She is committed to addressing environmental challenges and social inequities through her work at GCV. In her spare time she enjoys concerts and exploring new restaurants in Atlanta.

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Allie fell in love with Atlanta’s green spaces at an early age, walking throughout forests in the city and later backpacking and camping in north Georgia. At the University of Georgia, she was introduced to the power of organizing when she joined a group of students to advocate for the shutdown of an outdated and dirty coal boiler on campus.

After college she spent seven years leading clean energy advocacy campaigns with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, successfully opening up access to solar power through a statewide Florida ballot campaign in 2016. Allie then made the pivot to support environmental champions in the 2020 election cycle, serving as the Field Director for Warren for President and Debbie for Congress.

When she’s not working on campaigns, Allie can be found cheering on her favorite Atlanta sports teams and exploring new hiking trails with her dog Tunji.

Nic has lived in Atlanta, GA and Chicago, IL for the bulk of her young and middle adulthood. She earned her JD from DePaul University in Chicago. Nic has dedicated the bulk of her midcareer to developing and executing winning voter contact and issue-based campaigns, including campaigns to achieve equitable clean energy solutions; she owes her success to her flair for building rapid rapport with under-resourced communities and efficiently pinpointing their values and issues to leverage increased voter turnout and mobilize tenacious policy advocacy. When Nic is not organizing communities, she’s organizing cutthroat game nights for her tight-knit family + friends, listening to true crime + educational podcasts, or relishing her latest adventure. Nic is her partner’s – textile and ceramic artist extraordinaire Zipporah Camille – biggest cheerleader. She must mention her co-pilot Kitty – a male Maltipoo – and Marley her silly, yet brainy Standard Poodle.

Alexis Greenblatt is a graduate of Emory University who is passionate about environmental justice and teaching people how they can advocate for themselves to their elected officials. In 2020, Alexis was the Communications Director for a State House campaign in Marietta which opened her eyes to the world of local politics in Georgia, and showed her that we need to elect outstanding candidates all the way up and down the ballot to ensure that all Georgians can live in a clean, thriving environment. She is excited about working towards a more progressive future and sustainable environment in the South.

In her free time, Alexis loves to go to concerts and be outside – she is especially passionate about chasing down a good sunset. She hopes her work will help to amplify GCV’s message to Georgians of all ages and backgrounds.

For the three years, where she first began as an intern, Mia has worked at The Delamar Firm LLC, a Metro-Atlanta area law firm which specializes in small business litigation, family law and estate planning, Mia served as Senior Legal Assistant to the Managing Attorney.

As a classically trained musician and dancer, commercially trained vocalist, Mia is a professional recording artist, writer and choreographer. She also is an actress who believes in the importance of The Arts. One of her mottos is to “Fail Forward”. She wants to prove that you can have a successful career in entertainment and also fight for causes you believe in that make a difference in people’s everyday lives.

Mia loves the beach and frequents one of Georgia’s close kept treasures, Tybee Island. She believes keeping the environment healthy and clean helps keep Georgia’s natural wonders beautiful for generations to come.

Connie Di Cicco is a proud Georgian, having grown up in Roswell. She earned her undergraduate degree with highest honors from the University of Georgia. Connie then pursued her passion for film and television, obtaining a Master of Fine Arts from the prestigious Florida State University School of Film, Television, and Recording Arts. In her early career, Connie served as the Director of Programming for the renowned Full Frame Documentary Film Festival overseeing the selection process and filmmaker recruitment efforts for the premier documentary film festival in the US. Following several years of freelance editing work in the Atlanta area, she transitioned into the entrepreneurial realm lending her expertise to the management of small companies. After years of volunteering for various candidates and elected officials, in 2018 Connie entered the professional political arena as Chief of Staff for Representative Mary Frances Williams and then Representative Miriam Paris. She dedicated several years to working at the Georgia State Capitol before deciding to run for office herself in 2020. Currently residing in Marietta with her two children, Connie enjoys baking, watching movies, listening to Braves games, and beekeeping in her personal time.

Paul hails from the region around Augusta, Georgia, having lived in Martinez, Louisville, Thomson, and Appling before moving to Gwinnett and Hall County. He learned about community organizing from DACA-mented friends and GALEO while attending Gainesville State College, where he earned a BA in Communications and Digital Media as it became the University of North Georgia. He has managed campaigns for U.S. Congress, Sheriff, and Public Service Commission candidates. As a public relations professional, he’s represented community and movement formations during huge moments. He’s especially proud to have represented undocumented poultry workers in Gainesville following an industrial tragedy in January 2021, Daniel Blackman’s campaign for Public Service Commission during the 2020 Georgia runoffs, New Georgia Project Action Fund for the 2021 and 2022 election cycles, the Press Lead for the Stop Cop City Referendum Coalition, and serving as the inaugural Communications Director at the Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund, which runs a guaranteed income program that focuses on Black women across the state. Paul has helped place stories with or worked with journalists from most major outlets in the United States and Western Europe. He currently lives in Decatur with his son and participates in Atlanta’s wonderful theater community.