Meet Avery Arena, Communications Manager at DG+Design

DG+Design is excited to welcome Avery Arena to the team as Communications Manager. Avery will be working on media placements and other PR needs for clients in the cleantech industry. She currently lives in Redmond, Oregon.

GET TO KNOW AVERY

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Avery Arena and I’m very excited to be joining the DG+ team as the Communications Manager! Before joining DG+, I worked as a freelance journalist, primarily covering environmental stories on the West Coast. Before going freelance, I was a fellow at The Economist doing a mixture of PR and communications and some writing on the side. When I was either 16 or 17 I started working with a voting reform campaign. That initially started in my hometown, but ended up spreading nationally. I'm approaching year nine of fighting for ranked choice voting (RCV), and RCV adjacent things, and am still involved with some voting reform projects. I studied political science and Russian in school. I love rock climbing, backpacking, and am just starting to get into some mountaineering!

Where did your interest in the environment come from?

I'm originally from the East Coast, but when Covid hit I decided to move out to the California desert, just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. That was the first time I had ever dealt with water restrictions, drought, extreme heat, and other environmental issues. On top of Covid, I was experiencing how the world was changing on a first-hand basis. That was roughly the same time when I started working at The Economist. As one of the few people out on the West Coast for the publication, I felt compelled to write on what was happening out there, and my interest grew from there. I wanted to learn and spread awareness for how we can improve the environment and create a sustainable economy, and more. The world is in a pretty rough spot, and nothing’s going to get better if we don’t address it soon.

Why did you choose to work at DG+?

What sold me on working for DG+ was the ability to work for a wide range of high caliber clients. DG+ works with some truly fascinating clients. I really liked the work that I saw on the DG+ website, especially the case studies. I knew I wanted to continue working in the field of journalism, but was looking to approach it from a different angle. Working for a small team with such incredible clients, I’m excited by this opportunity to have a really high impact.

What do you hope to accomplish or learn?

I'm excited to dig into the wonky policy side of clean energy, and to learn more about the science behind different climate technologies. I don’t have a science background, but I absolutely love it. As a freelancer, I was always pitching stories on different science topics. Once again, I just love the client list here. I'm thrilled to learn about all of the niche markets that our clients are disrupting, and package up those stories for news outlets. I can’t wait to build a strong network between all the different publications so that I can get more and more press for our clients.

What motivates or inspires you?

I love the feeling of getting stronger. Whether it's physically, mentally, or professionally. That’s probably why I love rock climbing. I find tangible metrics of progress to be extremely satisfying. I’ve watched my arms get larger over the past year, and that's really fun for me. I’m constantly filling my life with different ways of achieving that feeling of accomplishment.

What is something you’re passionate about outside of work?

I love doing big thru-hikes. One of my big goals for the summer is to go on more backpacking trips and knock off a few of the bigger summits out here in the PNW. I love seeing nature on foot and climbing to high places where not many people have been.

Professionally, I find it fascinating how there are so many ways in which technology can help fix the climate crisis. This emerging field has so many players, so there's a lot of static and it's really hard for anyone to get any attention. I think it's really fun to dig into the weeds, and uncover who really has the best ideas, and who has the most creative ideas that no one's listening to yet. 

And Lizards. Herpetology is big up there. My first piece in The Economist was about tortoises and I was so stoked!

Tell us something fun or maybe unexpected about yourself.

I love taking jobs to travel. For a couple years, each winter break or whenever I had time off, I'd end up doing some pretty random jobs in different countries. I was an English teacher in Siberia for a winter and an au pair in Paris. When the pandemic first started, I was doing some trail work in Greece and almost got stuck on an island there for a little bit.