Esperanza Garcia is a candidate of Columbia University's Master of Science in Sustainability Management program and President of Columbia University Coalition for Sustainable Development. She blogs at Ecohope. She was born & raised in Cebu, Philippines and a mother of a 6-year old who is her inspiration.

She was Co-Founder & Member of Executive Board of the International Youth Council which has provided educational resources & leadership opportunities to young global leaders. She has studied renewable energy at Yale University and finished her post-baccalaureate at Columbia University. She has worked as a consultant for South-South News, which works with UN agencies in helping South-South countries develop programs. She founded the Philippine Youth Climate Movement awarding climate heroes & raising climate change awareness in Philippine schools to 50,000 students. She served as a consultant for the Philippine Senate Climate Change Committee. She worked as consultant for Friendship Ambassadors Foundation, where she focused her efforts in organizing the Youth Assembly at the United Nations attended by hundreds of young global leaders. She was a consultant for the Millenium Development Goal Awards Committee, honoring efforts of governments & civil society in their contribution towards the achievement of the UNMDGs. She was a journalist for UNICEF & South-South News covering news from the UN General Assembly & Clinton Global Initiative.

She served as a negotiator & official delegate of the Philippines at the UN Climate Change Conference in COP15 '09 & COP16 '10. Esperanza has received awards on youth leadership and is invited to speak at international conferences, including UN, on the importance of young people’s engagement in global affairs and environmental sustainability. Her work has been published in several books and magazines including Unipro's "30 top Filipinos under 30" and Swedish magazine "Heroes of Today."