Member of the Board of Trustees · Bainbridge Graduate Institute · Portland, OR

In the middle of a successful run as an entrepreneur mortgage broker in Portland, I was looking for the next big step in my life, and whenever the universe throws something my direction, I make sure to catch it. I knew I wanted my next career to be green, so a friend connected me to the founder of Portfolio 21. His two pieces of advice were: “attend a natural step workshop and go to BGI”. I laughed out loud when he told me to go back to school. Then I met five BGI grads at Go Green Portland and I knew there must be something special about this place.

When I checked out BGI’s Sustainable Saturday program, I was totally impressed by the quality of presentations and the commitment to social justice and environmental issues. I told myself, if they can teach me to do that in two years, I can do anything! Not to mention the extracurricular activities. When I heard that BGI students spent their free time brainstorming ways to make their community even better, I knew that BGI was the community I wanted to be part of.

Now two years into the program, I’m the student representative to the board and involved in all sorts of extracurricular activities. I launched Green Light Strategies to inspire women to change the world by telling stories through products. I’m still motivated by the same things that brought me to BGI: I love inspiring and connecting people. BGI has helped me find my voice, lead by example, and it has encouraged me to change the world.

BACKGROUND

Mona came to BGI with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. Born in India but raised in America, Mona has spent seven years running her own mortgage business in Portland, OR. She was recently appointed as a member of the Multnomah County Advisory Committee on Sustainability and Innovation.