Sustainability has always been a thread in my journey, whether it was experimenting with natural dyeing techniques during my fashion design degree at NIFT Chennai or diving into sustainable business strategy at IIM Mumbai. But I wanted to push further, beyond classroom learning and hands-on design, to see how large-scale sustainability systems actually work in practice.
That’s what drew me to the Ashoka-Environmental Defense Fund Climate Corps Fellowship. It felt like the perfect next step, a bridge between my creative roots and the analytical rigor needed to solve real-world climate challenges. Being placed with ReNew gave me a front-row seat to see climate action unfold across emissions, water, and culture. I joined eager to connect purpose with practice—and I leave with a deeper sense of both.
Building the Backbone of Climate Action
At ReNew, my work spanned three interconnected projects, each showing me a different side of sustainability in action.
Across all three projects, the biggest learning was clear: sustainability cannot succeed in silos. Strategy, data, and people must work together.
Beyond Reporting: Turning Data and Culture Into Action
This fellowship expanded both my technical toolkit and my personal clarity. I now know what it takes to build the backbone of corporate climate action—from emissions tracking systems to internal engagement models.
But more importantly, I realised sustainability is not just about reporting. It is about translating data into decisions, culture into action, and strategy into accountability.
Carrying It Forward
As I look ahead, I feel even more motivated to pursue a career at the intersection of creativity, climate, and strategy. Whether it’s helping companies decarbonize or embedding sustainability deep within fashion and supply chains, I now carry the confidence, tools, and community to take on that challenge.
The Climate Corps Fellowship was not just a project. It was a step into the kind of future I want to help create, one where creativity and strategy come together to power climate action at scale.
Article by Poornaashri Indirabala
Professor of English, Ashoka University
Director, Centre for Studies in Gender & Sexuality
Director of the PhD Programme in English
Ph.D. Tufts University
Madhavi Menon is an eminent theorist and scholar of gender, sexuality, politics, and identity.
She joined Ashoka University in 2013 as one of its founding faculty members. She went on to establish the university’s Centre for Gender & Sexuality Studies (CSGS), which is the first of its kind in India. Previously, she was a professor at Ithaca College and American University.
Most prominently known for her work on queer theory and Shakespeare, she has also edited the collection Shakesqueer and written three books on Shakespeare and sexuality. She is also most recently the author of Infinite Varieties: A History of Desire in India and Law of Desire: Rulings on Sex & Sexuality in India.
In addition to being Director of CSGS, she is the Director of the Ph.D. programme in English and Professor of English at Ashoka University.