Our Mission
To raise awareness about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, to ensure that students from a wide diversity of academic purviews have a foundational understanding of what the goals are, how they came to be, and how youth can become better advocates and champions of sustainable development in their own communities.
SDGs LaB empowers students with education and funding opportunities to become sustainability changemakers.
Our Team
Meet the wonderful and hardworking changemakers, determined to get the SDGs implemented through youth!
Kat Cadungog
Executive Director
Kat (she/her) (26 years old) has been acting as the Executive Director for FES since late 2020 and officially came into the position in mid-2021. Kat has had her hand in everything FES. She has collaborated with youth across Canada in over 50 Action Projects in remote, rural, and Indigenous communities when she was Sustainability Project Consultant for FES’ 3% Project. She has also worked in FES’ SDGs portfolio, managing the SDGs Launch Program. Despite the hardships brought by COVID-19, she successfully expanded the SDGs Launch program not only in Canada, but to higher education institutions in the USA and now the UK.
Prior to joining FES, Kat has worked on diverse consulting projects from working with an engineering firm to advising local start-up social enterprises wanting to align their strategies with B-Corp principles. She graduated with distinction from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Commerce. Kat is passionate about empowering youth to take impactful action on sustainable development, strengthening and amplifying the youth *force* in the Canadian climate movement, and in essence, “getting the sh*t done” for a more inclusive, fair, prosperous, and sustainable future.
Kat grew up and lives in territories of The Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
Kathryn Hoffart
Digital Designer
Kathryn Hoffart (she/her) is a Digital Designer who has a passion for sustainability and systems change. As a graduate from Mount Royal University with a major in Information Design and a minor in Psychology, Kathryn fuses her creative skills and empathy with human-centered design to create user-friendly and innovative solutions.
Kathryn strives to work on projects that create an equitable future and cultivate health and wellness. She has previously used her design skills to improve patient-focused systems and solve complex problems in the health and care sector. Additionally, she takes a role in her community by volunteering for Plastic-Free YYC, a local organization that focuses on inspiring actions that create positive change.
Kathryn believes that through cooperation, passion, and empathy, we all have the power to design a sustainable and equitable future.
When she is not designing, you can likely find her getting creative with plant-based recipes, thrifting unique finds, or getting her rambunctious pet rabbits out of trouble.
Jess LeBlanc
Program Manager
Jess (she/her) is your go-to girl for everything SDGs LAB and her passion for youth empowerment and sustainability exudes through everything she executes at FES. Studying International Development and Social Entrepreneurship in both Canada (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Europe (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), the SDGs are part of her educational foundation, giving her insights on communicating wicked problems to youth in engaging and inspiring ways.
Before joining FES, Jess lived in Costa Rica, working in cross-cultural and experiential education programs for youth. She is an avid advocate for empowering youth to be change-makers through out-of-the-box, grassroots, educational experiences; a professional and personal passion that has led her all over the world to pursue. Whether it is introducing peace and conflict resolution workshops into the Canadian elementary curriculum, connecting youth with grassroots NGOs that address the SDGs in Costa Rica, or participating in wildlife conservation advocacy work in Malawi, Jess loves creating and facilitating powerful educational experiences for youth and believes in the positive impact that this youth engagement can have on our collective pursuit for a sustainable future.
Alyssa Obrand
Administrative Assistant
Alyssa (she/her) worked as a Program Coordinator for the SDGs Launch team, where she was fulfilling her passion for environmental activism and climate education. She is a recent graduate from McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, where she majored in Managing for Sustainability to attain her Bachelor of Commerce. Her support for sustainable development and conservation permeates everything that she does. Alyssa has experience working in environmental consulting, but has true enthusiasm for the social sector. As an executive member of the Desautels Sustainability Network, the president of the Desautels Preparatory Case Competition, and an educator with the McGill Environment Engagement Program, she has seen first-hand the the power and strength of young minds, and believes that her own generation is the greatest force for change. Alyssa is now pursuing her MSc in Environment, Politics and Society at the University College London, in the United Kingdom.
Miranda Podolinsky
Program Coordinator
Miranda (she/her) is a purpose-driven development professional committed to using the power of education to build an inclusive, just, and resilient world. Completing a Bachelor of Environmental Studies with an Honours in International Development at the University of Waterloo, Miranda brings an intersectional and holistic lens to all of her sustainability work, ensuring those most vulnerable are represented and placed at the center of change-making conversations.
With a constant desire to go beyond and connect globally, Miranda has collaborated with hundreds of diverse individuals, communities, and non-profit organizations around the world. By taking her knowledge to new heights, she successfully coordinated skill development for vulnerable youth in Ukraine, developed gender equality training for women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, and most recently supported a team in Tanzania to promote gender-transformative programming. Motivated by her passions for youth empowerment, gender equality, and climate action, she is eager to inspire and activate post-secondary students to make choices that reflect a sustainable future.
Outside of work, you can find Miranda exploring “off the beaten path” places, experimenting with new recipes, or practicing yoga.
The SDGs Launch is a project of FES.
Foundation for Environmental Stewardship (FES) is a youth-led, youth-serving sustainable development organization. FES is a not-for-profit corporation whose registered charity number is 801430307 RR0001. FES is an accredited organization by the United Nations and has a special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.
