Introducing Olivia Utharntharm, our Programs Manager

The engine room behind it all, please meet Olivia Utharntharm, the classically trained musician turned climate tech programs manager, no job is too big or small for our talented Olivia.

Olivia is also leading our Industry Report - the first comprehensive deep dive into the Climate Tech ecosystem across Australia and New Zealand and our first full time employee. 

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Q. Olivia, what inspired you to work in Climate Tech? 

I’ve always been passionate about the environment - as a young kid I wanted to be a marine biologist. My other passion is music, and I completed an honours degree in Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but realised during COVID I wanted to make a bigger impact on the world (and teaching kids over zoom is … hard). So I jumped head-first into the wonderful world of Climate Tech! And I have absolutely no regrets. 

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Q. What are your main responsibilities at Climate Salad? 

I’m Program Manager of our inaugural Industry Report, which means my days are filled with a lot of really exciting, never before compiled data. I also support Charlotte and Mick in any way I can - including content creation, promo, event logistics and long term planning. You can usually find me posting news or polls in Slack, writing content and drafting our Industry Report, which is due to be published in late June (keep your eyes peeled). 

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Q. What are your superpowers? 

I’m not sure if this is a particularly fun superpower, but I’m a bit of an organisational nerd. I like details! And I love planning. I’m also a pretty perseverant person (you need to be to get through a music degree) and won’t stop until I find a way to help fix a problem. If you need someone to execute on detail, I’m there. 

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Q. What excites you most about Climate Tech? 

I absolutely love the energy of the sector, and the positive impact Climate Tech creates. There is a collective sense of purpose and passion regardless of company, sector or individual differences. I’m excited that capital and talent are flowing into Climate Tech faster than ever before, and we are making meaningful progress on climate action. We need Climate Tech solutions now more than ever. 

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Q. How do you take your coffee? 

An oat milk cappuccino, please and thank you ☕. Or during a proper Sydney summer, an iced latte, but we haven’t really had that this year. 

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Q. What do you do for fun on the weekends? 

I’m a sucker for long walks and any type of market. So if there are weekend markets on, I’ll usually be there, and it’s a total bonus if I can walk to them. I’m lucky to live in the Inner West of Sydney so there are usually a few to choose from.

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Q. What do you do to help our Climate apart from all the amazing work you do at Climate Salad? 

I recycle all my soft plastics through RedCycle, and walk to where I need to go as much as possible, which means that usually I shop and buy local. I live in an apartment so don’t have the luxury of my own compost bin but we take our food scraps to the local community garden where it goes into the communal bin. Plus I’ve convinced several friends who live locally to do the same. I’m always looking for new ways to help the environment so let me know your favourite way to help!