Li-Ya Mar (she/her)
Research & Communication Fellow, Planet Reimagined

Li-Ya (pronounced as "Leah", she/her) is an educator, a climate organizer, and a yoga teacher originally from Taiwan. With a Ph.D. in Linguistics, she has taught Mandarin and Linguistics in public universities since 2010, empowering students from diverse and underserved communities and building bridges across cultures. As a research and communication fellow with Planet Reimagined on the project "Amplify," she is investigating how music artists can engage fans in climate advocacy through both quantitative and qualitative methods with the goal to develop a blueprint to help music artists become effective climate advocates, who then utilize the concert spaces to activate fans and onboard the in the climate movement.

Li-Ya is also a Climate Reality Leader who was trained and has shared a stage with Vice President Gore. She has organized volunteers in Dallas, Texas and Portland, Oregon, planning community events and protests with local coalition partners and carrying out campaigns to influence elected officials. She is the host and producer of a climate story podcast "The Green Path − Our Climate Stories". Li-Ya is committed to advancing climate and social justice through community care and effective and relatable storytelling.