We’re excited to announce that Grace (DeJesus) Penders will be joining Equal Ventures as our new Climate Product Owner. Grace joins us from Energize Capital, one of the leading climate-specific venture firms, where she was most recently a Senior Associate. Born in Staten Island and raised in New Jersey, Grace went to the University of Chicago, where she studied Economics and Spanish Literature and was Captain of the Track and Field team. Her passion for climate was sparked by a personal story, and she began her career in Puerto Rico working to rebuild the electric grid after Hurricane Maria, which had severely impacted her family living there. Grace then went on to spend five years as a Strategy Consultant at Accenture in NYC, focused on Utilities, Clean Energy and the broader Energy Transition, before returning to Chicago to join Energize. While at Energize, she’s focused on climate software investments across some of the themes we’re most excited about at Equal, including accelerating electrification, dynamic energy demand management, and circularity. Despite Grace’s love for Chicago, she was seeking a way to return to the Big Apple and the team at Energize was kind enough to give us their blessing to discuss this opportunity with her given their respect for Grace and the close relationship between our two firms.