Grace Cushman

Grace was born in Truckee, California, but spent most of her life in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before moving to New York. In those two life-altering moves, she learned that taking risks is significantly easier when you have a strong foundation. Grace’s foundation is her family, friends, mentors, teachers, and colleagues with whom she has shared meaningful, challenging, and rewarding experiences.

Starting her career in Paleoceanography at Barnard College, she believed that climate research was how she could best advocate for the environment. However, during a research expedition in the Labrador Sea, witnessing the immense beauty of the oceans in a renewed light, Grace felt a pull to become a catalyst for regenerative solutions. She learned that her role did not lie in a lab studying glacial periods but working with people and systems.

The next step of her journey began during graduate school, pursuing a master’s degree focusing on Renewable Energy Policy and Resource Management from Columbia University. While in school, she gained experience working with Green Roofs in Bangladesh, Microgrids and climate resiliency in Puerto Rico, and Health Care Impact Investing and M&A. These experiences ultimately took Grace to Synergos, an organization focused on solving problems through philanthropic collective action.

As the Global Membership Lead at Synergos, Grace designed programs that brought philanthropists together to learn from each other and the communities that they invested in. After a few years, Grace decided she needed to play a role in accelerating impact through supporting the people scaling solutions directly. It was this realization that brought her to City Light.

At City Light, Grace leads operations, investor relations, and works with the City Spark portfolio of entrepreneurs to help foster collaboration and peer learning. Through creating relationships built on trust, Grace aims to create space for the team to take more risks and work with cutting-edge entrepreneurs that are making the world safer, smarter, and more sustainable.

Grace is an advisory Board member for the Rowell Fund for Tibet, has a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University, and is a proud Barnard alumnus. She loves a good Tannat, The California Honeydrops, and has recently been dabbling in gardening. She brings her eclectic experiences with pride to the City Light team.