Meet Andrea Learned, Climate Influence Consultant

photo courtesy of Andrea Learned

Andrea Learned is “loving up” CEOs who walk the talk — or, rather, ride the bike — and/or plant seeds of change about their commitment to plant-based food systems. But that’s not where her story starts.

It starts, like stories about most of us who are passionate about living lighter on the land, in childhood. Andrea grew up on the Michigan/Indiana border, where she was always outside. Free-range. On banana-seat bikes. She split her high school years between there and Connecticut, where she enjoyed taking the train into New York City.

Life took Andrea elsewhere — Burlington, Vermont; Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois. It wasn’t until she returned to live for the second time in Portland that she fell, and fell hard, for using a bike as transportation, thanks to a friend who suggested it when he saw how much time she was spending riding buses places.

“I got a piece-of-crap bike at a vintage store and didn’t even inflate the tires, and oh my God, it changed my life,” this straight-talking Midwesterner told me.
Passionate about music, Andrea found herself joining friends listening to late-night bands at clubs throughout Portland, and loving her moonlit rides home.

Fast-forward to Andrea’s book titled Don’t Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy – And How to Increase Your Share of this Crucial Market; communications leadership during COP 21; years of consulting with global corporations about sustainability; co-hosting a podcast named BikeTalk; and originating and stewarding the popular Twitter hashtags #Bikes4Climate and #PlantBased4Climate. Now, Andrea is gearing up to “love up” those CEOS in a big way.

Here’s how.

In partnership with a media company, Andrea is launching a #ClimateInfluence podcast (yep, she’s been going full-steam-ahead with that hashtag) that shares the conversion stories of CEOS who are taking positive actions in the top emission-reduction sectors of transportation and plant-based food-system shift. These are the categories sited as critical in both the latest IPCC report and Project Drawdown.

If you are a CEO with a story to tell, specifically about your lived experience riding bikes and/or your commitment to a plant-based lifestyle, you may have already heard from Andrea. If you haven’t gone public with your story yet and would like to, contact her here.

In addition to this soon-to-be-announced podcast, Andrea also offers her services for short-term Twitter and LinkedIn “takeovers” of your account to quickly help build your leadership platform on these issues through the stunningly effective leveraging of her extensive network and expertise.

Want a quick, power-packed session of ideas that could change your company’s entire trajectory? Book just 60 minutes with her here. According to that scheduling link: Andrea will advise you on how to strategically build your social media social capital (Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as content tips) towards improving your visibility at your next event, speaking gig or panel. Bring your event details, list of the key influencers among whom you’d like to be seen, and be ready to take lots of notes. You’ll leave the session feeling energized and excited to get going.

As Andrea joked when I talked with her recently for that exact length of time, “People are so tired and full of ideas after an hour with me, they couldn’t even do a second hour!” I disagree. I left pumped and and inspired, and I believe you will, too. Find out more about Andrea and read client comments here.

Want 43 free minutes of insight from Andrea about climate-conversion storytelling and “surprising validators”? Here goes:

By the way, Andrea now lives in Seattle, where she of course rides bikes (including ebikes, which she considers game-changers). You may also see her traveling to and from conferences via rented bikes in cities all over the USA, or riding ebikes with her 87-year-old dad when she visits him back in her beloved Midwest. Additionally, Andrea converted to a plant-based life about five years ago. She still loves music and volunteers at KEXP, a social-impact-through-music radio station.

Thank you for your extraordinary passion and commitment to our world-at-a-crossroads, Andrea. This post is my small attempt to love up you.

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As Metro Atlanta Bicycle Mayor, a League Cycling Instructor, a PeopleForBikes Ambassador, and the author of Traveling at the Speed of Bike (book and blog), I shine a light on people making it more welcoming to ride bikes and access public space close to home and around the world. Meet some below! If you’d like to put stories to work for your company, municipality, or organization, see here.

Meet Greg Masterson (Metro Atlanta Cycling Club)

Meet Marjon Manitius (Brookhaven Bike Alliance)

Meet Byron Rushing (Atlanta Regional Commission)

Meet Creighton Bryan (Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy)

Meet Betsy Eggers and Jack Honderd (Peachtree Creek Trail and Brookhaven Bike Aliance)

Jon’s Leap of Faith (Street Minister and Bike Saver Extraordinaire)

A Second(er) or Two about Why You’re Needed (City of Dunwoody)

Meet Matt (Painter of New Cycle Track by Mercedes Benz Stadium)

Meet Dr. Walter May (Reinhardt University)

Meet Alex Gee (World Bicycle Relief)

Meet Shawn Deangelo Walton (Everybody Eats ATL and WeCycle)

Meet Charlton Bivins (Clayton County Cycling Club)