Kara Ballester is the President of The BQuest Foundation, a private foundation in San Diego primarily focused on the climate crisis and homelessness and housing affordability. Kara runs the foundation’s climate program and works with nonprofits, foundations, and other organizations devoted to preventing climate change, both locally and nationally. The BQuest Foundation supports the advocacy & policy groups such as Climate Action Campaign that are fighting for critical policy changes, and also invests in and builds projects that equitably increase the use of renewable energy.

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Prior to running her family foundation, Kara worked as an educator in San Diego for more than 10 years. She holds a teaching credential and Master’s degree in Anthropology from San Diego State University and received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a teacher, mother of two young children, and lover of the natural world, science, and history, Kara is passionate about transitioning the world to clean energy and preventing the effects of climate change.