Sheila McMenamin is a writer, content strategist, and climate justice advocate based out of Brooklyn, NY.
Sheila's advocacy for a greener world started as a child, where she'd spend long family car rides sizing up storefronts, homes, and freeways, thinking "I would put a tree there. And there. And there." Noticing things, after all—like where trees are and aren't—is what she does best. Today, she continues to pay close attention to her environment with childlike wonder—and a more urgent, justice-centered sense of imagination.
That imagination comes in many forms. As a foundational team member and recruitment manager at Baltimore Corps, Sheila worked with her colleagues to dream big, championing a Baltimore city that was deeply aware of its past and intentionally focused on its potential as a leader in racial equity.
Later, as an urban forester and program director at Baltimore Tree Trust, she worked to understand, pursue, and amplify the many stories behind the urban tree canopy and its potential to transform a city. Beyond mere aesthetics, Baltimore's existing forest cooled neighborhoods, provided workforce opportunities, and strengthened the resilience of a city facing the climate crisis. If expanded and cared for with intention, its tree canopy could mitigate decades of racist health disparities that residents endure to this day.
As senior content manager at the Central Park Conservancy, Sheila worked to change the narrative of Central Park as a static historic landmark to one of an evolving ecosystem cared for by expert, dedicated staff. She planned and published the Conservancy’s first pieces on climate change and its impact on urban parks, environmental racism and greenspace accessibility, and the urban heat island effect and harmful algal blooms, garnering international press for the organization and a Webby award.
She was the Senior Manager of Communications and Social Media at Aurora Solar, where she sat on the company’s inaugural ESG Board. Today, she is volunteering on organic farms and figuring out what comes next.
Sheila studied English language at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a concentration in Irish literature and creative writing. She served as a counselor in foster care through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in San Diego, CA. She was a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, the inaugural Maryland Climate Leadership Academy, and the Regeneration for Marketers program on climate communications. She is a member of and volunteer with the NYC chapter of Women & Climate and volunteer at the McCarren Park Demonstration Garden.
Outside of work, Sheila has her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training certification through Baby Cobra Yoga and Frequency Movement. She is completing her certificate in horticulture at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, studying and performing comedy through the Magnet Theater and Upright Citizens Brigade, and going for long walks through any park she can find—still thinking about where she’d put more trees.
As of 2025, Sheila writes a weekly newsletter “dark peace” on Substack.