Over the last decade, Alameda has gained a reputation as an innovative, science-forward city, attracting many high-technology and research companies. Alameda Point, Harbor Bay, and Marina Village house many businesses dedicated to a variety of technologies ranging from energy, food tech, and life sciences—and many of the leaders of these businesses are women.
To highlight the innovation of these businesses and to celebrate the women in them, the Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance and its Alameda Women Leaders Group (AWL) are hosting a Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) panel discussion at the Chamber office, 2215A South Shore Center, on Thursday, September 5, 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are $35 for members, $45 for non-members, and can be purchased online.
Speakers who will discuss their careers and experiences in STEM include Gia Schneider, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Natel Energy, Danielle Mieler, City of Alameda’s Sustainability and Resilience Manager, Jaclyn Rodriguez, Senior Director of Talent and Organization Development for Kairos Power, and Genét Garamendi, founding team member and Head of Strategic Relationships for Checkerspot.
The panel will be moderated by Becca Perata, board member with the Alameda Chamber and Economic Alliance. She came up with the idea to host a STEM event upon realizing how many women in the STEM fields were working right here in Alameda.
“Alameda is home to some really remarkable businesses and leaders, and we should showcase them,” Perata said.

Gia Schneider
Gia Schneider, Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder of Natel Energy, was taught by her father from the time she was young about environmental issues, and in turn this inspired her to pursue a career in sustainable energy.
“My interest in working on climate change and biodiversity, two core problems, really started super early and is inextricably tied to the fact that my parents, particularly my father, talked about climate change as an existential problem that we had to address from my earliest childhood memories,” Schneider explained.
Schneider and her brother Abe co-founded Natel Energy in 2009. The company develops hydropower systems that are sustainable and fish-safe. Although she first worked in finance and energy, Gia and her brother came together during the recession to found a company that reflected their passions for sustainable energy.
To pursue her life ambitions, Schneider put off having children until her 40s, an option she wouldn’t have had without the option of in vitro fertilization (IVF). “There are definitely trade-offs when you have children, and it’s hard to make that trade-off, depending on the career choice you made. So maintaining the option to have a family for me, I’m very grateful for that.” Schneider said.
She said the lack of understanding and solutions to that problem make it a barrier for women who might want to pursue demanding careers. “Most of the people making decisions are not having babies, and historically haven’t had to bear the brunt of most of the child-rearing.”
Schneider said that she hopes that people can come to the panel and hear other people’s experiences, especially people who suffer from self-doubt.
“You will make wrong decisions. It will be okay. You will make right decisions. It will be awesome. And both of those things are gonna happen,” she said, noting that she feels it’s important for her to share that “because that has been a critical thing for me to learn.”

Danielle Mieler
Alameda’s Sustainability and Resilience manager, Danielle Miller, has many areas of expertise including civil engineering, sociology, and city planning, but she has a special interest in earthquakes.
Growing up, Mieler helped her seismologist father install instruments out in the field. “It was really fun to be outdoors, doing science,” she recalled. “He always was working with people from all over the world, different scientists and research collaborators, which I always thought was really fun, and he got to travel to interesting places.”
As an adult, Mieler herself would travel for work, such as the year she spent in New Zealand, doing risk and hazard analysis after the Christchurch earthquakes.
Mieler understands how important earthquake preparedness is for California residents. She recalled seeing the news about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake interrupting the World Series on television. “As a California kid during the Loma Prieta earthquake, I remember that, watching it on TV, and it was pretty sad,” Mieler said.
Previously, Mieler worked as a civil engineer. While she had always planned to transition into policy planning, it happened more quickly than she anticipated. She said she regrets that she was pushed out of technical roles due to harassment and hostile work culture.
“Especially being a woman, I sort of felt a responsibility to stay and keep working in those roles. But also, I wanted to do something that I enjoyed.”
Mieler began working for the Association of Bay Area Governments instead and eventually would manage a resilience program that addressed earthquakes, sea level rise, and other hazards. In 2020, Mieler received the Good Government Award from the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association for her work developing recommendations to improve San Francisco’s tall buildings.
As Alameda’s Sustainability and Resilience manager, Mieler is in charge of making sure the City accomplishes the goals of its Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, which include reducing Alameda’s greenhouse gas emissions, implementing zero waste initiatives, and preparing Alameda for climate change.

Jaclyn Rodriguez
Jaclyn Rodriguez isn’t directly involved in any technical aspects where she works. As Senior Director of Talent & Organizational Development at Kairos Power, Rodriguez improves organizational success and shapes the culture at Kairos Power, a nuclear technology company dedicated to innovating clean and affordable energy.
“I’m not a technical expert here at Kairos in any way, shape, or form,” Rodriguez said. But that doesn’t mean her job isn’t at all STEM-related. “I do bring a lot of neuroscience into our learning programs, looking around the sort of research and science that is out there around learning and employee experience. So, I feel like I kind of do my own sort of STEM-related work as it relates to people.”
Rodriguez began in healthcare and had no prior experience with nuclear technology. Then she began working with Kairos as a consultant and fell in love with the company’s mission. That mission, according to Rodriguez, is to help improve people’s quality of life.
“Longer term, our goal is to be able to help communities that don’t have access to energy to [get access to it],” she said, “and to support that while also protecting the environment.”
When she was asked to work full-time with Kairos, Rodriguez did not hesitate to join the team.
“I really was nervous going into a STEM field,” Rodriguez said, noting that most women who don’t have that foundation might feel the same way.
“What has helped mitigate that for me here at Kairos is that they brought in a people person on so early,” she said, emphasizing the importance of putting a priority on a supportive work culture from the beginning of the company’s creation. “It showed that this is something that is a priority to the founders, because usually you bring someone on when you have like 50 or 75 employees.”

Genét Garamendi
Genét Garamendi followed a nontraditional path to STEM. She began in politics as a press secretary for congresspersons before moving onto publicity for TLC. After working many years in television and media, Garamendi sought to contribute something that would make a bigger difference in the world.
A family member told her about microalgae, and how it can be used to make almost any oil. “That’s it, that’s it,” Garamendi said. “You know, that just spoke to my storytelling soul. I just knew this was a story I could tell and would never get bored with.”
Now Garamendi works at Checkerspot, a biotechnology company that makes renewable oils through fermentation of microalgae. Through this process, all kinds of oils can be made, such as cooking oil, snow skis or sweat-wicking fabric in activewear.
Like Rodriguez, she isn’t a researcher or technology expert herself. Rather, Garamendi is a communicator who provides information about technologies to people who might not otherwise know about them.
“Being able to communicate what’s possible with technology and tell a story that can resonate is more important than ever,” Garamendi said. She wants to encourage people of all disciplines to involve themselves in STEM fields.
“My shout out in events like this or in conversations like this is: All hands on deck. Come tell the stories. Communicators, finance, and accountant experts. It all comes together,” Garamendi said. “Obviously, the science is where it begins, but to make this happen, you’re going to need all of these other disciplines.”
Vicky Nguyen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Vicky-Nguyen.