Yana Kalmyka

Yana Kalmyka, born in Maladzyechna, Belarus, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, is pursuing a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated from Cornell University in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations. Yana aspires to assist workers and residents at the fenceline of polluting industries to construct community-driven solutions to the dual crises of economic inequality and environmental injustice, leveraging her law degree to seek comprehensive legal remedies for impacted groups. Since graduating from Cornell, Yana has supported low-wage workers as a union organizer to create more fair and democratic workplaces. She also designed and led advocacy programs to help workers in the logistics, construction, and energy sectors fight for family-sustaining jobs and healthy environments in communities across the United States, from the Rust Belt to the Texas Gulf. Most recently, Yana has utilized her experience to consult national and global-scale nonprofits on launching intersectional labor-climate programming.