July 2022: Lotus is Turning 10!!
This summer will mark Lotus’ 10th year of being in business! Everyone at Lotus is so excited about this achievement and proud of the work that has been accomplished over the past 10 years. A lot has changed about Lotus and the world of sustainability since then, and we’re continually striving to learn and grow wherever the industry takes us. It’s important to look back and celebrate our achievements and see how far we’ve come since 2012, so here are some highlights of the first 10 years of Lotus:
• Grew from 1 employee to 10.
• Had the pleasure of working with over 60 unique clients in multiple countries and dozens of states.
• Worked throughout Colorado with clients ranging from counties to cities to school districts to small companies to billion-dollar companies.
• Created dozens of actionable Climate Action and Resilience Plans.
• Analyzed hundreds of thousands of data points to create countless greenhouse gas emissions inventories.
• Partnered with 13 separate organizations.
• Supported 100s of hours of volunteer time for our employees.
• 2 office moves.
• Consumed too many office baked goods to count.
After 10 years, Emily Artale, the founder of Lotus, has decided to take on new adventures, and Hillary Dobos is taking the role of President and Owner going forward (read more below!). Hillary is committed and excited to build on Lotus’s remarkable foundation.
As we celebrate 10 years of Lotus, we want to take this opportunity to celebrate this anniversary with our clients and those who have supported our efforts! We’re in the process of planning a celebratory Open House to take place in August. Details to come, stay tuned!
We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!
The Lotus Team 😊
A Message from Emily Artale
After ten years with Lotus, I have decided to move on. I have transferred my ownership to Hillary, and I will be leaving Lotus to start a new adventure. This is happy news – Hillary will lead the company as its President, and I will take time to re-evaluate how I can be of the utmost service to our planet.
I am sure there may be questions – Lotus is more successful than ever, and some might be confused as to the timing of my departure.
Ten years ago I started Lotus. I had a newborn, and I was working out of my guest bedroom, trying to figure out how to help local governments become more sustainable. For the next couple of years, I subcontracted with some amazing companies (including Brendle Group, Trident Energy Services, and TerraLogic) and committed many hours to networking. Jonathan Wachtel, the City of Lakewood’s Sustainability Manager, took a chance on me and hired me to provide modeling support for the City’s first sustainability action plan. It was the first Lotus led sustainability project, and it was a success! It also made me realize the importance of peer collaboration, and I asked Hillary Dobos, who had also recently gone out on her own and formed Merrill Group, LLC, to join me as a co-owner and business partner. She accepted, and Lotus took off! We started to grow, hiring Julia Newman (formerly Julia Ferguson) as our first employee. (Thank you, Julia!) We started winning RFPs, took on more projects, and firmly rooted ourselves as sustainability experts. Today, Lotus has a staff of ten and continues to grow!
Ten years ago, there was very little sustainability consulting, and many communities were struggling with the WHY and HOW of sustainability. Today, sustainability is the status quo, and is becoming more and more integrated into the way we live and work. It has been remarkable to witness and an honor to be part of this evolution. Despite what we read in the news, we have come so far, and I hope you all are as proud of our collective progress as I am! This evolution has been an amazing team effort, led by YOU and consultants, nonprofits, equity advocates, community leaders, industry representatives, utility companies, and universities. I have learned so much about taking aggressive action, committing to climate justice, and encouraging continual innovation. I have had the privilege to partner with so many, and I am humbled and forever grateful for your service and contribution and inspired by your passion and ingenuity. Thank you for teaching and inspiring me.
Our world has undergone radical changes over the last two years, and it has forced me to re-evaluate my pace and slow down. It’s time that I soak up the world around me and be present with my children. I will be spending the next few months envisioning what comes next. My former colleagues – Hillary, Julia, Rachel, Nick, Mallory, Kim, Claire, and Shannon – are a dream team of rockstars, and I have full confidence in their ability to take Lotus to the next level!
Please reach out if you would like! You can find me on LinkedIn and, of course, let me know the next time you are in Crested Butte!
Sincerely,
Emily Artale
A Message from our President
In the 7 years since Emily and I have worked as business partners leading our team at Lotus, I’ve always been impressed with Emily’s steadfast commitment to the sustainability field. I’m ever grateful to Emily’s openness and team spirit in welcoming me as her partner and collaborator, and this enduring partnership has allowed us to build out the unique capabilities and mindset of our Lotus team. Emily undoubtedly had a strong vision to press forward in this nascent area 10 years ago, and I have no doubt that her next phase will continue her remarkable contributions in new ways to the sustainability field. With the greatest appreciation, Emily!
Going forward, our team is as committed as ever to simultaneously preserving and evolving our credible voice in the sustainability field for all our clients. We are working hard on expanding our practice areas to meet the mounting needs of our growing client base.
To meet these challenges, our team continues to grow! Look out for announcements in August about our new colleagues.
As always, I’m extremely grateful for the commitment of all of the rock stars that make up our team and are the critical underpinnings of our client’s successes. Thank you all, and onwards together!
Hillary
Staff’s Favorite Memories of Emily
Julia: One of the first projects I worked on with Lotus was the GV HEAT program. Emily spent over a year working with local partners in the Gunnison Valley to develop and fund a program that would support energy efficiency improvements for families in need across the Valley; her dedication to this work and passion for energy justice was palpable! I have very fond memories of working on the GV HEAT project with Emily and witnessing her ability to understand and develop innovative solutions to pressing needs in the community. During the time our team managed the GV HEAT program I had the opportunity to meet many of the families that benefited from free home energy assessments and efficiency improvements. It was wonderful to see the impact of the work we do in a very real way!
Kim: I think one of my favorite things about Emily was her thoughtfulness in the way she approached finding solutions. She encouraged folks to share their perspectives and factored those ideas into her perspective in a meaningful way. I also really appreciated her desire to be creative in the way we approach projects and solutions. She pushed us to come up with a creative process for the Summit County Equity Plan and I think it will really take our equity and engagement work to the next level.
Rachel: One of my favorite memories of Emily is whenever she would find a new chart type/visualization she liked and wanted us to find ways to recreate them! She helped push the data team to learn many different ways to present data and I'm now an expert at making pie/donut charts amongst many others! She also was so passionate about equity and how inequities drive the magnitude of climate impacts on different communities. We mapped a lot of equity-related metrics for the Renewable Heating and Cooling Plan, and I think it helped bolster the plan that wouldn't have happened without her passion.
Nick: During our work together on a statewide renewable energy program evaluation, I was inspired by Emily's ability to truly listen to, and engage with, the stakeholders we interviewed. Emily brings genuine empathy and a passion to develop the most equitable and effective solutions to all of her work. Emily is incredibly thoughtful in how she incorporates the perspectives of the clients and communities we work with into her work.
Mallory: One of my favorite memories of Emily is her leadership in our monthly equity meetings. Emily was always incredibly thoughtful in gathering readings and facilitating powerful discussions related to race, gender, and environmental justice issues. Reflecting on how equity issues influence our work here at Lotus has given our company a really unique perspective on sustainability work, and this wouldn’t have been possible without Emily’s leadership.
Claire: I was so excited to join a company that cares so much about an equitable approach to sustainability and with a recognition that we all must continue to work toward educating ourselves on the issues. Having Emily at the helm for this effort helped us make effective progress! Even in my short time with her, I learned so much from her leadership, from witnessing her facilitation skills, and from my conversations with her. It is clear she cares about the mission behind the work and very clear that she cares deeply about her team.
Shannon: Emily was a guest speaker during a career workshop in my graduate program and hearing her speak to Lotus's work and impact on communities was a huge reason that I was excited to work at Lotus! I live in the Gunnison Valley and have worked closely with the income qualified energy efficiency upgrade program, GVHEAT, that Emily and Lotus started. It is a perfect example of climate justice - a solution that helps reduce energy use and therefore emissions, while improving the quality of life of low-income residents of the Gunnison Valley. I am inspired by this and other projects that Emily has led which focus on equitable solutions to the climate crisis.