Anya Cherneff

Co-founder and Director, Pollinate Group

2015 International Award Winner

Anya Cherneff currently serves as a Director for Pollinate Group and Smiling Through Light. Previously, Cherneff supported workforce development and social impact efforts at Unpacking, a diversity education company, Movement for Family Power, AAA, and Empower Generation, which merged with Pollinate Energy to become Pollinate Group in 2018. Pollinate Group is an award-winning social enterprise that trains and supports entrepreneurs to lead inclusive businesses that deliver clean energy solutions to remote villages in Nepal and city slums in India. Pollinate Group has empowered over 500 women through business training and meaningful employment, and delivered life-changing products to over 500,000 people. Pollinate Group has been working tirelessly to keep the marginalized communities we work with safe from COVID-19 by distributing health and sanitation products, creating vaccine-access, and combating misinformation. Along with being a C3E Women in Energy International Leadership Awardee, Cherneff is an alumna of the Miller Center Social Entrepreneur Fellowship Program, a TEDx Zurich Speaker, a SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) Social Entrepreneur Fellow, and the winner of the Ashden International Award in the Clean Energy for Women and Girls category. Cherneff holds an MA in International Human Rights from the University of Denver and a BA in Anthropology from Columbia University.