Pierina Pighi Bel (Lima, 1989) coordinates the Hub’s communications. She is a doctoral student at CUNY’s Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures (LAILaC) Ph.D. program, and just graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University (NYU) in May 2023, so she is finishing a collection of short stories that she crafted during her studies. Pierina is also a journalist, so before coming to New York, she worked for six years at the BBC News Spanish Service in Miami, where she wrote about environmental issues, such as the threat to the Peruvian Amazonian jungle posed by illegal gold mining, the El Niño coastal phenomenon, and Flint, the US town affected by lead-polluted water, and many other and diverse topics. Previously, she was a reporter at El Comercio newspaper in Lima, Peru, for three years, where she also wrote some articles on illegal mining, waste management problems in one of the country's biggest cities, and another sizeable urban area polluted by destroyed pipes and stagnant water. Pierina holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Peru.
What excites her more about the NYC Climate Justice Hub is to join a team that has a real impact on the lives of everyday communities across New York CIty and to relate to local organizations that have achieved concrete environmental goals.
