Katerina is a social scientist with expertise in education for sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. She has broad experience working in the education sector in different European and African countries and since 2019 she has entered the entrepreneurial eco-system by founding her green social enterprise in Tallinn, BinFree. Through her company’s activities, she has saved about 2000 kg of equivalent CO2 emissions from incineration through the recycling activities and she continues creating a positive environmental impact through the educational activities she performs. Specifically, she has organized several public lectures, community events, and workshops to raise awareness about climate change, environmental protection, and sustainable living and urge people to take action in their daily life either as consumers or business managers. In 2021, she has organized the Green Monthat Tallinn University with 14 interactive virtual events, to raise awareness about sustainable development at the universities and she has initiated several activities in Estonia, such as clothes swap events, beach cleanups, and public lectures addressing topics related to sustainable development, climate change, social impact, and environmental protection.
In addition, she is currently working as a Project Manager in Cleantech Estonia, supporting the local cleantech ecosystem, designing accelerator programs and events to raise awareness of the impact of new technologies, on high school students, university students, and young professionals. In order to increase the positive social impact in the startup community, she is leading the diversity expert group in the Startup Estonia network, raising awareness and addressing the issues that withhold women to enter the entrepreneurial sector and/or create additional obstacles in their performance in the field. At the same time, she is a mentor in the Women in Tech program, helping young women to fulfill their dreams in STEM sector.
Her never-ending energy to support, motivate and encourage others, her ability to connect with people, and her courage to take action and create opportunities for herself in order to fulfill her dreams in life, without compromising her values, make her an inspiration for anyone who works with her. Seeing people moving forward in the direction of what they want to achieve, by living more sustainably, considering the wider systems they belong to, and also innovating clima-tech solutions for creating a better and cleaner world for all of us, motivate her and give her all the energy needed to move forward and strive for more.
