Kessica is the C40 City Adviser for Quezon City. In this role, she supports the city’s implementation of priority climate actions, helping to mainstream the actions into local governance, policies and structures. She has almost a decade of experience in managing disaster risk reduction and climate action projects. Throughout her career in the development sector, Kessica has focused on enhancing the resilience of cities and municipalities through inclusive and community-based approaches to capacity building, policy formulation, and network building.
Prior to joining C40, she worked for an international think tank and consultancy firm managing projects on design thinking and design sprint for international NGOs and international financial institutions. She also worked previously in the education department of the Philippine national government as part of the team that crafts disaster, climate resilience, and education in emergencies policies for the basic education sector. While working for local and international NGOs, she championed for the rights of children and persons with disability to be included in resilience planning and implementation.
Kessica graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines – Diliman. She also completed a programme on Executive Masters on Disaster Risk and Crisis Management at the Asian Institute of Management.