Hello, my name is Elena Foukes. 

I have been through a dark night of the soul. It’s more like a few. But saying “dark nights of the soul” sounds clumsy.

They came in waves over the past few years. If you’ve had one, you know. It’s challenging to put words to them. The only way for them to end is to go through them. 

I have made it through them. I’m still alive. I know the darkness. I choose light. 

I also choose to start talking about them.

I also am a new person. I’ve evolved through several versions of myself. I don’t think I knew this was possible. 

Up until the past few months, I lived in my head. No heart. This is going to be a doozy to explain. It might take a writing about it a few times because it states to make sense or for it’s description to feel right. 

How do I describe the journey from top-of-her-game professionally and achieving by all of society’s standards, to eating a yarrow flower? 

In any case, I’ve been sober for 6 weeks and took myself off of synthetic, seasonal birth control 7 months ago. I had my period every 2-3 months, and I had been on the pill since I was 13. I was on the pill for 23 years on the pill. Now I’m discovering what my body is. 

Topics to cover:

• Going off of the pill
• Stopping drinking
• Father dying
• Parents hoarding
• Mother in decline
• Financial psychology
• My stolen $400k catamaran 
• Spiritual practices
• Rocks
• Plants
• Fear
• Prayer

What I’ve done and have been doing over the past few years have been experiments. Of you could call it wandering in the desert. 

I did the things. I went to school. I got married. I started and grew a company. 

Climate change still matters. 

To stay sane during it, it take more than tech solutions. Climate change is a whole body experience. 

Climate change is about extraction, and zero sum. And breaking our connection to the earth. And power, and patriarchy. I’ve been spending a lot of time reading and listening on these topics. Lots more to come. 

I’ve started things in fits and starts, trying new things out. I was figuring out the next thing or things for me. I’m still figuring it out. I’m sharing what I know right now. It may change. I may go silent for some time… again. It’s the ebb and flow of growth. Thanks for understanding. Thank you for the compassion.

Maybe you’re figuring things out too? 

I hope by sharing what I’ve gone through, it can can you or someone you know. It was hard. It can be hard. I didn’t have examples of the journey that resonated with me, so I hope my writings help you. 

In the meantime, please take a listen to my podcast, Climate Avengers through Resource Labs. It’s available on every podcast platform. Search my name or Climate Avengers. I interview founders and founders in ClimateTech. 
​

8 Climate Career Myths… Debunked
Tuesday, April 18th, 3pm EST/ noon PST

Climate Money: Put your $ to work for the climate
Thursday, April 20th, 3pm EST/ noon PST

Upgrade Your Climate Career
Friday, April 21st, 6pm EST/ 3pm PST

In the past year, I’ve made a bit of a pivot, or two. I realized that for this (ClimateWealth.io) business to work for me, I want it to be completely automated, so I can go and take care of things when and where needed, or fun things like going to visit my mom in Michigan.

I started building an automated career course called “Start Your Climate Career,” and the target audience was people NOT in climate. 

Along the way I realized that I knew way more people who were overworked and undervalued in climate work.

I’ve been there. I’ve felt stuck in my career. I’ve burned out. I’ve started my own thing, and worked the corporate side of life. 

Now, my FIRST course will be “Upgrade Your Climate Career,” along with a Membership. 

Far too many times, speaking with climate friends and colleagues, I hear stories about their work being undervalued. Friends accepted lower pay and reduced titles.

These are people whose hearts are in the right place. They’re doing everything they can, in their position, to address climate change. They’re going above and beyond, yet they still feel stuck. There is still something missing. 

Now, I’m ready to AMPLIFY the work of friends and colleagues with an online course that will enable them to upgrade their climate careers, and their wealth.

Locking in higher pay sooner in your career means more financial security, faster.

This is especially important for “diverse” people… aka, this is a way for me to address the wage gap, and to help others get what they deserve.

You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you tolerate…

…this is the phrase that propelled me when I was the lowest level analyst at PG&E, and within a year I was co-founder and CEO of a funded ClimateTech startup. 

I’ve been re-working the content from “Start” your career to “Upgrade” your career, and I’m still feeling inspired because I imagine my clients getting the new job or promotion that they deserve, making at least 10% more, and more likely making 20-35% more after my course, and on their way to a more fulfilling career. 

The content is designed to be 8-10 weeks, however we’ve had some early members, crush it, and go through it, and much less. Remember, the most important part of the “course” is the homework, including discovering your “Why” and developing a vision. 

​

…This is what makes what I’m putting together different than other climate courses. If people want to learn the technical side of climate, there are great courses out there. I’m excited to elevate people’s perspective whole lifestyle. 

My content includes systems and tools that go beyond facts. I’ve been through a dark night of the soul. I’ve been through shadow, and darkness, and here I am.

Along the way, I’ve gathered tools that have made all the difference, and I know that challenging the status quo, whether with a new job or a new career direction can touch on insecurities, or bring up insecurities, or trigger insecurities to the point of shutdown. 

This is why I’m excited about my course(s) and membership.

There is the course, and then there is the membership: two live calls per month, recorded and shared in case someone can’t make it, along with additional resources and posts. This membership is the regular, scheduled accountability partner I wish I had when I was figuring out what to do next. I

It’ll be a community of people. We’re in this together. We’re figuring out what a limited career means, and we’re never alone. This membership is the community we want and need. 

During each call, we’ll ground, and envision, and hope, and commiserate. We’ll ask “what did you do in the past two weeks?” and “what do you want to accomplish in the next two weeks?” and “what’s holding you back or in your way?”

If you’re ready for a promotion, bay bump, title boost, new job, or new sector, I hope you’ll join us. 

Both start in May - and I’m pre-selling them at a steep discount right now. There are so many events and so much support for climate work during April, I wanted to make sure there was more support in May and ongoing… 

This newsletter will have more great content now that I’ll be writing and sharing more with the world, so get excited! 

In any case, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE FOR THE JOURNEY. This newsletter is 9 years old as of April 1st. Woah. Thanks for being here. 


Until next time,
Elena

I am a Venture Partner with Climate Avengers, a climate tech investing group with a syndicate and rolling fund, both based on AngelList.

Climate Avengers was started by Kyle Cherrick, and with my fellow venture partner Nico Johnson, we wanted to start a podcast as a resource for the climate tech community. 

Podcast tag line:
Can climate tech save the world while still making money? Hear from successful founders & investors who are proving it’s possible.

​Our working description:
The world needs technological breakthroughs that preserve our planet. But nothing changes until $1 moves, and venture capital enables dollars to deploy into the most scalable solutions quickly. 

Join Climate Tech founder & investor, Elena Foukes, every week as she engages leaders in the climate tech ecosystem. Together, we seek to demystify the world of climate tech venture capital and unlock gigatons of carbon reduction and resource sustainability. We are an angel investment group which deploys capital to climate solutions, generating personal returns and making the world a better place. Climate Avengers is here to find & fund these breakthroughs.

I am finalizing an online course to show people how to start a climate career, especially if they’re coming from tech and have 

Part of the course is the practicalities of the job search, including making a resume that is ATS readable, and a cover letter. 

Cover letters have always been hard for me, since it’s taking what I’ve already communicated via my resume, linkedin, and website. With Chat GPT I never have to worry about a cover letter again. <mind blown>

I was first hoping that I could link to the job and my LinkedIn and then chat. GPT would generate a cover letter based off of both of those, but that didn’t seem to work. I started thinking about other way to approach this, and section by section in a couple of the letter is seeming like the best way to go, and then i realized that I can include all the queries in the same request. 

Result… a little generic, but I could add more about my experience into the request. I would also want to be really explicit about why I want to work at the company, so to add something about company culture, and also why I want to work on climate. “The wildfires were too much for me this year.” “My mom lost electricity for days during winter storms and I was worried.“ “My kid asked me about climate change.”

ChatGPT does a good job at getting the formalities out of the way, so I can focus on what makes a candidate truly special for a specific role. I’m also going to thoroughly read through the result so ensure it work for me. 

There are some articles about using ChatGPT to write a cover letter (this one from FastCompany), however they had ChatGPT make a cover letter for a made up role. I wanted to know how it would do for specific parameters within a climate career. 

Query:
“Write a full cover letter for a Product Manager role at SunRun, and i have 10 years experience in product management at Twitter. I also want to work at SunRun because i realized that i wanted to do something about climate change?


Result:
Dear Hiring Manager,

I am writing to express my interest in the Product Manager position at SunRun. With 10 years of experience in product management at Twitter, I believe I have the skills, experience, and passion to contribute to SunRun's mission of creating a planet run by the sun.

While I have enjoyed my time at Twitter, I have come to realize that my true passion lies in finding solutions to address climate change. I am inspired by SunRun's commitment to creating a more sustainable future, and I believe that my experience in product management can be leveraged to help achieve that goal.

Throughout my career, I have been responsible for managing the end-to-end lifecycle of complex products, from conception to launch and beyond. I have a track record of working collaboratively with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, marketing, and sales, to deliver innovative products that meet customer needs and business objectives.

In my previous roles, I have been responsible for conducting user research, analyzing data, and working closely with customers to understand their needs and identify opportunities for growth. I have also been responsible for developing product roadmaps, prioritizing features, and working with engineering teams to deliver products on time and on budget.

What particularly draws me to SunRun is the opportunity to work on products that have a real impact on the environment. I am passionate about finding solutions to address climate change, and I believe that working at SunRun would enable me to make a meaningful contribution towards that goal.

I am excited about the opportunity to bring my skills and experience to SunRun and to work with a team that is committed to creating a more sustainable future. Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to discussing my qualifications further.

Sincerely,

**Note: I “read” all of these books via their audiobook form, through the library app Libby.

​Using a library card, you have access to the entire digital collection of the library. Smaller libraries have generally formed consortiums with other libraries, so they have extensive collections, sometimes bigger than major city libraries. You’ve already funded libraries, use them! 

Regeneration by Paul Hawken
This book lists and explains dozens of climate solutions that regenerate the planet. It’s the most hopeful and practical book for addressing the climate crisis. The audio book has several narrators. 

All We Can Save by a lot of women, Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
Each chapter of this book is written by a different expert, and they all are women. This book touches on climate justice more than most, and it’s perspectives are fresh and welcome. Plus Julia Louis-Dreyfus reads some of the chapters in the audio book. It’s fantastic. 

To Speak for the Trees - Diana Beresford-Kroeger  
This book is a memoir, but also reminds us of the wonder of nature. The author shares insights and benefits of trees that we are only beginning to understand in modern medicine. 

The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary by Clark Strand, Perdita Finn
It’s a beautiful book that is medicine for the soul. The authors feel the pressure of climate change, and find that turning to the divine feminine and all of her forms brings peace to anyone troubled by our times. The audio book is read by the authors and their daughter.

Lifestyle hygiene 
DIY anti-bacterial
THIS IS WAY BETTER THAN ANTI-BACTERIAL GEL. It’s very clean feeling, without the smell or slime that comes with some gel anti-bacterial solutions. 

Get a readably sized spray bottle (~6-8oz, the 2 oz spray bottles need to be refilled rather frequently and anything larger can be unweilding), fill with 70% rubbing alcohol (which is usually 70% alcohol), 20% witch hazel, and 10% filtered water. You can also add essential oils for a fragrant boost. With a medium sized spray bottle, you can have on in the door of your van, or it doesn’t take up too much room on a table or in your living area. 

We used this spray, exclusively, during the pandemic. We always had a spray nearby. Our hands were NEVER dry. The witch hazel keeps your hands soft and healthy. It was shocking to stay at a hotel or with some friends for a few days and realize how quickly, even soap, dries out one’s hands. 


Dish and household cleaning
Also have a spray bottle of water and a spray bottle of 50% vinegar and 50% water. Both spray bottles can be used to easily clean dishes…. when finished with a meal, spray your dish and wipe it out with your napkin. The napkin will pick up any fats that are left on the plate and everything is easier to clean before it dries out and get caked on. The vinegar spray helps lift grease from any surface. 

The water spray bottle also helps when it’s hot and you need a cool spray to keep you cool. A wet buff will help even further. 

Shower
Amazon for the portable shower - a shower wherever and whenever you want. 

DO NOT get a portable shower head with removable batteries… the batteries must be kept out of the water. (We learned this from a community shower at burning man.) Get a shower where the whole system is waterproof. When you’re craving a shower, any temperature water will do, however, you can warm water in the sun all day, and when you’re at peak sweaty in the summer heat, that sweet sweet water will rain down on you in a glorious shower. 

Off grid shower wisdom: A full shower (shampooed hair and full body scrub/rinse) can be achieved with 1.5 gal, so anything more will be luxurious. You quickly learn to spray yourself off, turn off the shower, lather and scrub, then turn the shower back on to rinse. 

Water
3 gallon stackable water bottles

5 gallon water bottles weigh too much. These 3 gallon bottles are the right size to make moving them easy, and they also have a great handle and are stackable 3 high. 

Electric water dispenser
A rechargeable water dispenser gives you running water in any location. We haven’t used one on the 3 gal bottles, so do some research and check it out. If you know that you’ll be using the dispenser for cooking, look for a product that allows you to hold a pot with two hands and still allows you to turn the water on and off. 

Just google something like this:

​

Going to the bathroom
Toilet seat for 5-gallon bucket
**warning, very honest discussion on human excrement ahead**
Toilet solutions and back-ups
In rural camping, you dig a hole… camping, you have vault toilets, in other cases, an outhouse… in other circumstances, you may want to remain indoors while using the toilet, and this 

Men may be used to peeing on a tree while on the go, and it can be a learning curve for women.

A female urinal funnel is great when you’re comfortable to go outside, or to pee in a bottle like a guy. Clean up is much easier. Squatting can be messy for a female. ​Ladies, do your research about which might suit you best. I do not recommend one that has retractable parts, because you end up touching it after you’ve used it. Ideally, you’d let it air dry and not seal in the moisture in a water tight bag, but without a watertight bag… I haven’t solved this yet, so google this yourself.