Dr . Melanie Okoro
Young Professionals 2022 by Becky Grunewald
Dr . Melanie Okoro ’ s eyes widen as she ’ s asked about the hardest time she ’ s faced in her career . Of course , navigating COVID-19 was difficult for her and her business , Eco-Alpha Environmental and Engineering Services , where she is the founder , principal and CEO . But she shares that a more uncertain time came for her professionally a few years earlier .
It was 2017 , and she was working as a scientist and policy advisor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . She had just received the “ Fisheries Employee of the Year Award ,” a career milestone . Okoro , 39 , had been operating Eco-Alpha on a consulting basis since 2013 , but she decided that 2017 was the year to make a leap to leave NOAA and devote herself to her company .
“ That was very difficult , to step out of the comfort zone of me being a scientist and to leave an organization that I truly loved — a very safe space ,” she says . “ In entrepreneurship , who knows when you are going to get paid ? And you have a family to think about . It was a change to my mindset .”
The risk paid off . Eco-Alpha , which Okoro coowns with her husband Uzoma Okoro , is thriving and expanding , she says . The company now has three divisions — environmental , engineering , and workforce development training — and takes on tasks including streamlining companies ’ environmental permitting processes and maintaining air conditioning , plumbing , and electrical systems in large buildings . “ We are experiencing immense growth in K-12 institutions and the commercial real estate sector and expanding our training division and staff to support our clients nationwide ,” Okoro says .
Okoro attended the private , historically Black Johnson C . Smith University in North Carolina , where she met a scientific mentor who introduced her to the field of ecology . From there she pursued a doctorate in environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and began work at NOAA as a graduate scientist .
Okoro attributes her relatively quick success to her strong work ethic and her ability to persevere and collaborate , and also to the strong foundational support of her team , which will soon include her twin sister , Stephanie Harrison . Harrison will join Eco- Alpha in the role of vice president of human relations and accounting upon her retirement as a lieutenant colonel in the Navy .
Okoro is very committed to giving back to the community , including working as a board member for Splash , a nonprofit dedicated to helping children “ understand and value the natural world .” Her proudest accomplishment relates to that commitment to lift up others .
“ This has been a passion of mine for a really long time — to make sure that those that look like me have an opportunity to take advantage of the field I ’ m in and be aware of the opportunities to come work in a field that is highly lucrative … and in which there has been great underrepresentation ,” she says .
A typical weekday finds her up at 4 a . m . with alone time when she answers emails from East Coast clients , later taking her daughter to school and in her Sacramento office by 8 a . m . From there it ’ s meetings that focus on acquiring new clients and retaining existing ones , along with marketing and growing the company and creating new service divisions .
Most important to Okoro is supporting her team , so that they can take care of their clients and “ truly represent what it means to work at Eco-Alpha , to be a leader in the field , to have our clients trust us in the work that they do . The way that I look at it , I ’ m just making sure that we ’ re steering the ship in the right direction .”
July 2022 | comstocksmag . com 57