ABOUT

Hi! I’m Brianna. I design, fund, and implement place-based environmental and educational programs that bridge ecological systems and local priorities.

This site is an evolving portfolio of selected projects, research, and field-based work spanning environmental stewardship, operational systems design, and community resilience.

OPPORTUNITIES

I’m currently open to leadership roles, consulting projects, and collaborative opportunities that advance sustainability, community resilience, and systems-level change.

I'm particularly interested in opportunities at the intersection of sustainable development, regenerative landscapes, food systems, and environmental education, where I can translate interdisciplinary ideas into fundable, operational programs, partnerships, and measurable outcomes.

If you're building something aligned with these values, I'd love to connect.

EXPLORE WORK

Urban Governance

Regenerative Design

Educational Program Development

GET IN TOUCH

briannagutierrez18@gmail.com

01

The Bronx, New York, USA

Taming the Giants

A Roadmap for Strategic Community Partnerships

A lush green garden with trees, plants, and a small pond or stream. There is a backyard setting with a building in the background and garden equipment such as a sun umbrella and fencing visible.

OVERVIEW

In this project, I collaborated with four community garden organizations to examine how grassroots groups can optimize their partnership networks while remaining grounded in their mission. Using stakeholder mapping and power analyses, I helped these groups identify which partnerships truly supported their goals and where they faced risks of mission drift or cooptation.

The project resulted in practical recommendations for building strategic networks, maintaining community trust, and navigating complex institutional relationships as organizations scale.

For the full thesis, read here.

Inside a greenhouse with plants growing in raised beds and pots, with a fan and a sign on the wall.

CHALLENGE

Grassroots groups often operate in an environment dominated by "regime giants” that hold structural power. These are the landowners, grant-makers, and supermarket monopolies. While community gardens rarely struggle to win local support or build social capital, they often find themselves negotiating for the structural power required for long-term survival.

In this landscape, partnerships are more than just collaborations; they are the key to resilience and sustainability.

Four people working together in a garden, planting and tending to young plants near a wooden fence, with patio stones and potted plants in the foreground.
Four people working together in a garden, planting and tending to young plants near a wooden fence, with patio stones and potted plants in the foreground.

SOLUTION

I developed an original Strategic Autonomy Matrix (SAM) as an analytical framework to help organizations assess structural dependency risks in stakeholder relationships. By using this matrix, organizations can identify where they are functionally trapped.

The SAM provides a clear roadmap for transitioning from restrictive, dependent relationships toward adaptive partnerships. It empowers grassroots groups to move from being passive recipients of support to partners with structural integrity, without compromising their core mission.

Urban garden with rows of vegetables and flowers in front of a city skyline with tall skyscrapers under cloudy sky.

SCALING UP

The balance between autonomy and dependency isn’t just a challenge for a neighborhood garden, it applies to any enterprise. When a business, no matter the size, fails to evaluate its agility and resilience, a single shift in government policy or a disruption in a supply chain can paralyze its entire operational system. By applying the SAM at scale, a corporation can identify which partnerships are true allies that drive innovation, and which risk threatening its long-term independence and strategic mission.

IMPLEMENTATION

Strategic Autonomy Matrix

Cartoon dog holding a bone, standing on a grassy patch with a blue sky
An illustrated girl reading a book while lying on a couch with a cat nearby.
Black silhouette of a griffin with wings spread, standing on a curved base.

Decision-making Leverage
Influence

HIGH

Silhouette of a person performing yoga on a mountain peak at sunset.
Black silhouette of a person riding a bicycle against a white background.
Drawing of a woman with long hair riding a bicycle on a bridge.

MED

Black and white illustration of a person playing a trumpet.
A black cat with orange eyes sitting on a wooden surface in front of a glass jar with a lid.
A person playing a guitar and singing into a microphone on stage at a concert.

LOW

Resource Sustainability
Dependency

HIGH

LOW

MED

MATRIX KEY

Low Freedom of Movement
Restrictive governance

Med. Freedom of Movement
Hybrid governance

High Freedom of Movement
Adaptive governance

HOW TO USE THE MATRIX

PLOT

Place stakeholders on the grid based on their substitutability (how easy they are to replace) and their leverage (influence on your decisions).

MOVE RIGHT

Reduce Dependence: For stakeholders on the left, your priority is to find alternative partners or resources.

MOVE DOWN

Formalize Independence: For stakeholders at the top, use contracts, bylaws, and board structure to reduce their formal power over your mission.

THE WIN

Strategic actions should always move stakeholders to the bottom-right green quadrant.

02

Guamasa, Tenerife, ESP

Casa Garimba

Permaculture principles for ecological resilience

0.59 acres
1521 feet — 1572 feet
28° 30’ 23.496”N

AREA
ELEV.
LAT.

A detailed landscape and site plan of a property, showing building footprints, pathways, trees, and topographical lines with measurements, directional arrows, and markings for landscaping and construction.
A detailed landscape and site plan of a property, showing building footprints, pathways, trees, and topographical lines with measurements, directional arrows, and markings for landscaping and construction.
Legend and labels for a landscape plan, showing symbols for trees, downspout, water spigot, swale, garden bed, stairs, drip irrigation, property boundary, stone wall, contour line, water flow, and drain, with numbered labels for features such as cottage, main house, principal patio, hot tub, sauna, water utility closet, outdoor shower, compost, proposed driveway, and permeable patio.
Legend and labels for a landscape plan, showing symbols for trees, downspout, water spigot, swale, garden bed, stairs, drip irrigation, property boundary, stone wall, contour line, water flow, and drain, with numbered labels for features such as cottage, main house, principal patio, hot tub, sauna, water utility closet, outdoor shower, compost, proposed driveway, and permeable patio.

OVERVIEW

For this project, I collaborated with clients who recently restored a historic property in Tenerife, Spain. They faced three major hurdles on this site: frequent power outages, relentless trade winds, and the harsh combination of porous volcanic soil and calima (Saharan dust storms) that leave the ground regularly dry and cracked. To build a resilient ecological system, I looked at the land through a permaculture lens, making sure every element — soil, water, wind, and wildlife — was well integrated to support the health of the whole.

DESIGN

The process began with developing a comprehensive base map. To create an accurate description of the landscape, I layered public topographic datasets and satellite imagery with my own field observations. I wove these data points together using a suite of tools including Google Earth Pro, QGIS, Inkscape, and Canva.

WATER MANAGEMENT

The first intervention addressed water flow around the main house. By locating downspouts and observing pooling patterns during heavy rains, I identified exactly where water harvesting strategies would be most effective.

Previously, valuable roof runoff was underutilized. To capture and redirect this water toward the garden beds, I implemented the following:

Site Preparation
Cleared existing vegetation to prepare the soil for improved infiltration.

Containment
Lined the area with a durable barrier and backfilled with picon (local volcanic rock) to enhance moisture retention.

Redirection
Modified the sidewalk grade with cement to intercept runoff, directing it into a channel of recycled roof tiles that guides the flow toward the plant root zones.

A red building with a window and stone accents on the side, a mountain landscape in the background, a garden with plants and flowers, and a bench in a dirt area with rocks forming a border.

This patio now functions as a semi-permeable “sponge,” lowering the property’s total water and labor demand through passive harvesting.

FUTURE MANAGEMENT

I am currently developing a comprehensive natural resource inventory and management plan to assess and support the property’s long-term ecological health and resilience. Current planning efforts include the design of site-specific polyculture guilds intended to mitigate the impacts of northeastern trade winds while adapting to the property’s diverse microclimates.

A garden with various green plants and flowers, a dirt pathway lined with rocks, a large leafy tree on the left, and houses on a hill in the background under an overcast sky.

03

Hudson Valley, New York, USA

Westmoreland Sanctuary

Experiential learning design

A person holding an open textbook or magazine with Fourth Grade curriculum topics, including Forest Ecology, Animal Kingdom, Organic Chemistry, Bio-minery, Pond Study, and Maple Sugaring. The page features some small images and text.

OVERVIEW

Westmoreland Sanctuary is a 640-acre nature preserve in New York that provides environmental science education to over 8,000 students annually. I partnered with the Sanctuary to modernize their curricula and pedagogical approach.

A forest with tall trees showing autumn foliage, some leaves on the ground, a small shelter or kiosk with a map nearby, and the sun shining through the trees.

CHALLENGE

The primary objective was to formalize and update existing educational materials to align with New York’s Next Generation Science Standards. This required integrating state requirements with the unique physical assets of the site, ensuring that both the expansive 640-acre preserve and its museum functioned as primary learning tools.

A large old grey wooden church with a tall steeple topped with a weather vane, surrounded by fall-colored trees with orange, yellow, and brown leaves, and a partly cloudy sky overhead.
A large old grey wooden church with a tall steeple topped with a weather vane, surrounded by fall-colored trees with orange, yellow, and brown leaves, and a partly cloudy sky overhead.

SOLUTION

Using experiential pedagogy, I authored over 55 environmental STEM curricula for grades Pre-K - High School. By leveraging the preserve as an outdoor classroom, these modules transition students from passive observers to active participants in their local ecosystem. This curricula ensures that every lesson is both academically rigorous and deeply rooted in the local environment.

For the full guidebook, see here.

IMPACT

I secured $465,000 in grant funding (a 220% increase) to scale regional environmental programming and ensure long-term curriculum viability. The fiscal growth enabled the organization to scale its educational programming while simultaneously expanding its capacity to lead regional ecological conservation initiatives.

SKILLS

Program Management

Operational Optimization

Cross-Cultural Collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement

Systems Design

Fundraising & Partnerships

EDUCATION

M.S. Sustainable Development
Utrecht University, NLD

B.A. International Studies & Environmental Studies
University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA

Permaculture Design Certified
Oregon State University, USA