Our Staff
Joelle Novey
Director
She/Her/Hers
Joelle @ ipldmv.org
Joelle has served as IPL-DMV’s Director since the fall of 2009 and speaks widely on the role that faith communities can play in the climate movement. She grew up in Baltimore at Chizuk Amuno Congregation and is now active in several Jewish communities in the DC area, including Minyan Segulah, and serves on the advisory board of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action.
Joelle finds communities of faith and spirit to be among the most powerful places in the world to talk about the climate crisis and why it matters to each of us. She loves opening conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds about what is happening to our world, and how we are each called to protect the people, places, and creatures we love. She is grounded in her own Jewish tradition’s fierce spirit of intervention which demands that we act boldly even when we feel uncertain, if life may be at stake.
Prior to coming to IPL DMV, Joelle worked at Green America, where she screened applicants to the Green Business Network and wrote dozens of articles about greener living for the organization’s newsletter and magazine. For more than a year, she counseled hospital patients of all backgrounds and led interfaith worship services through a chaplain training program at Washington Hospital Center.
Joelle is a graduate of Harvard University where she received a BA in Social Studies, and completed the coursework for a minor in the Study of Religion. There she sang with two soulful singing groups, Mizmor Shir and the Kuumba Singers, and subsequently was a founding member of Songrise, DC’s all women’s social justice singing group.
Joelle is thrilled that the co-housing building she and her family live is both LEED Silver certified and going solar in 2023!
She is a recipient of:
- The Bethesda Magazine Green Award (2017)
- Sustainability Advocate of the Year from Pearlstone Center (2017)
- The Maryland Clean Energy Advocacy Award (2014)
- The Heschel Vision Award from Jews United for Justice (2008)
Robin Lewis
Director for Climate Equity
She/Her/Hers
Robin @ ipldmv.org
As the Director for Climate Equity at Interfaith Power and Light DMV, Robin Lewis believes that she has been called as a Christian to be a voice for environmental justice and equity in her community. After working in business for a long time, she found that her satisfaction was gained by helping to educate others, in particular people of color and other marginalized communities, become more aware of environmental issues that are impacting their quality of life. As a result, she shifted her career focus to community engagement and organizing with various local grassroots and faith-based organizations to help to promote collaboration on environmental justice and equity issues.
Robin previously worked as a certified project manager for non-profits and businesses for many years, recently working with an affordable housing agency helping low income residents pursue healthy living conditions. She also worked as a community education and awareness advocate for energy conservation and promoted environmental legislation to clean up the Renewable Portfolio Standard in Maryland. Robin serves as the Director of Social Justice and Outreach for her church, Beloved Community Church UCC in Accokeek, MD.
In addition to obtaining her BA in Economics and MBA from Rutgers University, Robin has a Masters in Sustainable Urban Planning with a concentration in Climate Change from The George Washington University. Robin’s research has focused on the socio-economic aspects of sustainability in urban revitalization, such as issues relating to displacement, gentrification, and affordable housing.
Robin feels blessed that she is able to bring her experience and passion to the IPL team and hopes to learn more about other faith traditions in the spirit of cooperation and harmony.
Lindsay Estes
Operations Manager & Executive Assistant
She/Her/Hers
Lindsay @ ipldmv.org
Lindsay minds the details and systems that support our sacred work.
She comes to IPL-DMV from operations and compliance roles in the medical cannabis industry. At Remedy Columbia, she managed a team of over forty agents and led efforts to establish the business as a trusted community wellness resource and ensure safe access to medicine. Prior to that work, Lindsay planned exhibit logistics for several high-profile clients as Client Services & Logistics Coordinator for Hatch Exhibits.
Lindsay grew up in a log cabin in southeastern Pennsylvania, where she spent most of her time barefoot and outdoors. She is an initiated Wiccan in the Reformed Celtic Tradition, and is grateful to her community of practice, Sylvan Circle, for grounding her in the magic of ancient ritual and the rhythms of the natural world. Lindsay brings her tradition’s belief that “nature is the perfect teacher” to IPL-DMV’s work to attend to and protect our damaged climate.
Lindsay is excited to put her logistics chops to work in support of IPL-DMV’s grassroots climate work. “Climate change is a problem that affects everyone,” says Lindsay, “so it makes sense to solve it together. This isn’t only an immediate threat to our welfare but also an opportunity for us to transcend differences in background, to get to know one another, and to learn how to live together.”
She still spends most of her free time barefoot and outdoors, often with her dog, Sonja.
Noam Shapiro
Program Associate
He/Him/His
JCAN @ ipldmv.org
As Interfaith Power & Light DMV’s Programs Associate, Noam mobilizes Jewish communities around climate change. Noam facilitates IPL’s Dayenu circle housed at IPL-DMV, the Jewish Climate Action Network DMV, and works with congregations of many traditions to save energy and shift to cleaner power.
Noam comes to this work after several years as an immigrant rights organizer with New Sanctuary Coalition, where he supported asylum seekers, undocumented individuals, and climate refugees. Prior to working with Interfaith Power & Light, Noam served as The Slifka Center for Jewish Life & Yale’s Social Justice and Arts Coordinator, where he formed a partnership with the Mill River Project, an environmental justice initiative to clean up the Mill River and create accessible green spaces for the residents of Fair Haven.
Noam also brings to his work his experience as a theater director and producer. Noam’s artistic practice focuses on social justice and he is currently adapting Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s critically acclaimed memoir Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen into a musical.
Noam grew up in New York City and is a graduate of Yale University, where he studied History and Theater Studies. Noam feels drawn to IPL’s advocacy because he believes that religious communities can provide powerful pathways for people to move from anxiety over the climate crisis to courageous action.
Joshua Long
Congregational Organizer
He/Him/His
Joshua @ ipldmv.org
Joshua is a recent graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary, an award winning public theologian, and an inspirational musician. His musical thesis on climate and faith explored how sacred music can foster spiritual experiences and build communities of hope and justice. Joshua feels called to work in building climate justice and sustainable communities and he hopes to bring his many gifts in his work with Interfaith Power & Light.
His work as congregational organizer will help IPL-DMV build new relationships with faith communities all over the metro area as well as nurture existing ones. Joshua brings a pluralist theological perspective with a background in several Christian denominations, interfaith work, and Unitarian Universalism. Josh has served on the board of directors for the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (2020-22) and through his internship at Rock Spring United Church of Christ has worked with Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions on several projects and events.
Josh loves to spend time with his wife Tabitha, their son Elijah, and Cat Calypso. He enjoys music, hiking, sushi, and nerding out on Linkin Park, Star Wars, and Dragonball.
Julia Novey
Program AssISTANT
She/Her/Hers
A DC native, Julia has studied Software Engineering and Economics at McGill University, and served in a number of administrative and coordination roles for her sorority. An accomplished indoor gardener and devoted cat parent, Julia is delighted to bring her love of plants and animals to IPL-DMV’s work to protect our world (and to work with her cousin Joelle!)
Amethyst Holmes
SEMINARY INTERN
She/Her/Hers
Amethyst.Holmes @ bison.howard.edu
Amethyst Holmes is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C. Her work has been featured in Christianity Today, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and with Religion News Service. She has worked at the intersections of sport and faith in nonprofit sports ministry in various communications and marketing roles for nearly a decade. She was previously a general assignment reporter for AL.com/The Huntsville Times. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Alabama where she also competed as a student-athlete on the track & field team.
She is currently pursuing a master of divinity degree at Howard University School of Divinity and is a fellow in the 2022-2023 Religion Journalism Fellowship Program powered by Religion News Service and Interfaith America. She also serves as a board member and mentor coordinator for Alabama MASTHEAD, an alumni-led nonprofit dedicated to supporting student journalists of color at UA.
Maddie Smith
Advocacy & solar Congregations Coordinator
They/Them/Theirs
Maddie @ ipldmv.org
Maddie is thrilled to be back at IPL-DMV after previously serving as Program Associate through the Lutheran Volunteer Corps from 2017-2019 and will be supporting IPL’s advocacy and solar work. They have spent the last four years at IPL’s sister organization in Washington state, Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power & Light. Maddie is passionate about grassroots climate work and fighting the greenwashing of fracked/natural gas. They are a Unitarian Universalist and member of University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA. In their spare time they love bird watching and petting cats.
Isabella Zarate
Outreach intern
She/Her/Hers
Isabella_zarate1 @ baylor.edu
Isabella is a third-year Honors student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, pursuing a double Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Environmental Studies. At her university, she also serves as Co-Head Delegate of Baylor’s Model United Nations team and Co-Director of Baylor’s LEAD LLC.
Her summer work with IPL-DMV focuses on engaging with local communities while bridging the gap between her Hispanic heritage and her environmental activism. As a native Texan with parents reigning from Latin America, she has seen and experienced the negative impacts of climate change that bring extreme weather conditions and natural disasters to communities everywhere. Due to this, Isabella feels she is called to make a difference for the individuals suffering in climate-fragile communities near her home and around the world through community outreach, local education, and international policy advocacy.
She loves to spend her free time at home with her family and her four beloved toy poodles: Ozzy, Emma, Hulky, and Ambulance. She also enjoys trying new foods and telling people about the stories behind her dogs’ unique names.
Anjali Gulati
Green Dharma DMV organizer
She/Her/Hers
ag2104 @ georgetown.edu