True Blu: How sustainability values have shaped alumna Helue Leslie-Vazquez

Luckily, Leslie-Vazquez has found impactful ways to channel her environmental concerns into real action. She built a career focused on helping regional and global businesses turn their sustainability goals into sound financial decisions.

“I learned at UW-Eau Claire that what’s good for the planet is also good for the economy,” she says. “These forces are mutually beneficial.”

Advising businesses and advancing sustainability goals

Leslie-Vazquez has worked for nearly a decade in Minneapolis for the global professional services firm Ernst & Young. The most recent five of those years have been spent in EY’s climate change and sustainability services, first as a consultant, now as a manager.

“My work at EY is about helping our corporate clients be transparent and successful in reaching their goals for sustainability,” Leslie-Vazquez says. “Our consultants at EY are subject matter resources, demonstrating to our clients that sustainability goals like waste-reduction and green energy sourcing are also strategic goals. They come to us for help because customers and employees often lead the way in demanding transparency and action from corporations, and we offer solutions.”

Prepared for business, driven by goals for the planet

What might come as a surprise is that Leslie-Vazquez does not have a degree in sustainability or climate science. She graduated from the Univiersty of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with degrees in finance and economics. But she says that growing up in Mexico, she remembers worrying about climate change from a very young age.

“I remember it feeling like such a huge, irreversible problem,” she recalls. “Adults around me would talk about things like acid rain and holes in the ozone layer, so I knew some of the components, but certainly not the whole story.”

Leslie-Vazquez says that once she arrived at UW-Eau Claire in 2012, things changed when she joined an economics department-based climate change opinion study led by Dr. Eric Jamelske, professor emeritus of economics. She also completed an internship with the city of Eau Claire in the economic development department.

“I learned so much more about sustainable actions and the ways individuals and organizations can make a positive impact,” Leslie-Vazquez says. “I realized that these issues can be linked to nearly any topic on this earth. Having student research and work experience in these fields helped prepare me for my role as a sustainability consultant.

“I see economics as a social science with some psychology involved. I am still fascinated by the things that drive economic behavior, and helping drive behavior toward sustainable choices is rewarding,” she says.

Remembered as a uniquely gifted student

Dr. Thomas Kemp, professor and chair of the economics department, is one of the faculty members who Leslie-Vazquez says were especially helpful throughout her student journey and supportive of her status as a recent immigrant. Kemp says her career and life success come as no surprise to him, as she “stood out in two significant respects” during her time as a Blugold student.

“Helue was a particularly kind and empathetic person, words that now fall short in accurately describing how much she cares about others,” Kemp says. “She can create a healthy environment around a conversation because she is so attuned to others, yet she is simultaneously commanding in a group. I’ve had very few, maybe just two, students in my career that capable.”

Since graduating, Kemp says Leslie-Vazquez has continued to connect with campus and mentor students, in person and virtually, including a 2023 campus summit-style event addressing students on career paths combining economics with sustainability.

“I’ve reached out time and again when I have a student interested in her career path, and she unfailingly offers to connect and help them take steps she feels will help them move forward,” Kemp says.

In thinking about the big picture of Leslie-Vazquez’s career success in sustainability, Kemp says it epitomizes the “bread and butter for us as economists.”

“How do you find the value of things that do not have prices? That is what we try to do,” he explains. “There is no price tag on a healthy planet, on clean air, or clean water. Helue has the ability to convince organizations that the value of sustainability, to which we cannot always attribute a dollar value, is a critical component of a functioning economy. She learned much of that skill set right here.”

Leslie-Vazquez points to a growing collective consciousness around sustainability that increasingly leads to high organizational desires to set bold goals and lead in their fields.

“By and large, people care, they want to do the right things. When they learn how it can happen in ways that also make good financial sense, our job gets easier.”

Living out her values in many ways

That empathy and caring Kemp calls “instinctive” for Leslie-Vazquez has shown up in big ways beyond her career advocating for the environment. She serves two large-scale community-centered organizations, one within EY and one in the Twin Cities.

“I am the current chair of an EY group called Unity, a professional network in EY member firm offices around the globe that promotes LGBT+ inclusivity,” she says. “We get out into the community with monthly events aimed at building community and celebrating folks living authentically.”

Her connection with Unity led Leslie-Vazquez to a leadership role with a second area nonprofit, the Aliveness Project of greater Minnesota, where she serves on the board of directors and finance committee.

“The Aliveness Project serves people living with or at high risk of contracting HIV,” Leslie-Vazquez says. “Our goal is to end HIV infections in Minnesota, which we believe is achievable.”

A full slate of services is offered, from medical and social case management and housing support to clinical testing, medical appointments and food and nutrition support.

“Our biggest accomplishment recently has been opening our own pharmacy, a specialty pharmacy that dispenses the medications critical in preventing HIV infection if taken within 72 hours of a known exposure,” she says.

Leslie-Vazquez says this pharmacy fills a gap that exists for many with limited access to doctors or transportation to a specialty pharmacy, a business type often closed on weekends.

“People cannot delay medication from a Friday to a Monday, so this pharmacy was a huge priority in meeting our mission. We know this will reduce the number of Minnesotans to contract HIV,” she says.

Taking some time away from EY and volunteer work to welcome her first child this summer has given Leslie-Vazquez time to ponder what ideas and passions she hopes to share with her daughter someday.

“Of course, she will be her own person, but I also hope that the life we lead and the work we do will plant the seeds in her to be of service, to have a heart to want to help others,” she says.

“We have privileges that many others don’t have, like a supportive family and opportunities for education. I hope that, like her father and me, she grows to have passions and convictions that lead her to a fulfilling life. I know I’m lucky to have found that.”

True Blu is a monthly series that spotlights UW-Eau Claire alumni.