Karla is the CLP Programme Officer for BirdLife International overseeing the CLP Team Awards, in particular leading on the Team Awards grant management. Before joining CLP in 2023, Karla worked in Belize and Mexico managing local programmes and projects focused on biodiversity and community-based conservation, protected areas management, indigenous knowledge, environmental justice and capacity building.  Karla is passionate about increasing and promoting just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive (DEI) conservation science and practice and about linking knowledge systems for conservation action through participatory and transdisciplinary approaches. She is finishing her PhD in Geography at the University of Nottingham, has an MSc in Conservation Leadership from Colorado State University and a BSc in Biology from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM).