Talia Arbit

Talia Arbit — Product Marketing Manager, LinkedIn Learning

Talia is an educator and a marketer who is passionate about corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability. She currently works on product marketing and strategy for LinkedIn Learning, serves on the board of the Women’s Environmental Network, and helps lead the Bay Area Women in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) group. Talia joined WEN’s board in September 2019.

What is the educational and career path that led to your current career?

My focus on environmental sciences and activism was cemented in college, where I majored in environmental biology, led Columbia’s oldest and largest student environmental organization, and worked on a 2-year research project studying water contamination in Bangladesh. After school, I joined Teach For America and taught Biology and AP Environmental Science in San Jose.

While education is arguably the most important field to be in, I felt the urge to effect change on a higher scale, so I transitioned to working in community engagement and business strategy for a small EdTech company, then marketing strategy at an agency called Sustainable Brands. After deciding in the last year that I wanted to deepen my marketing skills, I recently transitioned to a Product Marketing Manager role for LinkedIn Learning. It appealed to me because it combines my passions for impact at scale and education. Eventually, I hope to leverage my personal and professional strengths to weave my passion for both marketing and sustainability together more fluidly. For now it’s a bit ad hoc, but it works!

What environmental issues are of most concern to you?

So many! From a research perspective, I have focused mostly on global water contamination and water management policies. I’ve had the chance to study groundwater contamination in Bangladesh, to explore phytoremediation efforts of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in wastewater treatment centers in California, and to examine key tactics of Native American management practices in the United States. Water is and will continue to be one of the topics I geek out about the most, and I know this is a topic of growing concern for governments across the globe.

I am also passionate about sustainability in the business sector. I love seeing what brands are doing to mitigate their impact on the world. Yet I still realize there need to be monumental, not incremental, shifts in this sphere, and that businesses should be working on this hand in hand with the consumers they serve. That’s how we’ll effect true change.