Our Team
Jessica Grillo, Principal
Over the years, I have been fortunate to have mentors, colleagues and friends who challenged me to see the world in new ways and encouraged me to always ask questions. I credit them for helping me develop what I consider to be my biggest strength as a systems thinker. I have put this strength to use to help companies and organizations move from from "business for business-sake" to "business for humanity-sake". I believe the former has an expiration date, while business for humanity-sake understands that long-term personal and business gain is fundamentally dependent on societal and environmental benefit.
This premise has fueled my work over the last twenty years, spanning topics in sustainable agriculture, food security, living incomes and wages, tourism, climate change, land and forest conservation and disease ecology. I am grateful to be working alongside forward-thinking companies and civil society organizations to advance responsible business.
Prior to establishing Heartwood, I spent six years as Rainforest Alliance’s Senior Advisor on livelihoods and social equity, advising on standards and programs for global companies to improve livelihoods while conserving precious resources for future generations. While there, I led the organizational charge on living wage, including developing practical tools which are used today by dozens of companies, donors, and standard systems.
Prior to joining Rainforest Alliance, I worked for nearly a decade in livelihoods research, food security and humanitarian assistance across more than twenty countries in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. I spent four of those years as the Livelihoods Advisor for USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET).
I am honored to currently serve on the Board of Directors of Living Wage For US; the Technical Advisory Group for the IDH Living Wage Roadmap; and the Technical Advisory Committee for the Living Income Community of Practice (LICoP).
Jessi Grillo
Anna Buxaderas, Associate Consultant
Anna is always on a quest for the ingredients of a creative, happy and sustainable life and the recipe for a fair and just world where all living creatures can exist, thrive and flourish. Willing to re-connect with nature after twenty years of corporate work and big city living, she moved with her partner to a small rural community, between the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean sea, where she now balances her consulting work with tending a vegetable orchard and some art practice. She loves the taste of freshly picked ripen tomatoes, the sound of bells and knowing her neighbours.
During her work at different positions for multinational corporations from various sectors, Anna was responsible to develop, implement, audit and certify integrated quality, environment and health and safety management systems in Europe, South Asia, and Latin America, gaining expertise on project and team management as well as awareness on the difficulties and challenges of driving change and promoting the sustainability agenda within complex organisations.
After her MBA, she established herself as an independent consultant and, for the last 10 years, she has helped scheme owners, companies and producer organisations to improve the requirements and audit process methodologies of sustainability schemes and company codes of conduct by providing benchmark, research, gap analysis and expert advice.
Anna also works in collaboration with other small consultancy firms, where she supports the development and implementation of sustainability strategies and provides training on sustainability topics such as certifications and living wages.
She is happy to be an associate consultant at Heartwood, where she supports Jessi on the IDH Roadmap on Living Wages and co-leads Salary Matrix implementation activities among others.