Victoria Escribano Piazza’s path to sustainability management hasn’t been linear. But in hindsight, it feels inevitable. After early work in customer experience and data analytics, Escribano Piazza shifted her focus toward biodiversity and long-term environmental impact, guided by a deeply rooted commitment to service.
Now a student in the M.S. in Sustainability Management (SUMA) program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS), Escribano Piazza is also one of this year’s recipients of the Luksic Scholarship for Sustainability, awarded to students who have lived or worked in Chile and are committed to advancing sustainability efforts in the region.
“Sustainability didn’t arrive in my life as a single moment; it’s something that grew with me,” said Escribano Piazza. “I’ve long felt a calling to make the world around me a better place.” She traces that instinct back to childhood, including an award she received at age 9 recognizing her dedication to service. “In many ways, that has defined who I’ve become.”
After earning a degree in business and economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Escribano Piazza began her career in customer experience before transitioning into corporate sustainability. As sustainability chief at Parque Arauco, she led regional ESG, climate, and social investment strategies across Chile, Peru, and Colombia. At SPS, she is now sharpening the interdisciplinary skills needed to scale the nature-preserving work that motivates her most.
“Ultimately, this program isn’t just a degree for me,” Escribano Piazza said. “It’s the bridge between what I’ve done and the scale of impact I want to have next.”
Read the full interview below.
Can you tell us about the experiences that led you to get involved with sustainability?
My worldview shifted in 2010 after a devastating earthquake hit Chile. At 15, I joined volunteer efforts to build emergency housing. It was the first time I saw inequality up close, and it completely changed my understanding of community and responsibility. Soon after, I spent more than a decade as a scout leader, dedicating one day a week to working with more than 120 at-risk children annually. Those experiences shaped both my leadership and my ethics.
A special clarity came after several days immersed in untouched landscapes in Patagonia with my best friend and observing wildlife in its natural habitat. Something clicked: I knew this was the work I needed to commit to.
I am also deeply inspired by Jane Goodall. Her story resonates with me, especially the way her childhood fascination with nature shaped her life’s purpose. And like me, she was first inspired by Tarzan. In the moments when this field feels heavy, I try to consider her reminder: “There is still hope.”
What made you decide to shift from customer experience and data analytics to corporate sustainability, and how did that early work experience support your current work?
I genuinely enjoyed working in customer experience and data analytics. Those roles taught me how to think in systems, work with evidence, and understand how organizations operate. And beyond the technical learning, I was fortunate to work with colleagues and mentors who shaped how I want to lead and collaborate.
But even while I loved the work, I felt a growing desire to align my career with my values. Sustainability was where everything I cared about—people, nature, ethics, and impact—came together. Leaving a well-established BI path wasn’t easy, but it was the right decision.
One of the most valuable parts of that early experience was being exposed to high management from the beginning of my career. I learned directly how leaders think and how complex decisions are taken. Working in CX, analytics, and business strategy at a leading regional company gave me a holistic understanding of organizations and how decisions are made. That exposure, along with working across different teams, contexts, and cultures, became fundamental once I transitioned into sustainability.
Could you share your specific interests within sustainability? How do you hope to connect your interests in biodiversity, data, and governance?
As mentioned before, my path into sustainability started more on the social and governance side than with biodiversity. Over time, that lens expanded toward nature and ecosystems, and in the last few years, biodiversity has become a core focus for me.
Recent trips to the Pantanal, Patagonia, and South Africa were pivotal for me. The natural environments were extraordinary on their own, and seeing jaguars, pumas, lions, and cheetahs in their natural habitat was deeply moving. But it also showed me the other side: fires, degraded landscapes, and local communities trying to protect their territories with very little support.
That’s where my interests in biodiversity, data, and governance converge. I want to understand how ecosystems are changing, and then help turn that information into better rules, better corporate strategies, and better public decisions.
Why did you decide to enroll in SUMA?
I’ve reached a point in my career where experience alone is no longer enough. To influence decisions at a larger scale, I realized I needed deeper training, and a broader global perspective. Columbia offers exactly that blend of rigor and practicality. SUMA brings science, policy, and data together in a practical way—the kind of interdisciplinary environment where I knew I would grow.
I’m especially drawn to coursework and faculty working on biodiversity, nature-based solutions, climate risk, and sustainability metrics, which will help me turn my evolving interests into grounded, science-informed expertise. At the same time, the program connects well with my earlier work in innovation and data-driven decision-making. I’m equally excited about learning from faculty and peers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
Even in my first semester, professors have already inspired me so much and shaped how I think— especially Wendy Hapgood, with her systems approach to conservation. I’ve also learned from Amy Karpati, Brian Kavanagh, and Julia Reiss, whose perspectives span science-based biodiversity, public policy, and the power of storytelling.
I’m also excited to explore how art and communication can drive environmental change, a personal interest rooted in how my dad taught me to appreciate art. Seeing creativity and storytelling inspire action has been one of the most meaningful surprises of the program so far. I also feel deeply grateful to the Luksic Scholars community for supporting my studies here and making this experience possible.
Columbia will give me the tools to lead meaningful, data-driven, nature-positive change in any context where the work is needed.
What are you hoping to do with your degree?
With this degree, I hope to help make sustainability a nonnegotiable standard in how decisions are made, in business, in policy, and in long-term planning.
In the long term, I want to contribute to large-scale conservation and resilience strategies, shape climate and biodiversity policy, and help companies operate with science, ethics, and regeneration at their core. My goal is to help move sustainability from a “nice to have” to the foundation of how we live, work, and invest—whether that’s in Latin America or wherever else this path takes me.
I look forward to gaining the tools to scale conservation finance, advance climate adaptation, and strengthen governance, so I can help make climate and biodiversity action a standard, not an aspiration.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management program, offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School, provides students with cutting-edge policy and management tools to help public and private organizations and governments address environmental impacts and risks, pollution control, and remediation to achieve sustainability. The program is customized for working professionals and is offered as a full-time and part-time course of study.
The program fosters creativity and adaptability by equipping students with the skills to tackle real-world sustainability challenges through an interdisciplinary approach from the world’s premier sustainability academics, researchers, and practitioners. The up-to-the-minute curriculum and flexibility prepare graduates for careers in the dynamic and rapidly changing field of sustainability.
Learn more about the program here.
About the Scholarship
Columbia University School of Professional Studies is proud to offer the Luksic Scholarship for Sustainability for students in the Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. The scholarship, supported by the Luksic Foundation, covers the full cost of attendance, including tuition and living expenses. Students who have lived or worked in Chile and who are committed to working on sustainability efforts in the region are eligible for the scholarship.
