Rebekah Emanuel | Harvard Innovation Labs
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Rebekah Emanuel

Senior Advisor, Social Impact + Climate

i-lab Advisor

Rebekah directs the programs on social entrepreneurship and climate at Harvard Innovation Labs.

A McKinsey alum, Rebekah brings over 15+ years of experience in the social entrepreneurship and climate spaces. Rebekah is the chair of Harvard's Climate Entrepreneurs Circle, teaches “How to Create a Climate Venture” which is offered across 55 universities, and has also hosted Harvard Business School's podcast on climate, Climate Rising. She has brought multiple startups from a few team members to several hundred and from little revenue to multiple millions.

Prior to joining Harvard Innovation Labs, Rebekah was the executive director of Imagine Boston 2030, the first long-term plan for the City of Boston in 50 years. Rebekah has served on the boards of nonprofits from Connecticut, to India, to Mali. She is a graduate of Yale and Harvard Business School, and holds an MBA and an LLM.

Reach out to Rebekah if you need help with any of the following:

  • Developing an idea for how to tackle the issue you care about
  • Developing a business plan
  • Connecting with experts in your space
  • Setting milestones
  • Testing your idea
  • Pivoting your venture given new facts
  • Creating your board
Coming up with a startup idea isn’t about waiting for lightning to strike — it’s about tuning into the world, and your own reactions to it, with greater clarity. Rebekah Emanuel, senior advisor for social impact and climate at the Harvard Innovation Labs, shares practical strategies you can use to spark meaningful, viable ventures and turn ideas into impact.