Miranda Massie

Massie was born in New York City in 1966. She grew up first in Brooklyn Heights,^[1] then in New York’s Hudson River Valley.^[2] Massie earned a French Baccalaureat and attended Cornell University, where she studied US History and won several honors upon her graduation in 1989. She enrolled in a Ph.D. program in History at the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, which she left in 1991 with a master's degree. She then lived in Mexico City before pursuing a J.D. degree at New York University School of Law.^{[citation needed]}

Massie moved to Detroit, Michigan to work as a civil rights impact litigator. Her lead counsel roles included the representation of the student intervenors in the University of Michigan Law School affirmative action case, Grutter v. Bollinger,^[3][4] which resulted in a 2003 Supreme Court decision.^[5] Massie moved back to New York City in 2007 to serve as a senior attorney in the environmental justice unit at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), focusing on children's exposure to toxins in public schools.^[6] She became Legal Director at NYLPI, overseeing the firm's work in the areas of environmental, health, and disability equity and also served a period as NYLPI's Interim Executive Director.^[7]

Increasingly concerned about climate change,^[8][9] in 2014, Massie left her career as a lawyer to found the Climate Museum, where she is the director. She has overseen the presentation of its exhibitions and special programs.^[10][11] The Museum has now secured a permanent home that will open in 2029 near Hudson Yards in New York City.^[12]

She is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the OpEd Project and the Yale Program on Climate Communications,^[13] and speaks frequently on climate and culture.^{[14][15][16][17]} Massie's civil rights impact advocacy and her cultural work on climate have been featured in a variety of print, radio, and television news outlets.^[18][19]