Véronique, or Véro, Couttee began her journey in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, completing a BS in Biology with a focus on Ecology and working as a wildlife biologist for 5 years. In 2018, Ms. Couttee came to the United States as a Fulbright scholar to complete an MS in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Policy at the University of Albany. During this time, she worked in a partnership with ESRI and the National Audubon Society’s Enterprise GIS team under a Dangermond Fellowship sponsored by ESRI.

In 2021 Ms. Couttee founded Geospatial Equity Tech (https://www.geoequitytech.com/services) to focus on the key role that strategic planning and effective leadership play in driving impactful social and environmental justice projects. Ms. Couttee brings Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDI-B) focused leadership and engagement to project management, coordination, strategic planning, and implementation.

In 2022 Ms. Couttee founded AfriTech (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/06184870a7124aa0ac60a6680229b71c) with the intent of elevating and empowering emerging womxn in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) field through development of technical and leadership development skills. The goals of AfriTech include fostering mentorship between womxn, increasing womxn’s participation in economies, particularly in Mauritius and developing countries, as well as increasing womxn’s participation in Research and Development efforts. At AfriTech, fellows are empowered to participate competitively in diverse STEM careers, introduced to a growing network of other womxn in the space, and taught how to develop and leverage a Personal Leadership Plan. Most recently they graduated their second cohort in the fall of 2023.