Wilniesha Smith

Meet Wilniesha. She’s administrative coordinator for the nonprofit Reflo, headquartered just down the road from E. Greenfield Avenue in Walker’s Point inside the Arts @ Large Community Center on S. 5th Street. After earning a degree in environmental health water quality technology from Milwaukee Area Technical College and three summers interning with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, Wilniesha joined Reflo in 2017.

Green infrastructure—nature-inspired systems like rain gardens, bioswales, or cisterns that capture, hold, and manage water where it falls—is at the heart of Wilniesha’s career. Her work is all about water, though we see the impact in the urban landscape and in the experiences of youth she mentors.

With Reflo, Wilniesha supports projects ranging from designing and building green infrastructure at schoolyard redevelopments to guiding high school interns who gain hands-on experience with skills and trades tied to green infrastructure career pathways.

“When you open someone’s eyes up to the different careers, the different aspects, why do we need green infrastructure. And they’re like, oh yeah, I didn’t think of it that way—Seeing the lightbulb go on when you’re talking to people,” Wilniesha reflects, “is like the best part for me.”