She first worked for another company, Neighborhood Sun, where she led its low- to moderate-income program. Her job was to get people within this income bracket signed up with the company’s solar farms. She spent time on the ground, knocking on doors, giving weekly presentations at local meetings—all to build relationships, to build trust. As she put it, she became known as “the solar woman.”
That’s how Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, the North America director for clean energy advocacy group 350.org, met Hansley. At the time, O’Laughlin was leading the Maryland Environmental Health Network. She walked into a meeting of elderly Black women and saw Hansley talking to them about solar energy. Seeing Hansley’s energy and ability to connect firsthand instilled a sense of solidarity for O’Laughlin, who is also a Black woman in a predominantly white space.
She wasn’t the only one who wanted to support. Erica Ruffin, 37, remembers seeing Hansley share the launch of WeSolar on Facebook. Ruffin knew Hansley from their Howard University days. When she saw Hansley was selling clean energy, she reached out. Ruffin signed up her house in Lanham, Maryland, a predominantly Black community, at the end of July.
She’s still waiting for the solar farm to have enough subscribers to begin sending power through—WeSolar estimates Ruffin will receive her credits by December—but she doesn’t mind. Ruffin feels empowered knowing she’s not only supporting solar—her personal contribution to fighting the climate crisis—but also a business owned by a Black woman. “We have to have power,” Ruffin says.
Of course, Hansley is not your ordinary CEO. She didn’t come from a history of generational wealth. Her family hadn’t already created a solar empire for her to inherit. She did this on her own. Now, Hansley is channeling her own energy back into the Black community, which the fossil fuel industry has long exploited through pollution and deceit. Maryland is only the beginning—WeSolar plans to soon expand to cities around the country.
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