Wilniesha Smith — WaterMarks

Wilniesha Smith: Mentoring the Next Generation in Green Infrastructure Jobs

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.”

GI Maintenance & Stewardship

Wilniesha examines a rain garden outside H.W. Longfellow School in the Clarke Square neighborhood just west of Walker’s Point. She led Reflo’s high school interns to maintain green infrastructure at Milwaukee schoolyards.

Guiding High School Interns

Wilniesha guides high school environmental interns who work and learn with Reflo. A previous cohort of interns helped design and build the Hidden Infrastructure Exhibit, which demonstrates how bioswales and cisterns work.

Education & Outreach

Wilniesha also performs education and outreach for Reflo, managing events, promotions, communications, and providing the organization’s public face at conferences or expos.

Career Pathways in Water

Wilniesha guides Reflo’s high school interns in hands-on learning involving the various skills and trades that lead to successful installation and long-term maintenance of green infrastructure.

Schoolyard Transformations

Wilniesha also supports the efforts to green Milwaukee’s schoolyards, converting asphalt to green space that soaks up stormwater and creating space for play and learning.

Wilniesha also does a bit of everything for the busy nonprofit.

She engages in education and outreach efforts for youth and the public on how green infrastructure like bioswales and cisterns work and why they’re important. She also represents Reflo at public events and conferences.

During the summer months, Wilniesha leads Reflo’s environmental interns in maintaining green infrastructure that needs some tender loving care, for example weeding bioswales or rain gardens. Every fall, she leads the effort to communicate with partners to winterize their rainwater harvesting systems in order to prevent ice damage. Wilniesha also liaises with schools that Reflo supports to guide them in tending their new native plants, whose deep roots help pull up water in the ground.

Wilniesha’s job is a great example of a local career in water that touches on many different facets of work, but still allows her to get outdoors helping plants—and Milwaukee’s next generation of young people—to grow and thrive.

“Being connected with the outdoors and the environment has always been a big part of me,” Wilniesha reflects. “I didn’t realize it as much until I got older.”

Learn More About Reflo