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Featured as part of the 2026 Women In Energy exhibit at Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
While Pepper’s Juanita Garcia, Project Executive, High Performance and Sustainable Construction, has always been proud of her work, she never dreamed that it would be worthy of being featured in a museum. Much to her surprise, the team at Chicago’s Griffin Museum of Science and Industry disagreed.
In honor of Women's History Month, the Griffen team is featuring women trailblazers in the energy field – including Juanita and more than 50 others – whose work is making an impact locally, nationally and internationally every day.
In her role on project teams at Pepper, Juanita helps to identify and reduce energy, water and materials that could be wasted in the buildings we construct, which benefits the health of people who use those buildings, as well as the surrounding communities.
“I am inspired by the current initiatives of several organizations working together to advance the industry. Our common goals are greater transparency and advocacy for reduced environmental impact and fewer health risks.” - Juanita Garcia
Women have been at the forefront of the energy industry – and discoveries about the environment – for much longer than they've been given credit. For example, in the 1850s, Eunice Newton Foote conducted experiments demonstrating how atmospheric water vapor and carbon dioxide affect solar heating, resulting in the discovery of the greenhouse effect and foreshadowing later work by John Tyndall that described how the effect worked. However, Foote didn't get credit for her work until 2011, by which point she had been deceased for 123 years.
Today women only make up 25% of the energy workforce, the Museum team reports. However, as the exhibit showcases, they continue to shape the future of energy.
Even among this relatively small group, Juanita’s background is unique. She has more than a decade of mechanical design experience, and her passion thrives at the intersection of psychology, human rights and wellness, which has been further supported by her study of massage therapy. She is an advocate for diversity in STE(A)M, an ACE mentor and supports Chicago Innovation’s The Ladder mentorship program for black and Latinx innovators. Juanita also serves on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Green Alliance and Green Social Housing – Chicago Residential Investment Fund.
She is also no stranger to the Museum of Science and Industry. Just a few years ago, she was invited to deliver the keynote address to the MSI’s Youth Summit for middle-school girls.
Juanita currently manages sustainability and LEED certification strategies for projects totaling more than $360 million. Her portfolio includes the first LEED-Zero-Energy-certified building in Illinois – the Instructional Facility – which is also LEED v4 BD+C Platinum certified, as well as the Oak Brook Commons Medical Office Building, which received a Green Globes Carbon Reduction Award for minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Honorees demonstrate the use of innovative carbon-reduction strategies and complete frequent emissions measurements.
In alignment with healthy construction practices, Juanita is also committed to driving initiatives that encourage different organizations to work together. “Even if these groups are or have been competitors,” said Juanita, “we are all advancing the industry toward greater transparency and advocacy for reduced environmental impact and reduced risk to human health.” Examples include the Common Materials Framework, which brings together building certifications, material certification third-party verifiers and manufacturers to agree on the priorities of human, climate and ecosystem health, social health and equity and promotion of a circular economy.
Congratulations to Juanita and all the energy leaders featured this month at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry!