BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Salvador Gómez-Colón is a globally-recognized humanitarian and climate resilience advocate. When Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Gómez-Colón leaped into action and created the "Light and Hope for Puerto Rico" campaign, which distributed solar-powered lamps and hand-powered washing machines to over 3,500 underserved families in sixteen municipalities around the island. After the initial Light and Hope campaign, Salvador has led dozens of disaster-relief missions in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean that have collectively raised over a quarter of a million dollars. He has also advised youth-led sustainability initiatives spanning four continents, focused on developing community-led climate resilience. His work has been featured in print and digital media, including Time Magazine, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, NPR, and Teen Vogue. In January 2020, Salvador was one of the “Ten Teenage Change-makers” at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Recognized as one Time Magazine’s “Most Influential Teens," Salvador is a recipient of the U.S. "President's Environmental Youth Award,” the "Diana Award,” and the Puerto Rico Governor's Youth Medal. He is also a part of Marvel’s Hero Project, a docuseries that highlights the work of real-life superheroes who are creating a positive impact on the world.

Salvador–a junior at Yale University–is the author of Hurricane: My Story of Resilience, published by W.W. Norton in Fall 2021.