Meet April Economides

Meet April Economides … Long Beach native and president and founder of Green Octopus Consulting. Economides specializes in transforming business districts and cities into healthy and fun places to live, work and play.

“I decided to get my MBA in Sustainable Management because I felt that a lot of decisions related to environmental and urban planning issues are made by businesses,” Economides recalled. “I thought it would be most effective to work from within business and business associations to bring about positive change.” Economides’ niche is making the business case for bicycles and demonstrating to merchants how bicycles will improve their business.

Economides lives car-free in Long Beach with her seven-year-old daughter. “My mission is to reduce car dependency and increase multi-modal transportation for short trips,” Economides said. “Biking is fast, convenient and a really great replacement for the car in most situations. Considering 40 percent of the trips made in the US are less than two miles, and 68 percent of those are driven, picture the decrease in traffic, pollution, car accidents and parking issues if most of those were biked.”

At the moment, Economides is traveling extensively throughout North America, giving presentations on the business case for bicycling, BFBDs and consulting for cities inspired to start their own programs. In addition, Economides is on the host committee and presenting at the Pro Walk/ Pro Bike Conference this September 10–13 in Long Beach.

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