Meet The Team

Elaine Cook

President & CEO

Elaine Cook founded Equity in Lighting in 2020 with the late Lana Lenar and Francesca Bastianini, believing that lighting should be welcoming, accessible, and shared, not gate-kept.

Born in Canada and pre-wired with a love for light, she moved to NYC in 2019 and built her career across lighting sales. Along the way, she met people whose experiences of lighting expanded her understanding of the industry far beyond her own.

Ashley Chan is a lighting designer at Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design (HLB) in New York City. She began her career in interior design at the renowned firm of National Artist of the Philippines Francisco
Mañosa, where she led teams on transformative projects that championed Filipino heritage and design principles.

In 2022, she moved to the US and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from Parsons School of Design, where she developed a deep understanding of light as both a technical and emotional element of space.

With an interdisciplinary approach, Ashley integrates sustainability and equity to create spaces that are functional and deeply centered on the human experience. She is dedicated to using light as a powerful tool to shape environments that promote well-being, foster inclusivity, and build resilient spaces that respond to the needs of communities.

Ashley Chan

Committee Lead of Wiring 101

Shaun Fillion

Committee Lead of School Enrichment Program

Shaun Fillion, LC, LEED Green Associate, Educator IALD, CLCP, is an award-winning lighting designer and educator. He is Program Director for the MPS-L Lighting Design program at NYSID and Director of Lighting Design at RAB Lighting. Fillion’s honors include the IES Distinguished Service Award, Illumination Awards, and the Princess Grace Award. A frequent speaker at LightFair, SXSW, LEDucation, and the IES Conference, he presents on sustainability, AI, controls, and light pollution. He serves on the board of the Designers Lighting Forum of NY and LEDucation, and chairs the IESNYC Student Lighting Competition.

Soumya Undavalli is a technical lighting strategist who honed her skills as an Architectural Lighting Designer and now serves as a lighting consultant and technical sales representative. Holding a Master's degree from NYSID and active in the IES, she is committed to driving industry change. Soumya leverages her technical and strategic skills as a member of the Social Media and Marketing team for Equity in Lighting (EIL), advocating for greater diversity and representation in the built environment.