SEEP Alumni Story | June 13, 2025

As a sustainability consultant at EY denkstatt, Stella Eckl works where business meets transformation, helping companies navigate ESG reporting and rethink their role in the shift toward sustainability. What sets her apart is the mindset she developed in WU Wien’s Socio-Ecological Economics and Policy (SEEP) master’s program: a habit of questioning systems from within rather than accepting them as given.

“Consulting is often very linear. Templates, slides, deliverables,” she says. “But SEEP taught me to ask why. When you start shifting perspectives, people notice and that’s often where change begins.”

Before SEEP, Stella studied International Relations at the University of Essex near London. Like many of her peers, she once imagined working for international organizations such as the UN or World Bank until she saw how detached those environments could be. “I realized I wanted to work closer to where change actually happens,” she says.

Back in Vienna, she joined the city’s small but growing sustainability scene, working for Too Good To Go, the Danish food-saving app, and ESG Plus, a local startup evaluating financial products based on sustainability criteria. “Sustainability still felt like a niche,” she recalls, “but I loved the sense of community. Everyone knew each other and tried to make a difference.”

These experiences showed her that lasting impact required understanding business and policy from the inside. SEEP, with its mix of economics, systems thinking, and social theory, offered exactly that bridge.

After two years of work, returning to university was, as Stella puts it, “a culture shock.” The pace of professional life had left little room for reflection. “At work you build skills and networks, but there’s no space to really question things. SEEP gave me that space again.”

During an exchange semester in the Netherlands, she joined a small sustainability consultancy that “questioned everything from start to finish.” The experience reminded her of SEEP’s spirit. Interdisciplinary, justice-oriented, and curious. “That’s when I realized consulting could actually be a platform for transformation, if approached thoughtfully.”

Today, Stella brings that mindset to EY denkstatt, where she focuses on sustainability strategy, ESG reporting, and corporate transformation. The company itself reflects the duality she often navigates: once an independent Viennese sustainability consultancy, now part of the global EY network.

“It’s a constant dance between two worlds,” she says. “Sometimes that contrast is challenging, but bringing both perspectives together is what can move things forward.”

Her work requires balancing pragmatism with conviction, learning how corporate systems operate while finding the small leverage points where they can evolve.

When Stella talks about the future, she imagines “a world within planetary boundaries, not just environmentally, but also socially.” Too often, she says, people feel trapped in systems that demotivate them. “That shows we’re neither environmentally nor socially sustainable. We need to rethink and question the patterns we reproduce every day.”

Outside of work, she finds grounding in yoga and hiking. A certified yoga teacher, she began teaching during her SEEP years and continues whenever she can. “Yoga helps me stand still in a world that constantly wants you to move,” she says. “It keeps me grounded. Something that’s easy to lose in consulting.”

Her advice to current SEEP students is simple: “Don’t be afraid to try things out. Every field — NGOs, business, policy — has its stereotypes. Go see for yourself what fits you.”

And why choose SEEP? “Because it’s different,” she says. “SEEP gives you time and space to think critically, to question the systems we live in. You don’t get that from any textbook, and once you learn to see the world that way, it stays with you.”

Author: Stefan Salcher