Social Enterprise Alliance Podcast

Ilyssa Manspeizer, Ph.D. is an Anthropologist with over 30 years of experience creating opportunities for people and planet to thrive together. Throughout her time as a conservationist, Ilyssa had a recurring question about how people and conservation could go hand in hand. Landforce, formed in November 2015, has hired more than 140 people to learn environmental stewardship skills, be employed in transitional jobs to steward our land, and enter family-sustaining jobs from a place of dignity and strength. As the founding Executive Director of Landforce, Ilyssa leads an organization where traditional barriers to employment do not exist, and returning citizens, people with substance use disorders, mental health diagnoses, or those trapped in cycles of generational poverty have the opportunity to grow and thrive while ensuring that our environment can do the same.******landforcepgh.orgLinkedIn

Dan Adam, founder and owner of Adam & Son Auto Repair a Social Impact business with two locations, Founder of the Stranded Motorist Fund a 501(c)3 non-profit, co-founder of the Automotive Impact Network. Dan is a pioneer in the Social Impact arena for the Automotive industry. He is the recipient of the National Institute for Social Impact's 2022 Social Impact Business of the year, Synchrony Pillars Project Grant 2022 winner, 2023 Vistage Impact Award for the State of Colorado.Stacey Burns has been a strong advocate for Social Impact Businesses, veterans' transition programs, as well as healing through the arts. Stacey was one of the creators of the Military Creative Expressions program in conjunction with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. She does ongoing work to increase the understanding and measurement of Social Return on Investment (SROI), a process she has been developing since 2009. Stacey is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Adam & Son Auto Repair and Service. Prior to that, she spent over 20 years in leadership and consulting to help people realize opportunity through Social Impact business models. Stacey has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and English as well as a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education.**********adamandson.comstrandedmotoristfund.orgLinkedIn - Dan AdamLinkedIn - Stacey Burns

After owning and operating a retail coffee brand for fourteen years, Janice Townsend recently sold her business and has become fascinated with sustainable living. She is currently studying for a Masters of Sustainability at the Harvard Extension School, with a particular focus on the Circular Economy. Janice lives in the Near Southside of Fort Worth, Texas with her partner. She loves to write, travel, read books on spirituality and ecology, cook food for friends, and do yoga.*****"Buy healthy products from local sources with minimal packaging, and use them until they wear out."Lomi Kitchen ComposterEllen MacArthur Foundation*****InstagramLinkedIn

An advocate of the circular economy for the past 15 years, Elaine Birks-Mitchell is the CEO and Founder of The Bra Recyclers, a social enterprise dedicated to recycling and reusing preloved bras, prostheses, and underwear. In partnership with other environmentally and socially conscious individuals and companies, Elaine has donated over four million bras to over 130 nonprofits in 29 States and 8 countries.In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Elaine continues to be a steward of the social and environmental impacts of recycling on communities. She believes that we all have the power to change the trajectory of the circular economy using our voices and buying power.As a social entrepreneur, it was important to create job opportunities for underserved members of our community. Elaine's mission led her to form partnerships with local nonprofits dedicated to finding meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The next chapter on Elaine's social entrepreneur journey has been the launch of The Undie Chest, the nonprofit arm of The Bra Recyclers. It will focus on addressing the issue of hygiene poverty with the donation of underwear to support the entire family and get the much-needed supply of underwear into our Title 1 schools.**********thebrarecyclers.comLinkedInFacebookYouTube

Katherine Berg is the founder of Will & Atlas. Katherine holds a lifelong appreciation for craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind treasures – a love honed over decades of travel and running a French antiques import business with her late husband, William. Together, the Bergs built what is now known as Will & Atlas, a home decor and accessories line partnering directly with fair trade artisans in Bangladesh.The name Will & Atlas is both a reflection of global community and a tribute to Will, who tragically passed away in 2019. Will's legacy and the heart of Will & Atlas is woven into every design, championing heritage crafts, sustainability, and goods with intention.********willandatlas.com

Dr. Eric W. Miller is the founder and CEO of Marsh Creek Social Works, an organizational and management consulting firm for the nonprofit and social sector, offering advising services, bookkeeping and accounting services, and an impact investment fund.Eric's doctoral and post-doctoral studies examined scaling social impact within social enterprises and non-profit organizations, and in 2022, Eric and his team expanded their company beyond social sector advising services to include back-office bookkeeping and accounting services and an impact investing venture, based on the needs we identified among social enterprises, nonprofits, and small business servicing other social enterprises.In building this community footprint, Marsh Creek Social Works believes that we can achieve partnerships and cooperations between community, business, and social partners to more effectively identify and pursue solutions to community happiness.**********marshcreeksocialworks.comLinkedIn

Antonio Blazevic is the autistic owner of Neurodiversity Advisors, a certified Disabled-Owned Business Enterprise. Antonio has Master's degrees in Business and Geography. Neurodiversity Advisors offers consulting services to businesses on how to increase the hiring of persons with disabilities.**********neurodiversityadvisors.comLinkedIn

Since 1993, Paul Zelizer has worked with and led programs for 30,000+ leaders working for positive change in and through their organizations. He's one of the first business coaches to focus on the needs of social entrepreneurs and impact business leaders. As part of the marketing team for Wisdom 2.0, a renowned conscious business brand, he helped grow the yearly conference from 650 to 1800 attendees in one year. In 2017, he founded Awarepreneurs as a way to amplify the practices successful social enterprise leaders use. Today he is best known as host of the Awarepreneurs Podcast, one of the world's leading social entrepreneur podcasts. Paul maintains a busy coaching and consulting practice working with impact focused founders & leaders.**********paulzelizer.comawarepreneurs.comLinkedIn

Jenny Brown is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dutton Farm, a non-profit in the Behavioral Health system that provides community access, adult education, and employment support for adults with developmental disabilities.  She is also the founder and owner of Everybody Inc.,  a bath and body social enterprise that works to remove barriers to community access and inclusion in the workforce for people with developmental disabilities.  Her work is inspired by her sister who was born with Down Syndrome and struggled as an adult to find a place to put her many talents to use.   She has spent the last twelve years advocating for the rights and equal opportunity for adults with developmental disabilities. She has supported individuals in entering the workforce, volunteerism, community engagement and higher education.**********duttonfarm.orgInstagramFacebook

Discovering the path of social enterprise through the hospitality industry, Adam Zembruski founded Hospiamo, a social enterprise working to forge a path to engage and empower over 250,000 hospitality workers by 2030, elevating them into positions of influence and decision-making, and sharing profits and ownership.Today, Adam is leveraging his expertise and the strength of his network to mentor the next generation. He dedicates himself to dismantling barriers and forging a more accessible route for those who will follow in his footsteps, aiming to create a more equitable and inclusive hospitality industry.********hospiamo.com/whyhospiamo.com/joinLinkedIn

Dr. Rasheda L. Weaver is a social entrepreneurship author, researcher and coach. She has conducted large-scale empirical studies on the social, economic, and legal activities of social enterprises in the U.S. and is the Founder of Weaver's Social Enterprise Directory. In 2023, she joined the Global African Descent Social Entrepreneurship Network sponsored by the Biden-Harris Administration and she recently published "Social Entrepreneurship: A Practical Introduction, “ a book based on her Social Enterprise Bootcamp and a 5-Step Roadmap to Developing a Sustainable Social Enterprise.

Last week, we invited in Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting to talk through a social concept called Spiral Dynamics. We learned about the framework and how it relates to different moments in human history. Today, we continue that conversation and go a bit further into how an understanding of the concept can help us in our social enterprises.**********Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time.Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps.Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another.We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap.The outdated ways that we are handling today's global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being.Here's an overview of the model:The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human.Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago.Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them.Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control.Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world.Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage.Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness.**********Open AwareOpen Aware's Spiral Dynamics LinkLinkedIn:Trace BellTina Olsen

Today's interview is with Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting, who serve as integration guides for individuals and visionaries within conscious organizations. They themselves are visionaries who are intent on creating a life of purpose by following their curiosities in philosophy, non-duality systems thinking, and raising consciousness. They started Open Aware with the vision of inspiring and supporting others in their own questioning, exploring, and creating new ways of living and being in this world.This interview is a little different from others that we've published up to this point. We are going to be talking with Trace and Tina about a human development concept called Spiral Dynamics. We talk through this framework and touch on a lot of philosophy and human history, including an important moment we find ourselves in today. What does this have to do with Social Enterprise? Well, I think the concept of social enterprise itself mirrors the current transition moment Spiral Dynamics is referring to. And understanding the framework will help us to not only be better leaders in our organizations, but also help us to better serve the people within our social impact missions.**********Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time.Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps.Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another.We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap.The outdated ways that we are handling today's global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being.Here's an overview of the model:The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human.Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago.Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them.Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This  stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control.Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world.Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage.Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness.**********Open AwareOpen Aware's Spiral Dynamics LinkLinkedIn:Trace BellTina Olsen

As the Founder and CEO of Fundraising for the Future (FFTF), Stephanie Sample supports organizations in leaning into the expansive nature of grant proposal writing, business plan development and grant-making. Fundraising for the Future is a consulting firm based in New Mexico that has raised over $15 million writing federal, state, and corporate grants for the last 7 years. FFTF provides philanthropic consultation to a variety of local and regional funders. Our belief is that both traditional best practices and multidisciplinary tools such as futures thinking will be needed to usher organizations and funders into this new era of philanthropy. ************fundraisingforthefuture.comLinkedIn

David Gaines is the Chief Visionary for La Terza Coffee, and author of the new book Radical Business: The Root of Your Work and How it Can Change the World. As David discovered the business model of social enterprise, he saw how all businesses could make the world a better place, and that realization changed everything.**********With his work at La Terza, David felt pulled toward social enterprise—a business model that builds profits while simultaneously benefiting society and the environment. He realized that the possibility of social impact was accessible to everyone and that well-functioning businesses could better the lives of not only their employees and customers, but also the people involved in its supply chains and even with its competitors. David dreams of a world where all businesses are social enterprises, where people are equally valued, served, and uplifted.**********davidgaines.coLinkedInRadical Business Book:AmazonBarnes and Nobles

Michelle King Thomas is a writer, activist, and social entrepreneur. She specializes in sales and operations that help social impact brands and social enterprises stay profitable and strategize for revenue growth.As a senior sales and operations professional with experience facilitating a 20% increase in revenue year over year, Michelle develops and implements sales and operations strategies, with a focus on social impact brands. With over a decade in the social impact space building Mata Traders, Michelle now does sales consulting to help organizations to do two things: 1) ensure current and future sales are profitable, and 2) develop and implement sales strategies for revenue growth.****************Join us and MIchelle for our June Webinar!Best Practices to Prepare for the 2023 Holiday Shopping Season****************michellekingthomas.comLinkedIn

Callie is an experienced professional and entrepreneur with a strong history of international relations and social business. She specializes in community development and economic empowerment utilizing over 15 years of branding and marketing experience and over a decade of international work. She is passionate about using this first-hand experience to educate those in the field so they can be equipped with the knowledge and skills to grow their business and ultimately grow their impact.Callie is also leading participants through a Branding and Marketing 5 day Bootcamp in partnership with SEA from May 22nd through the 26th. Space is limited, so you'll want to sign up quickly to take advantage of this opportunity to work closely with Callie and other social enterprises.Cost is only $150 for non-members, and $100 for members*************calliehimsl.comharkcreativecouncil.com

Social enterprises are driven by a big mission, but often struggle with their business model. The book, "Powering Social Enterprise with Profit and Purpose: The Tandem Hybrid" explores the strengths and limitations of typical structures and presents a compelling case for the "tandem hybrid," using the best of both for-profit and non-profit models to maximize social impact.*******Jeremy Gudauskas is a social impact consultant with over 22 years of experience spanning higher education, business, and nonprofit organizations. He supports large global companies and growing social enterprises—including ROW Global Health, where he serves as director of philanthropy.Prior to consulting, Gudauskas spent 17 years in higher education advancing the field of social entrepreneurship, both inside and outside the classroom. He launched the Center for Social Impact at North Central College and taught courses in social innovation, design thinking, and impact measurement. He's active in the community, serving as a startup mentor for University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility committee for the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.*******Scott Boyer is the founder and president of OWP Pharmaceuticals and the board chair of ROW Global Health, which together form a hybrid social enterprise that is transforming the lives of people with epilepsy and associated psychiatric disorders in over 30 under-resourced countries around the world.Scott spent more than 25 years in Big Pharma leading sales and marketing efforts for the likes of Abbott and Bristol-Myers Squibb before having the vision for a Pharmaceutical Social Enterprise®. In 2014, OWP and ROW were launched to address the global lack of access to life-changing treatment, and have already contributed over $21 million for medication, diagnosis, and training around the world, including grants for over 160,000 prescription-months of medication.*******www.tandemhybrid.cowww.rowglobal.orgwww.owppharma.com

Mark Horoszowski is the CEO at MovingWorlds, a social enterprise that convenes partners from all sectors to build a more equitable, just, and sustainable economy by empowering social enterprises, and the people working with — and within — them. Its global platform connects social enterprises with corporates, peers, learning content, and a global community of pro bono professionals to deliver market-based solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals, while simultaneously providing a scalable solution for corporations to achieve their ESG targets by educating and empowering employees.*********Moving WorldsLinkedIn

Recognized as a White House Champion of Change by President Obama, serial social entrepreneur Steven Clift leads GoodCarts as a dynamic engine for change and engagement via ecommerce.GoodCarts is cross-promotional network for sustainable and shop for good brands. Their new efforts are to boost underrepresented small businesses and their library of over 100 "how to" articles and ecommerce for good online events gives social enterprises tools and resources to succeed.**********goodcarts.colinkedin.com/in/netclift

Vicki Pozzebon is the principal consultant and founder of Prospera Partners, a small but mighty consulting firm that works with small business owners, social entrepreneurs, and nonprofits on thoughtful business planning, systems change, transformational leadership, and more. She is people-centered and passionate about teaching, guiding, and facilitating clients through strategies to do better by doing good – for themselves, their business, and their communities. Vicki designs and facilitates retreats, workshops, and communities of practice that will inspire community leaders and social entrepreneurs for transformational action. She also works with small business owners and social entrepreneurs to grow programs and businesses with thoughtful, step-by-step strategies for success that include marketing, press, and business planning. Vicki has written many articles and blogs for publications like The Nonprofit Quarterly, Green Fire Times, Philanthropy Journal and others, and she has given keynotes and presentations across the country on everything from local economies to healthy food systems and more. **************Prospera Partners**************LinkedInFacebookInstagram

Karla McLaren, M.Ed. is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy pioneer. Her lifelong work focuses on her grand unified theory of emotions, which revalues even the most “negative” emotions and opens startling new pathways into self-awareness, effective communication, and healthy empathy. She is the founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics LLC and the developer of the Empathy Academy online learning site.Her applied work, Dynamic Emotional Integration® (also known as DEI) is a trailblazing approach to emotions and empathy that reveals the genius and the healing power within the emotional realm. Licensed DEI professionals are available across the globe.Karla has also developed the groundbreaking Six Essential Aspects of Empathy model that highlights all of the processes in healthy empathy and makes them easily understandable, accessible, and attainable. This fully realized model teaches people how to access, develop, and manage their empathy intentionally. It also explicitly welcomes people who have been exiled from earlier models of empathy (such as men, boys, autistic people, and people with personality conditions such as narcissism and sociopathy). Her newest book is The Power of Emotions at Work: Accessing the Vital Intelligence in Your WorkplaceShe is online at KarlaMcLaren.com and EmpathyAcademy.org.

One of our goals in producing this podcast is to give social entrepreneurs resources, tools and tips on how to better run your organization - both in areas of impact, and in the day to day business operations. For many of us, the reason we work in social enterprise is that we are very passionate about helping others in a specific cause and mission. We're good at what we do and we pour our heart into trying to have the most impact possible. Sometimes, one of the best ways we can support our own work and deepen our impact is to find others who can support us in the various needs for our companies. This is why we invited Jamie Kleman of Breakwater Corp to join us in today's episode. As a Relationship Manager for Breakwater, Jamie spends her days listening to the stories and needs of business owners and leaders of nonprofits so she can understand their pain points and connect them with a dedicated team to provide peace of mind. The Breakwater Workflow Consultants, Bookkeepers, Controllers, Accountants, and Payroll Specialists are committed to bringing clients unparalleled service and insight so they can focus on their goals and growth.**************www.breakwatercorp.com

Dr. Amanda Kiessel is a cocreator of Good Market, a digital commons for social enterprises, cooperatives, responsible businesses, civic organizations, networks, and changemakers working to create a 21st-century economy that's “good for people and good for the planet.” It currently includes more than 2,500 enterprises across 90 countries. Amanda spent the past 20 years in Asia working with local organizations on agroecology and sustainable food systems, organizational development, and social enterprise. She has a PhD in Environmental Studies, a Masters in Sustainable International Development, and a degree in Biology with a specialty in ecotoxicology. Amanda is an Ashoka Fellow and Catalyst 2030 member and serves on the board of the Social Enterprise World Forum and Buy Social USA.****************Good MarketGood Market SEA Page****************LinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitter

Jennifer Norman is the Founder & Chief Human Officer of The Human Beauty Movement, a Certified B Corporation on a mission to turn the face of beauty inside out. Jennifer is passionate about diversity appreciation, humanitarianism and inspiring others to be their most exceptional. Through The HBM, The Human Beauty Movement Community, her new skincare brand Humanist Beauty, and her podcast ROLE MODELS, she fosters radical inclusivity, beauty positivity, and a mindful journey toward self-love. Additionally, Jennifer is author and publisher of the award-winning children's picture book series, The Adventures of SuperCaptainBraveMan (www.supercaptainbraveman.com), which promotes early-age friendship, kindness and understanding of individuals presenting physical or neurological differences.the-hbm.comlinkedin.com/in/jennifernorman/**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com

Branden Harvey celebrates the good in the world. As the founder of Good Good Good — he hosts the podcast Sounds Good, he's the editor-in-chief of the Goodnewspaper, a printed newspaper full of good news, and has built an online community over more than 500,000 world changers. He's been written about in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Men's Health, and Forbes.goodgoodgood.co/goodnewspapertwitter.com/goodgoodgoodinstagram.com/goodgoodgoodco**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com

Tamra Ryan is the CEO of Women's Bean Project, a social enterprise that provides transitional employment, while operating a food manufacturing business, to women attempting to break the cycle of chronic unemployment and poverty. Tamra is a former partner and board member for Social Venture Partners-Denver and the Social Enterprise Alliance and is on the Council of Advisors for the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. Congressman Mike Coffman (R-CO) recognized Tamra's servant leadership and entered it into the Congressional Record of the 115th Congress, Second Session in May 2018. She was honored by the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce as one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Colorado and is part of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Leadership Network. She was a presenter at TEDxMilehigh and is a highly sought-after speaker for topics such as compassionate leadership and social enterprise. Tamra is the author of The Third Law, a book which highlights the societal obstacles and internal demons that must be overcome for marginalized women to change their lives. The Third Law has won numerous awards for women/minorities in business and social activism. She is currently working on her second book, Followship: How to be a leader worth following.This summer Women's Bean Project will be moving to a new facility twice the size of its current location. This will allow the organization to expand its social enterprise and program offerings to serve more women better. womensbeanproject.comtwitter.com/tamraryan**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com**************ACTION FOR IMPACTWe all measure what we care about. The ultimate purpose of Social Enterprise is to have a positive effect in people's lives. We elevate the measurable impact of social enterprises.

Gretchen Ki Steidle is the founder and President of Global Grassroots, a mindfulness-based social venture incubator for women in East Africa whose mission is to catalyze women and girls as leaders of Conscious Social Change in their communities.Conscious Social Change is a design methodology that employs mindfulness throughout the process of designing a social solution. Through their programs, women emerge as change agents who learn to leverage their own assets, gifts, and passions to benefit the common good. Their solutions are designed to be innovative, sustainable, and impactful at the systemic and root levels of a social issue.She is also founder of Circles for Conscious Change, LLC, which works with social entrepreneurs, non-profits, and corporations on the use of mindfulness as a design tool for social innovation. Gretchen is author of Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation (2017 MIT Press). Gretchen is also a producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, and co-author of the memoir of the same name (2007 PublicAffairs). **************Gretchen holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, where she attended as a Jefferson Scholar. She is a certified Integrative Breathwork Practitioner and Breath-Body-MindTM Practitioner, which she has utilized for trauma-healing in Haiti, Rwanda, US, and Uganda among natural disaster and violence survivors. In 2007, Gretchen was honored by World Business Magazine and Shell as one of the top International 35 Women Under 35. In 2010 she was chosen as a CNN Hero working in Haiti after the earthquake. In 2011 she was chosen one of seven Remarkable Women of the World by New Hampshire Magazine. In 2018 she was named to Inc.'s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. She regularly lectures and offers workshops on mindfulness for social change at conferences, wellness institutions, universities, and organizations globally, including the Skoll World Forum, Omega Institute, Tuck School and AshokaU Exchange.IG: @themindfulchangeagent Twitter: @ConsciousChangeFacebook: www.facebook.com/global.grassrootsglobalgrassroots.orgconsciouschangestudy.org**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com**************KINDNESS FOR COMPASSIONHumans feel good when we are kind to one another. Feeling good is the basis for happiness, justice, and peace. Treating each other kindly unlocks our collective and individual success.

Addressing and healing trauma is hard work! But it's also so necessary. Change ultimately happens when people feel safe and realize that true safety lives within us, which is why Nkem developed the Resilience Toolkit.Nkem Ndefo is the founder and president of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit, a model that promotes embodied self-awareness and self-regulation in an ecologically sensitive framework and social justice context. Licensed as a nurse-midwife, Nkem also has extensive post-graduate training in complementary health modalities and emotional therapies. She brings an abundance of experience as a clinician, educator, consultant, and community strategist to innovative programs that address stress and trauma and build resilience for individuals, organizations, and communities across sectors, both in her home country (USA) and internationally. Nkem is particularly interested in working alongside people most impacted by violence and marginalization.**************IG: @lumos_transforms Twitter: @lumostransformsFacebook: @lumostransformslumostransforms.comtheresiliencetoolkit.coThe Resilience Toolkit Certification Program occurs twice each year with the next session beginning Sept 6, 2022. For more information, visit: https://theresiliencetoolkit.co/become-a-facilitator/**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com**************

Being a young mother, especially one with limited resources, can not only make it difficult to find work that provides a livable income, but also create space for growth opportunities, education, and support in a way that provides child care.Today, we invite one of our members, Carmen Dahlberg to talk about her work at Belle Detroit, about how her company empowers young mothers, and how she uses their workspace to create equitable opportunities for her team members.**************With an honors English degree from the University of Michigan, Carmen holds over ten years of experience at the intersection of human resources and marketing management. She has managed creative teams from New York to the middle of the Huron National Forest. In 2017, she founded Belle Detroit Creative Solutions, a creative agency that provides design and marketing work for mission-driven businesses by training and hiring income-limited Detroit moms. An award-winning writer, she regularly contributes to national publications on marketing, career development, employee retention, and parenting. She lives in Detroit with her husband and three children.belledetroit.comFacebook: @belledetroitcreativeInstagram: @belle_detroit**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.comEQUALITY FOR EQUITYEveryone deserves equal access and opportunity. We procure an adequate distribution of all resources for all members of all communities for social and economic prosperity.**************

In today's episode, we talk about another of SEA's core values, Equality for Equity. We believe that everyone deserves equal access and opportunity, and as an organization, we strive to procure and empower an adequate distribution of all resources for all members of all communities for social and economic prosperity.Today, we welcome Eve Lyon and Paul Wright, founders of SEA's Recovery to Workforce Affinity Group. The Recovery to Workforce Affinity Group truly embraces this value and meets regularly to discuss how to better bridge the gaps in providing access to all people.Be sure to check out our next Recovery to Workforce Affinity Group meetingMay 18th, 4pm -5pm ET**************Paul Wright is co-founder of Wright Venture Services and has been an SEA member since 2014. He had a 20 year career in community development finance, funding over $20M in impact projects. He is now sharing what he's learned with social entrepreneurs as a business coach and online course trainer. His expertise is in lean startup practices, marketing strategy, leadership development, and raising capital.Paul earned his MBA from Eastern University and is an accredited certified coach by the International Coaching Federation. He lives in the beautiful foothills of Appalachia Kentucky and is an avid trail runner and hiker.You can learn more about Paul's work here:Courses and coaching, B2CProgram development, B2BPaul is also offering his free video and guidebook, First Steps to the Perfect Pitch**************Eve Lyon previously served as Senior Director of Social Enterprise for The Lords Place, a Palm Beach County, Florida nonprofit where she supervised Social Enterprise businesses offering an approach to employment that leverages the power of the public marketplace to provide real world job experience for individuals with barriers to employment.In her current role as Recovery Navigator for St. Lucie County in Florida, Eve utilizes this knowledge to enhance services and identify in-demand employment opportunities for St. Lucie County job seekers committed to their recovery as well as friends, family members, and caregivers impacted by substance use or addiction. The St. Lucie Recovery WORKS initiative, funded by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity supports employers who engage in helping individuals return to work to create meaningful, productive lives.**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com

One of SEA's core values is something we call "Kindness for Compassion." Humans feel good when we are kind to one another. Feeling good is the basis for happiness, justice, and peace, and treating each other kindly unlocks our collective and individual success.One of the best ways to embody this value is by working to build better teams, which is why we're so happy to invite Kirsten Moorefield of Cloverleaf to today's episode to guide us through how better understanding the personalities of our coworkers can play a huge role in helping us to have amazing workplaces.**************Kirsten Moorefield believes that work can actually be a good thing. She's spent countless hours with hundreds of teams from startups to Fortune 100s, observing a clear pattern behind the happiest and most effective people. That's what led Kirsten and her co-founder, Darrin Murriner to start Cloverleaf.me -- a SaaS platform that provides automated team coaching, empowering teams to do their best work together. After it's launch in October 2018, Cloverleaf has quickly grown to over 1 million users, serving some of the world's most valuable organizations to engage their teams and improve performance. While building this new venture, Kirsten has also been building her young family in Cincinnati, Ohio where she lives with her husband and two young kids.Invite your team to a free trial at cloverleaf.me to experience the transformation and growth that comes through automated coaching.**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com

Burn out can be a common feeling among many in the Social Enterprise sector. We can find ourselves so passionate about our work that we can easily overlook the self care needed to fully sustain the energy required for a healthy work life balance.Our guest today is Anna Sun Choi. Anna found early success as she began her career, but was also finding herself in burnout, caught in the hustle and grind of social entrepreneurship. From being unwilling to spare 5 minutes a day for self care to now meditating one hour a day with up to 4 hours of self care a day, she still wakes up boundless with energy at 4am living a very full life as an energy coach, homeschool mom, taekwondo martial artist, yoga instructor, certified Brain Power Wellness educator. As a member of the Social Enterprise Alliance, she exists to serve the next generation of conscious leaders in catalyzing the tipping point for elevating humanity's consciousness to a heappier, healthier, more peaceful world. **************Anna is an Energy Coach and is committed to elevating humanity's consciousness through guiding high achieving, conscious coaches, consultants, and creatives to find peace in the chaos, master their energy habits, and embody their brilliance. Over the last two decades, she's coached hundreds of leaders from all walks of life, helping them to transform their lives. She's been invited to speak alongside Deepak Chopra, is a Forbes Author, TEDx Speaker, and was on faculty for a multimillion dollar personal and professional growth, training and development global enterprise.annasunchoi.com**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com**************

In this episode, we talk about Social Procurement, which relates to our value of Action for Impact. A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact, and SEA's vision is to create a new equitable economic norm by catalyzing social enterprises in the U.S. to grow their revenue and their impact.Today, we are joined three guests… David Simnick from Soapbox, sharing with us a little of their story and how they have been able to sell to large corporations; Mike Arkes, who leads one of SEA's first affinity groups - the corporate sellers collective; and from Rebecca Dray, one of our board members who also is one of the most passionate and well informed people I know about the topic of Social Procurement.**************Dave Simnick is the CEO and co-founder of Soapbox, a company whose mission is to empower customers with the ability to change the world through everyday, quality purchases. SoapBox products are currently shelved in tens of thousands of stores across the United States and beyond. He's worked on various sides of the startup industry: helping companies expand, getting the ball rolling with funding and publicity, making connections, and putting ideas together from the ground up.soapboxsoaps.comuse the code: seapodcast to save 10% off your first order!**************Michael Arkes founded HHP (now HHPLIFT) in 2007, to combine his passion for helping others with his expertise in the incentive industry. For 42 years, he worked for his family's incentive business, serving as the company leader for 26 of those years.Michael continues to work passionately and tirelessly at HHPLIFT to develop new business opportunities, fundraise, and offer guidance, mentorship, and expertise to all on the HHPLIFT team and to the social enterprise community at large.hhplift.com**************Originally from the United Kingdom, Rebecca started her career in the hospitality industry working for Marriott Hotels. She transitioned into the charitable sector, supporting mental health advocacy groups, then founded her first social enterprise business in 2006. She went on to run a group of 8 social enterprises in the UK, all engaged in social procurement contracting and supported employment. Rebecca sat on the boards of regional and national social enterprise membership organizations and travelled the country giving presentations, training and mentorship to the social enterprise sector.Rebecca moved to the US in 2014 and started two social enterprises – Society Profits which administers the USA Certified Social Enterprise accreditation and Buy Social USA – a social procurement intermediary network supporting corporate, anchor institution and government buyers to put social and environmental impact sellers into their supply chains. She also volunteers time as the Chapter Leader for the Michigan Social Enterprise Alliance Chapter and joined the national Social Enterprise Alliance Board in May 2020.www.societyprofitsus.com**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.comACTION FOR IMPACTWe all measure what we care about. The ultimate purpose of Social Enterprise is to have a positive effect in people's lives. We elevate the measurable impact of social enterprises.**************

Each month's podcast theme will also highlight on one of SEA's core values. For October, our theme is Procurement, which relates to our value of Action for Impact. A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact, and SEA's vision is to create a new equitable economic norm by catalyzing social enterprises in the U.S. to grow their revenue and their impact.In this episode, we'll highlight two of our members, Melissa Sevy and Hal Cato. Their work and organizations are great examples of taking Action for Impact and they both give us great perspectives and learnings as they share the stories of their Social Enterprises!**************Melissa is the Founder and CEO of Ethik Collective, a first-of-its-kind social venture that connects global artisan groups with conscious companies. She has spent much of the last decade living and working in communities across Africa and Asia with the driving philosophy that when people have access to fair pay and consistent work, they thrive. Melissa is a founding member and former president of the Social Enterprise Alliance of Utah. She teaches International Development at Brigham Young University, is an avid fruit dehydrator, and an Ironman.ethikcollective.com**************Hal Cato has spent his entire career leading organizations in both the nonprofit and private sector. He is currently the CEO of Thistle Farms, a non-profit organization based in Nashville, TN that provides women escaping trafficking, prostitution and addiction with a second chance at life. As CEO, he has doubled the size of the organization, increased sales revenue by more than 70% in the past three years and helped provide more than 125,000 hours of employment to women survivors this past year.www.thistlefarms.org**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.comACTION FOR IMPACTWe all measure what we care about. The ultimate purpose of Social Enterprise is to have a positive effect in people's lives. We elevate the measurable impact of social enterprises.**************

A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact, and our vision is to create a new equitable economic norm by catalyzing social enterprises in the U.S. to grow their revenue and their impact.In our first episode, we introduce our hosts, Lauren Dekleva and David Gaines. Lauren is our Community Engagement Manager and David serves as the Board Chairperson for SEA. They share their personal journeys of discovering Social Enterprise, as well as their passion for organizations with deep social engagement.Lauren and David also share some of what's been going on behind the scenes at SEA: looking to define what a social enterprise is, becoming clear on our organizational values, and learning how we can best support our members.We've been looking forward to sharing this podcast with you and can't wait to share so many more interviews of amazing Social Entrepreneurs doing incredible things!**************socialenterprise.usinfo@socialenterprise.ustoastinggood.com**************What is a Social Enterprise?A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.SEA ValuesKINDNESS FOR COMPASSIONHumans feel good when we are kind to one another. Feeling good is the basis for happiness, justice, and peace. Treating each other kindly unlocks our collective and individual success.ACTION FOR IMPACTWe all measure what we care about. The ultimate purpose of Social Enterprise is to have a positive effect in people's lives. We elevate the measurable impact of social enterprises.EQUALITY FOR EQUITYEveryone deserves equal access and opportunity. We procure an adequate distribution of all resources for all members of all communities for social and economic prosperity.INTEGRITY FOR TRUSTWe each have the opportunity to make decisions and take actions that are aligned with our values, to be whole and true to ourselves. Ethical behavior is essential to healthy communities.JUSTICE FOR INCLUSIONNothing about us without us. Those most affected by injustice must be at the front and center of decision-making, action-taking and benefit-sharing of social enterprises, and the social enterprise movement.DIVERSITY FOR COLLABORATIONA broad spectrum of human experiences, voices and perspectives are needed to truly embrace the depth of our collective wisdom and support for social impact.