The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast: Recent Episodes
Grow Ensemble
The #1 Podcast for Social Entrepreneurs & Social Innovators. With host Cory Ames, Founder of Grow Ensemble, dive deeper into social entrepreneurship, social enterprises and the tools, resources, and strategies that support their growth and expand their impact.
Hear from these top social innovators from both the non-profit and for-profit sector - CEOs, Executive Directors, Thought-Leaders and more.
Welcome to the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast. In this thought-provoking episode titled "What Makes a Great Company?" we're diving into the inspiring journey of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company. Joining us are two remarkable guests, Dean Cycon, the founder of Dean's Beans, and the new CEO, Beth Spong, who are here to shed light on their unique approach to business—one that's grounded in social, economic, and environmental justice.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: * Transform Global - https://www.transform.global/ * agood company - https://www.agood.com/
💌 NEWSLETTER: Click the link below to sign up for our newsletter, The Weekly Ensemble, and every Monday receive a meditation exploring what it means to live and work sustainably at the intersection of business, nature, & philosophy.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ 🗣 TOPICS DISCUSSED: * Fair trade certification limitations * Empowerment through community engagement * Worker-owned cooperative benefits * Mission-driven business model * Sustainable purchasing practices * Importance of deepening impact * Challenging profit maximization mindset
SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * LinkedIn * Website
Yes, we need to make a living.
But how do we make a life?
It might not simply be about the money.
When the world is in turmoil, when our health is at risk and the future seems murky, perhaps paychecks and productivity aren’t enough.
Perhaps we can’t manage our way into the future.
What if we created the best job someone ever had?
What if we built an organization people would genuinely miss if it were gone?
What if the work we did made things better?
Mozart, not Muzak.
This is the Song of Significance
This interview with Seth Godin, author of 21 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about work, is about how we, in business, can do better.
How we need to do better.
In 2023, Seth published this very important book, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams, which was an urgent call to action for us all to rethink work, management, and leadership.
Both in how it’s all practiced and what it’s all even for.
Seth, has influenced an incredible many in business and marketing myself included, and I believe he has long already been a champion for embedding meaning into the work we do.
To make something people remark on, you must push yourself to make something remarkable.
The focus isn’t on attracting customers, but rather, on building community around what you and your organization stand for.
Trust and transactions aren’t best bought but rather built and earned through servicing what people need.
This book, however, takes a much broader look at business–explains the rather dangerous pathway we are on, but in simple, yet profound maxims and short stories offers us a pathway forward.
In this conversation, Seth and I discuss the perceived problems at hand with business, business culture, and work–and sort through the various nuances of remedying those issues to create a better, more meaningful future.
Specifically, we explore how industrialization has bred a race to the bottom culture in business where it’s margins, not meaning or service fueling the engines of our marketplace.
We explore how we need NEW entrepreneurial idols – and what mainstream business misses about the Henry Fords, Elon Musks, and Zuckerbergs of the world.
And most importantly, Seth shares how we can do WORK WORTH DOING both for ourselves and for our communities.
🗒️ SHOW NOTES
For more --> https://www.socialentrepreneurship.fm/253/
On December 8th, 1993, Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into law.
In his remarks at the signing, Clinton proclaimed, “NAFTA means jobs. American jobs and good-paying American jobs. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't support this agreement.”
Two decades after NAFTA had been in effect (1993 - 2013) the Economic Policy Institute reported that over 850,000 American jobs had been moved abroad.
Why? Because American companies gladly moved jobs to Mexico where the daily wage of a Mexican worker was roughly equivalent to the minimum wage per hour in the U.S.
Especially in the business world, we take for granted that the global spread of capitalism (fueled by free trade agreements like NAFTA) has increased the quality of life for all by expanding participation in the market, often through jobs.
But, there’s essential nuance here that’s been overlooked.
Not all jobs are good jobs and trade is not good for trading’s sake.
Eric Henry, President of TS Designs, a large volume screen printing company based in Burlington, North Carolina, like many many other U.S.-based businesses was forced to reinvent his business anew after bearing the brunt of NAFTA’s impact.
In this podcast, we’ll share Eric’s experience, explore the wider implications and context of NAFTA and globalization, and offer a vision for what a post-race-to-the-bottom world might look like.
🗒️ SHOW NOTES
For more --> https://www.socialentrepreneurship.fm/252/
⭐️ SPONSORED BY
agood company - https://www.agood.com/
Dean's Beans - https://deansbeans.com/
💌 NEWSLETTER
💌 The Weekly Ensemble: The Ensemble Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living and working sustainably written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames.
Join 1000s of social entrepreneurs all over the globe and subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
In this episode of Grow Ensemble, host Cory Ames delves into the deceptive tactics of greenwashing, where companies mislead the public about their environmental and social responsibility.
Through 7 compelling examples, Cory sheds light on how businesses use certifications, misleading marketing claims, and acquisitions to present themselves as sustainable and ethical, while engaging in harmful practices. With a focus on transparency and accountability, the episode challenges both consumers and business leaders to identify, confront, and avoid falling victim to greenwashing.
Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of the detrimental effects of greenwashing and to equip yourself with the knowledge to navigate the landscape of sustainable and ethical business practices.
🗒️ SHOW NOTES
For more --> https://www.socialentrepreneurship.fm/251/
⭐️ SPONSORED BY
Transform - https://www.transform.global/
Intrepid Travel - https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us
💌 NEWSLETTER
💌 The Weekly Ensemble: The Ensemble Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living and working sustainably written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames.
Join 1000s of social entrepreneurs all over the globe and subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
5 roasts, over 5 regions, and the story of the coffee supply chain from farm to cup. Our task here is to explore and reconsider this question: what makes great coffee?
To do so I’ve enlisted the help of my many friends at Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee. Dean’s Beans is a 100% employee-owned, Certified B Corporation based out of Orange, Massachusetts.
The company was founded by Dean Cycon, an environmental and indigenous rights lawyer, back in 1993. Dean set out to prove coffee around the world could be bought, sold, and delivered to our cups without compromising the health and well-being of people and the planet.
Dean offered his answer to the industry and consumers alike, to the question, what makes great coffee?
This episode mixes tasting with the very tactical of how we get from bean (or cherry, rather) to finished brew.
We’ll talk organic coffee farming, the role of coffee cooperatives, the significance of fair trade, and also, when you should or shouldn’t put cream and sugar in your morning cup.
⭐️ SPONSORED BY
Transform - https://www.transform.global/
A Good Company - https://www.agood.com/
Intrepid Travel - https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us
Bodhi Surf Yoga - https://www.bodhisurfyoga.com/
💌 The Weekly ensemble: The ensemble Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living and working sustainably written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames.
Join 1000s of social entrepreneurs all over the globe and subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
What does success mean to you? Defining success in a field can define the field. Defining success for ourselves will define our lives. And so here, friend and coach of mine, Paul Zelizer and I go through the essential exercise of defining what to each of us makes for a successful social entrepreneur. Paul is a business coach for social entrepreneurs and host of the Awarepreneurs Podcast where he’s published over 300 episodes with deep-dive interviews with world-class social entrepreneurs. Here we have a unique style of show for you, where back and forth, Paul and me reveal each of our own Top 5 characteristics of success in social entrepreneurship. Before we recorded the conversation you’re about to hear, we each created our own lists (with no knowledge of the other’s list) to see collectively what sort of definition we might come up with for what it means, what it looks like to be a “successful social entrepreneur.” This same conversation, in a slightly different final edit, is likewise being released on Paul’s show, Awarepreneurs—which, if you’re curious to check out you can go to Awarepreneurs.com, or, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts. So, in this episode here, on The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast with me, Cory Ames as your host, you’ll hear Paul’s origin story to social entrepreneurship and then, together, our 10 Characteristics of Successful Social Entrepreneurs. #socialentrepreneurship #socialentrepreneurs #socialentrepreneur
⭐️ SPONSORED BY
Dean's Beans - https://deansbeans.com/
Transform - https://www.transform.global/
A Good Company - https://www.agood.com/
Intrepid Travel - https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us
💌 The Weekly ensemble: The ensemble Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living and working sustainably written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames.
Join 1000s of social entrepreneurs all over the globe and subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
In a little over a decade, Houston has housed over 28,000 people who were experiencing homelessness. The U.S.’s 4th largest city has cut its total homelessness figures by more than 60% since committing to tackle this issue head-on in 2012.
Representatives from cities nationwide visit Houston to learn about how they’ve achieved such progress.
Houston adopted what’s called a Housing First strategy. Housing First, for those unfamiliar, is an approach to addressing the challenge of homelessness by first, before addressing anything else (addiction and sobriety, employment, etc.), housing the individual in question. Research has shown this is the most effective way to get and keep people out of homelessness. Various studies confirm that a rapid re-housing approach leads to 75%-91% of households remaining housed after one year.
The thing is, Housing First has been around for a while. While the ideas originated around the world over 100 years ago, the term became more widely used in the U.S. in the early 1990s.
Not to take away from what Houston has accomplished, but they didn’t make some groundbreaking discovery. They were applying (effectively, very much to their credit) someone else’s ideas.
So what changed? Where did the political will come from to commit so fervently to addressing this issue?
These are the questions we answer in today's ensemble:
Are we even close?
-- -- 💌 Weekly ensemble newsletter : Every Monday receive a meditation exploring what it means to live and work sustainably at the intersection of business, nature, & philosophy.
Get both practical and philosophical guides to navigate the world more sustainably and as well, take an active role in creating a more sustainable world yourself.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * LinkedIn * Website
We're thrilled to introduce a new format of the show — what we’ll be calling Ensembles.
These ensembles are designed to be something of a meditation, helping us to explore the art of living and working sustainably and building a better world, from a different perspective.
The goal here through sharing various stories from the wide world of sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and innovation, is to seek understanding.
We’re digging for the principles, values, and ideas that we can take with us on our collective journey to build a better, more sustainable world.
This still includes the tactical and practical of living and working more sustainably, using business to better the world, but our driving motivation will be to find wisdom.
These episodes are a shorter form complement to our longer more narrative and or educational shows.
If our other shows are heavy on action — these ensembles offer a different pace, with analysis, reflection, a means to distill and name, what matters.
So, our first ensemble here a preamble to all ensembles to come (if you will), will be digging deeper into this experimental format itself, this ensemble is titled:
What’s in a name?
-- -- 💌 Weekly ensemble newsletter : Every Monday receive a meditation exploring what it means to live and work sustainably at the intersection of business, nature, & philosophy.
Get both practical and philosophical guides to navigate the world more sustainably and as well, take an active role in creating a more sustainable world yourself.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * LinkedIn * Website
The right amount of stress at the right time. That’s all it requires to trigger coral to grow anywhere from 25—50x it’s natural rate as it would in the “wild.” In the practice of coral farming, this is called microfragmenting. Our guest today, Sam Teicher, is the co-founder of Coral Vita. In Freeport, Grand Bahama, Coral Vita is farming coral (using techniques like microfragmenting) to restore the planet’s dying reefs. By employing breakthrough techniques Coral Vita can as well grow coral at 50x the typical rate. In 2021, Coral Vita was an Earthshot Prize winner, an incredible award for any environmental organization. This honor recognizes the great potential of their solution and awards them with £1M to further advance and scale their work. Stick around for this episode with Sam Teicher, as through this lens of good stress, bad stress, and everything in between we explore the work of Coral Vita, the vital importance of our coral reefs, and share solutions to restoring the world’s dying reefs. ⭐ SPONSORED BY: ☕️ Dean's Beans, Transform, 🌊 Bodhi Surf + Yoga, & 🛫 Intrepid Travel -- -- 💌 The Weekly ensemble: The ensemble Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living and working sustainably written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) Subscribe to the Newsletter Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn GROW ENSEMBLE: YouTube Twitter LinkedIn ABOUT CORY AMES: Newsletter Twitter LinkedIn Website
Assessing the sustainability of any individual product or company is a core facet of the work we do here at Grow Ensemble.
But if there’s no agreed-upon definition of “sustainability,” it’s unclear what anyone means when they say their product is sustainable.
So, for the sake of setting important definitions, here we are asking:
What is a sustainable product?
⭐️ SPONSORED BY: Tentree, Dean's Beans, Saybrook University & Choice Organics
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter exploring the art of living + working sustainably at the intersection of business, nature, and philosophy. Get the next one in your inbox. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * LinkedIn * Website
The role of a real estate developer is not only to improve a piece of land or build to increase its monetary value. They are also responsible for designing an environment and community that can promote sustainability, social justice, and equity.
Anyeley Hallová is a real estate developer and the Founder of Adre, a community-driven real estate development company committed to a bold vision of design excellence, development innovation, and environmental stewardship, both in building construction and equitable outcomes.
In today’s episode, Cory and Anyeley talk about how sustainable building developments can impact the community and create wealth. Anyeley shares her sustainability journey, the problems she noticed in the real estate development industry, especially in regard to people of color, and how she was able to build a business that addresses social, environmental, and economic concerns.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University, Choice Organics, tentree, and Dean's Beans -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Hydropower was the first and is now the oldest large-scale source of renewable energy that we’ve deployed worldwide. Hydropower offers a unique set of advantages in the context of an entirely decarbonized energy grid. It can offer storage capacity and be more consistent when sources like wind and solar are not available. Gia Schneider is the CEO of Natel Energy, an innovative company she co-founded with her brother, Abe, in 2009 that is designing and implementing hydropower projects that both produce affordable, clean, and renewable energy and leave the river ecosystems they're set up in better off. With this conversation, we’ll be working to understand hydropower: its potential, its historic challenges and limitations, and a path forward for wielding this resource efficiently and restoratively. 👉 Since this interview in the fall of 2022, Natel Energy has had some exciting updates: * Commissioned their first turbine in European waters for Austrian Utility, Energie Steiermark (Natel's third fully-installed project to date) * Expansion into Africa with a contract to deliver four 1.9 meter fish-safe RHTs to MyHydro for the first of 33 potential projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo * Publication of study results outlining 100% survival of American eels passing through the RHT in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Choice Organics and tentree -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
There are two seemingly contradicting realities of “conscious consumerism”:
- No matter how “consciously” we buy, we aren’t going to shop our way into a more sustainable and equitable world.
- The ways we do/don’t spend our money are incredibly impactful.
Maybe this is confusing at first glance, but it becomes clearer when we explore what conscious consumerism is on the individual and collective level.
“Consuming consciously” is INCREDIBLY important. It’s my belief, though, that it’s important in ways that we might not first think.
How/what we consume is a statement about what we believe and affirm is good.
It’s about what values we put above all others.
It’s about which systems and structures of power we support. And, which we choose to reject.
In this episode, with the help of Aja Barber, fashion consultant, stylist, and writer, we’ll explore the nuance behind “buying better,” how we should define conscious consumerism, and offer tactical steps as to how you can do so yourself.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Magic is all around us, whether we are looking for it or not.
Unlike the supernatural forces often featured in books and movies, this form of magic operates on the miracles of nature; the wonderful things Mother Nature creates, such as life, and her power to maintain the co-existence of all.
In today’s episode, Cory explores the existing magic that is happening in our world. He shares his enthusiasm for the miracles of nature and the beauty of life, particularly the mysterious behavior of animals and nature, and how incredible they can truly be if we take a moment now and then to observe them.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: HOLDEN Rings -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation podcast is back with exciting, meaningful, and impactful discussions to help make the world a better place!
Listen in to hear about the new approach of sharing stories that matter to learn what is possible in creating sustainable discussions, and understanding the impact of what we can do to save the planet and live in a safe ecotopia.
Grow Ensemble believes in opening minds to the endless possibilities of building the courage to act, protect, and preserve the beauty of the world; because together, we can continue to make a healthier, brighter, and better world to live in.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Check out this latest episode to hear about our plans moving forward for the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast. TLDR; We're taking a break for September, but will be back in October telling more stories about all things building a better world.
But! With a new approach. :)
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Overwork and burnout – so prevalent in today’s society that over 60% of employees around the globe suffer from workplace stress, creating billions of additional health costs annually. By re-examining how we work and reducing the number of working hours each week, we can greatly reduce this additional stress and financial burden.
Dr. Alex Pang is the Global Programs and Research Manager for 4 Day Week Global, a non-profit community advocating the 4-day work week, and the Founder of the Silicon Valley-based consulting company Strategy and Rest. Alex has written books that illustrate how individuals and organizations can integrate rest, creativity, and focus. His latest book is "Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less–Here's How."
In today's episode, Cory and Alex talk about the idea of restructuring our overwork and burnout work culture into working fewer hours with more focus and discipline. Alex describes how the future of work can be better if we implement one extra day to rest and recharge.
As one of the leading voices in reducing working hours, Alex is optimistic that we can create a future where people can spend more time with family and friends, do healthy activities, discover new hobbies, and ultimately make the world a better place.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
In any political election—especially major ones, such as the upcoming midterm elections in the United States—it’s important to know where the money to fund various campaigns is coming from. As citizens, we should also understand how that flow of money (both in and out) affects the business community.
John McCrea is the National Business Network Manager of American Promise. This organization advocates the 28th Amendment of the Constitution to protect elections from foreign money and special interests, and pursues freedom for all Americans.
As a former small business owner, John felt the need to help his fellow entrepreneurs by working with American Promise. He is leveraging his 30+ years of experience working in IT services for small to midsize business owners to help the country to move forward and create a level playing field where all businesses, regardless of size, thrive and bring value to their market.
In this episode, John talks us through the conditions we have right now with unrestrained money in political spending, the ongoing issues in the political system, and its impact on the business community. John also shares some updates on the various actions that American Promise takes to cultivate a better future for Americans.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
The world's hunger crisis continues to worsen, affecting millions of people globally. Most people refer to this problem as a result of climate change, but the reality is that 80% of the problem is caused by soil, and only about 20% by climate change.
Roland Bunch is one of the most well-respected thought leaders in regenerative land development and management, having studied and been in the field for 55 years. He is a former member of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger and a Co-founder of Better Soil, Better Lives.
He has published dozens of articles and authored the books "Two Ears of Corn: A Guide to People-Centered Agricultural Improvement" in 1982, and "Restoring the Soil" in 2012.
Roland's motto is to imitate the forest. He started an organization and worked with small-holder farmers to do everything they could to mimic a forest-like field and use green manure cover crops to generate more biodiversity.
He has worked as a consultant worldwide in over 50 nations on four continents. During his work, Roland recognized the critical issue of hunger for many small-holder farmers, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa. This led to an investigation into the use of plants for regenerating the soil, now called green manure/cover crops.
During the conversation, Cory and Roland talk about the changes in farming practices that affect soil fertilization and cause drought and floods in some countries. Roland explains how the green manure cover crops are used to fight hunger, particularly in African villages, the timeline of using this approach, and how it can impact the benefactors of the soil.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
An impact report is a document essential in measuring a company's impact on people and the planet. It’s a tool that can help businesses align their core values and make informed decisions, providing insight and promoting a culture of accountability and transparency for customers and value chain members.
Annie Agle is the Senior Director of Sustainability and Impact at Cotopaxi, a purpose-driven company that creates outdoor products, apparel, and experiences. As a person who grew up doing outdoor activities and is passionate about methodology and philanthropy, the opportunity of working with a company that values both what she loves and enjoys is a dream come true.
Annie ensures that Cotopaxi's brands are moving in the right direction and destination as she creates as sophisticated reporting as possible that will allow investors, customers, and other businesses to understand the authenticity and effectiveness of Cotopaxi.
In today's episode, Cory and Annie discuss the significance of impact reporting to a purpose-driven company such as Cotopaxi. Annie explains her role as a sustainability officer and the meaning and purpose of creating impact reports. She shares the actions Cotopaxi implements to take responsibility and accountability for their impact based on their annual reports and how they build a business model that gives moral leeway to prioritize people and the planet alongside profit.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Social Good Network & Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Whether a fatty snack or nutritious meal, all the food we consume has a massive impact on our bodies. That’s why it’s important that we have access to foods that are safe, nutritious, affordable, and, ideally, work in harmony with the environment.
Paul Greive is an accountant, marine veteran, family man, and founder of Pasturebird. Pasturebird is one of the largest pastured poultry producers in the US that uses regenerative farming and provides people with more nutritious meat that comes from a more natural environment.
This accountant-turned-farmer believes everyone should have access to ethically-produced, nutritious food, which is why it has been a true joy for him to be one of the people pushing forward and re-inventing a new-old way of farming.
In this episode, Cory and Paul talk about the journey of building Pasturebird over a decade. Paul shares his life in the military, his battle with Lyme disease, and starting a pasture-poultry farm business with only 50 chicks, to raising millions of chickens without using a single antibiotic or drug. Paul addresses the problems in the food industry and the future of farming with the regenerative agriculture movement.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Do you ever wonder where old clothes end up? We see so many ads for unlimited types of clothing, the shops are full of people… When they’re worn out or just tired of a style, do most people donate items? Repurpose them? Recycle? The simple answer: most of them go into a trash wasteland and end up contributing to climate change.
Aja Barber is an eco-conscious fashion consultant, personal stylist, speaker, and author of Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism. Her line of work focuses on sustainability and its intersection with ethics, feminism, and racism, particularly in the fashion industry.
As a sustainable fashion consultant, Aja makes sure to educate the general public about sustainable and ethical manufacturing, specifically with garments in the fashion industry, in the hope of creating a better and safer planet.
She has written for online publications such as Eco-Age, The Guardian, and CNN. Still, she is most active in opening up conversations and informing people about sustainable and ethical fashion on her Instagram.
During the conversation, Cory and Aja talk about the impact of the fashion industry on our climate crisis, how fast fashion contributes to colonial waste, the core of consumer culture, and what role we can play to creatively solve these problems. Aja also shares her journey in writing her first book and gives her advice on how to stop consumerism.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Social Good Network -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More
SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Sustainable impact investing is one way for businesses to have financial gains and positively impact social and environmental issues at the same time.
John Treadgold is a sustainable investment expert and the Founder and host of the Good Future podcast. Good Future highlights business leaders in sustainable, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), and impact investing who are re-defining economics and building companies as a force for good.
John’s mission is to reboot finance and economics to serve people and the planet better. For him, this is something that, no matter how the economy ebbs and flows or how the challenges, pivots, and strategies of an organization change, their mission stays solid.
John is also a writer and an independent communication and strategy consultant who helps investors and businesses identify the emerging opportunities for sustainable investing.
In today’s episode, John shares how the entire field of ESG and sustainable finance are adapting and progressing even more resiliently in a sustainable future. He gives an update on his podcast, the Good Future podcast, and shares the impacts of the sustainable investment world. Cory and John also discuss how they navigated the COVID pandemic as entrepreneurs.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
There are different ways to generate power and electricity, one being coal mining. But this method has a significant environmental impact, such as soil erosion, loss of natural habitat, and pollution.
After Brett came home from college, his community decided it was time to start a transition. They chose Brett to help build a company that provides clean energy, benefits the livelihood of the local community, and lessens the impact of climate change.
Brett Isaac is a renewable energy entrepreneur, business strategist, and the Founder and Co-CEO at Navajo Power, a native-owned public benefit corporation that develops utility-scale clean energy projects on tribal lands and maximizes the benefits for the local communities.
Brett is a member of the Navajo Nation and a skilled communicator who has worked with and collaborated with the local community to have an equitable and sustainable clean energy transition.
Navajo Power has the vision to bring clean energy to communities in a different way. They work intentionally to bring and maintain power to households with sustainable, clean energy. To date, they have deployed over 200 off-grid solar systems to serve households without grid electricity.
In this episode, Cory and Brett talk about making a transition to clean and equitable energy. Brett shares his foundational interest in power, particularly in clean energy, the struggles making the transition, the issues of equity, power structure and system, and the impact of the transition on the livelihood and welfare of the local community.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Greater Good & The Social Good Network -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Vahid Fotuhi is the Founder and CEO of Blue Forest, a mangrove forest restoration and conservation development organization. He is also the Founder of the Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA), the largest and most active solar trade organization in the Middle East.
Vahid has 25 years of experience in the sustainable and renewable energy industry. He also published a photography book in 2018, "African Perspectives," after traveling all over Africa.
His personal experience of challenging circumstances created his fascination with sustainable and renewable energy. As he decided to move closer to finding a solution to climate change, he discovered that mangrove trees were not just a "scrub," but a nature-based solution to enhance our climate adaptation.
The idea of creating a better world for the new generations motivates Vahid to make a positive impact on the planet through renewable energy and reforestation by giving awareness, taking environmental actions, and creating eco-warriors – starting with his children.
During this conversation, Cory and Vahid talk about the significance of mangrove trees in mitigating climate change and their importance to the ecosystem. Vahid highlights why mangroves are worth protecting and shares the roadmap of Blue Forest’s reforestation projects, the challenges, misconceptions, and viable solutions to the deforestation problems.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: HOLDEN Rings & The Social Good Network -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Imagine a future without climate change: clean air, less pollution, and renewable energy. We always talk about the downsides, but what about focusing more on the solutions? As humans, we have as much power to create and nurture our planet as we do to destroy it.
Professor Mark Maslin believes that climate change and the environmental crisis are a challenge and an opportunity to help everyone realize that the planet is worth saving, protecting, and preserving for future generations.
Mark is an author, professor of Earth System Science at University College London (UCL), and Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer of Rezatec. Mark's areas of scientific expertise include the cause of global climate change and its effect on the carbon cycle, biodiversity, rainforest, and evolution. He is a leading scientist with particular expertise in past, present, and future climate change.
In today's episode, Cory and Mark discuss the extremely broad overview of climate change and the issues that we face. Going back to the past, understanding the present, and imagining the future of climate with humanity, Mark explains the power we all have to make a positive or negative impact on the planet.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Greater Good & Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
In 2019, more than 1 billion international trips were recorded globally, contributing to 8% of the world's carbon emissions from the travel industry. This record inspires us to reflect and understand the importance of preserving and protecting mother nature through more responsible and sustainable travel.
James Thornton is the CEO of Intrepid Travel, the world's largest certified travel B Corp to date. Intrepid Travel is a global tour operator with a mission to create positive change through travel. They take small groups to travel through the most amazing places, with real-life experience in a local way, ensuring they always travel with a positive impact.
James's passion for traveling led him to work for and become one of the pioneering employees in the UK-based office of Intrepid. Thirty years later, he became the first non-founding CEO of Intrepid Travel, achieving numerous milestones and growth for the company.
During the conversation, Cory and James talk about the future of responsible and sustainable travel. James shares Intrepid's steps in preparation for different crises, including Covid, their support to local partners, and their commitment to protecting the planet for future generations of travelers.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Greater Good & Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
In honor of World Refugee Month (June), we bring back this exceptional conversation with Yasmine Mustafa of ROAR for Good from October 2019. Yasmine Mustafa is a champion social entrepreneur, refugee, and immigrant living in the United States. Her own personal experience drove her to build a company that uses technology and focuses on personal safety.
Yasmine founded ROAR for Good, a mission-driven technology company dedicated to cultivating a safer workplace. Their vision to empower people with technology inspired them to launch their latest product, Always On – an indoor location tracking safety device. Prior to launching ROAR for Good, Yasmine founded and sold her first company, Girl Develop It - Philly, to a prominent marketing firm in Silicon Valley.
In this episode, Yasmine speaks about her passion for leveraging technology for social good, the journey in creating their first prototype safety device with her team, and the reason for their shift from consumer-based to business-based market. Yasmine also shares how a non-tech person like herself built a successful and revolutionary technology company.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
We are in a digital age, with information at our fingertips. Yet, a lot of people are unaware of the impact of digital technology on the environment.
Tom Greenwood is an author, Co-founder, and Managing Director of Wholegrain Digital. Wholegrain Digital is London’s original WordPress agency, founded in 2007, and a Certified B Corporation that aims to help organizations thrive online using efficient design and web technology. They are focused on digital sustainability, quantifying the environmental impact of digital services, and looking at ways it can be reduced.
In today’s episode, Tom and Cory talk about digital technology, specifically the carbon footprints from the online world, and have an eye-opening conversation about sustainable internet. Tom describes people’s digital consumption, showing the direct and indirect impact on the environment.
⭐ SPONSORED BY: The Greater Good & Saybrook University -- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
Some companies use misleading marketing strategies to appear more environmentally friendly. For the ones that actually “walk the talk”, how do they separate their brand from this practice? One way is through setting ethical marketing guidelines.
Mikey Sadowski is the GM (VP equivalent in North America) of Global PR and Communications at Intrepid Travel, the largest adventure travel company with 25 offices around the world, and networks with 28 destination management companies (DMCs). Intrepid Travel is also the largest travel B Corp that offers sustainable, experience-rich travel, prioritizes purpose over profit, sets ethical marketing guidelines, and has a not-to-profit foundation.
In this episode, Cory and Mikey talk about intentional allyship and inclusivity in travel and marketing, along with the philosophy, strategy, and marketing of purpose-driven brands in a world of greenwashing and impact washing. Mikey shares how people and brands, like Intrepid, work together to achieve their goals to grow, develop, protect, and maintain a strong public image by showing authenticity, setting ethical marketing standards, and doing simple and impactful work.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Agriculture is essential in the fight against the climate crisis, not only for mankind but for the survival of the Earth. Therefore, it’s crucial that we transform the agricultural system through building infrastructure using technology and creating a connection to the human economy and ecological health through our economic activity.
Today’s guest, Gregory Landua, is very passionate about changing society to honor and regenerate ecological health, embracing the practical aspects of regenerative agriculture to assist farms and communities to help combat the climate crisis.
Gregory is the CEO, Co-Founder, and Co-Chief Regeneration Officer of Regen Network, a full-stack blockchain software development company leading the way towards tracking and funding ecological regeneration and creating new tools for humanity to relate to its environment.
During the conversation, Cory and Gregory talk about the new look of farming and agriculture, the future of carbon credits, and innovations in technology.
Gregory shares the different approaches and strategies Regen Network uses to connect the social construction of value to ecological health, and the benefits of open-source, community-owned infrastructure and blockchain technology to the land steward and the planet.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs. Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
The Earth is unique, irreplaceable – it’s our home. We can't keep destroying it little by little. So then, why are billionaires more interested in the exploration of other planets instead of restoring our Mother Earth? There is still a chance to save the Earth, and one of these solutions is through regenerative agriculture projects.
Neal Spackman is the Founder & CEO of the Regenerative Resources and the Founder & former Director of the Al Baydha project in Saudi Arabia. Regenerative Resources is an ecosystem service company that acquires highly-degraded lands and transforms them into restored ecosystems of agroecologies.
Neal is passionate about terraforming, regenerative agriculture, and the relationship between ecology and wealth.
In today’s show, Neal walks us through the start of the regenerative agriculture project in a completely degraded desert landscape and how they transformed it into breathtaking, green life agroforestry. He also touches on topics about the poverty degradation trap, the massive effect of deforestation, and nature-based solutions.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
In a time when humanity struggles to avert a climate crisis, there’s a glimmer of hope for the fashion industry to be able to contribute to saving the environment. With the help of the right people and technology, being both environmentally friendly and fashionable at the same time can be achieved.
In our last episode for the Earth Month celebration, we bring back this fantastic conversation with Shamini Dhana from October 2020. This interview was also chosen to honor Fashion Revolution Week (last week) and the anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster (April 24th, 2013).
Shamini Dhana is the founder and CEO of Dhana Inc., a fashion tech brand that believes in always paying it forward. Dhana Inc. was founded in 2008 and it aims to transform customer experience from zero-waste designs to social and environmental impact through circular fashion. Dhana Inc. is a certified B corporation and an active participant of the 2020 Circular Fashion Commitment.
In this episode, Shamini shares how circular fashion can reverse climate change and transform the customer experience. She explains the great benefits of repurposing and recreating dead stock clothing into a new garment and fashion piece, giving customers a choice to reduce the carbon footprint of the fashion industry on the environment.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Trees are important not only for oxygen and the environment, but also for society and the economy. When today’s guest was only 16, he and his brother had the idea of planting trees while selling carbon offsets back, and that paved the way to the beginning of tentree.
Continuing our revisitation of some excellent climate crusading episodes from our archives in celebration of Earth Month, today we bring you Derrick Emsley of tentree from February, 2021.
Derrick is the CEO and Co-Founder of tentree, a tree planting company that sells sustainable apparel. Tentree has an “Earth-First” commitment, a mission of creating a sustainable future through planting 1 billion trees by 2030, and a goal of empowering people by providing local jobs, food security, and environmental benefits.
In this episode, Cory and Derrick talk about the impact, significance, and importance of planting trees across the globe. Tentree started in 2012 and as of this re-publication, they’ve planted over 73 million trees! Derrick shares their innovations and transparency in their reforestation projects and their partnership with different organizations to empower people.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Product manufacturers use a lot of chemicals that are harmful to the environment. But one family-owned business has a mission to reduce its product impact on the environment. Can they continuously create a product that would generate good for both people and the environment?
In celebration of Earth Month, we are resurrecting some climate crusading episodes from the archives. Today we’re revisiting this episode with Rebecca Hamilton of Badger Balm from September, 2020.
Rebecca Hamilton is the second-generation owner and Co-CEO (Co-Collaborative Executive Officer) at Badger Balm. Badger is a family-owned company of natural and organic personal care products known for its mission-driven spirit, pioneering family-friendly benefits, and high engagement in the certified B Corp community, being themselves a certified B Corp since 2019.
In this episode, Cory and Rebecca discuss Badger Balm’s climate initiatives to be a sustainable business while reducing their impact on the environment. They explore the environmental commitment the family-owned company has made, especially with their partnership with Revision Energy, and their commitment to being Net Zero emissions by 2030.
During the conversation, Rebecca shares the significance of Badger being a family-owned company, her relationship with her sister as the Co-CEO, her family, and the entire Badger team. She highlights Badger as a values-driven business that comes from having core leadership from their tight bonded family.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
This episode is in honor of Earth Month, and a repost from our discussion with Elizabeth Whitlow in October of 2020.
Elizabeth is the Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA), which is a revolutionary new food label requiring farmers to use sustainable, organic, and regenerative practices. ROA was formed in 2017 by representatives from the Rodale Institute and two companies we mention quite often at Grow Ensemble: Patagonia and Dr. Bronner’s.
The conventional methods used in the farming and agricultural sectors have received much criticism in recent years, with a demand for sustainable farming and agricultural practices. The issues do not only involve the techniques and methods used, but also the treatment of farmers and how they are often exploited under the current farming and agricultural paradigm.
Elizabeth is passionate about making a difference in the world with a focus on developing sustainable food systems that recognize organic and regenerative farming practices as the gold standard.
In today’s show, Cory and Elizabeth talk about the Regenerative Organic Alliance, lessons that Elizabeth learned working within the industry, the role farming can play in combating climate change, issues surrounding conventional farming and agricultural practices, and much more.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
We are wired to admire and appreciate the natural world. We are built to be collaborative and want to take care of others, but it can be very difficult for us to stare at suffering head on.
In today’s episode, host Cory explores the purpose and mission of Grow Ensemble. His never-ending appetite to learn and grow, particularly in ways that result in an increased awe for the world around him, is foundational to the concept of the podcast.
Together with his wife, their aim is to inspire people to fall in love with the planet and the people that live on it, in keeping with our natural inclination to admire the natural world. They believe that cultivating this awe can result in meaningful action to enact change for the planet and its residence, which is why they support and give a platform to social entrepreneurs. Their hope is that listeners will tune in and be inspired to do the same.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
In a post-pandemic world, what's the value of a dirt-to-shirt supply chain?
Today's guest is Eric Henry, President of TS Designs, and he believes that now, more than ever, businesses need to take an increasingly holistic view of their responsibility to the planet and society as a whole.
TS Designs is a business-to-business screen printing company, a certified B-corporation, and has its origins all the way back in the '70s. They manage a domestic and transparent supply chain to produce the highest quality, most sustainable t-shirts on the market and have recently expanded to start Solid State Clothing which now provides these straight to the customer.
Eric shares how the devastating effects of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) sparked the difficult genesis of his fight to build a completely transparent and sustainable company that simultaneously looks after the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profits.
With more than 40 years in the apparel industry, he works hard to keep farmers in the conversation, and this episode spans the gambit around supply chains, with a focus on the massive value and resilience in hyper-local supply chains.
We also do a deep dive into the challenges and difficulties in the opaque global supply chain of the fashion industry that's typically the norm, and talk through the wake-up call that COVID provided on the weakness of that chain.
Finally, we discuss the importance and difficulty of buying locally, both from a business's perspective as well as a consumer's perspective. All of these things have a serious implication on the strength and bond of a community, as well as the resilience of a local economy.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Sean Pritzkau and host Cory Ames come from different backgrounds — his in ministry and Cory’s in marketing — but their paths have converged as a result of their shared passions for purpose-driven business and podcasting!
In today’s conversation, they both share the journeys that have led them to where they are today, the driving forces behind the work they do, and how they hope to see the world change for the better as a result.
Sean and Cory also delve into the importance of self-care, collaboration, and being curious.
Sean is the host of We Can Do This, a podcast that aims to inspire people and provide them with the tools to start or grow their own social enterprises or initiatives, so be sure to check it out after this episode!
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
If you’ve traveled, you’ve seen the destructive nature of capitalism. But can we lean into it and still make an impact? Better yet, can we use it as the very instrument for change?
Davis Smith joins us today to share his story and emphasize the possibility of building a thriving business with a focus on social impact. Davis is the Founder and CEO of Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear brand with a humanitarian mission.
In this episode, he breaks down the methodology behind a purpose-driven business and the potential it has to effect change. Growing up in South America and being exposed to extreme poverty really informed Davis’ passion for impact, and he shares his fascinating path to linking social impact with business.
Davis illustrates what the world would look like if more businesses operated according to the Cotopaxi framework, and illuminates how, from his experience of sourcing investments, it seems to be women who have a greater understanding of impact and the future of business.
We also discuss the responsibility of the consumer to make a change, along with the nuances of where businesses are failing and how they can shift gears to move from destruction and extraction to meaningful impact!
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
In today’s episode, Cory revisits three interviews from February and shares his thoughts, reflections, and key takeaways for the show’s new annotations segment.
Hear a recap from Kate Stoddard, Branden Harvey, and Tara Donaldson.
Cory kicks things off with an overview of his conversation with Kate Stoddard, Founder of Orchestra Provisions, a company that designs cricket protein superfoods that can easily be incorporated into the average American diet. Hear about how Kate’s parents shaped her desire to be impactful and why you don’t need to do the extreme to have an impact.
Next, Cory revisits his interview with Branden Harvey, Founder of Good Good Good, a media platform that is designed to leave you feeling more hopeful and better equipped to do more good. Branden describes the distinction between feel good news and real news, why his company is all about good news, and how being purpose driven can sustain you through tough times.
For the final recap, Cory takes a look at his interview with Tara Donaldson, Executive Editor of WWD, Founder of The Diversity List, and former Editorial Director of Sourcing Journal. His interview with Tara serves as a searing reminder of the failures of mainstream media to report on the less glamorous aspects of fashion and challenge the unsustainable status quo that is still dominating the industry.
Gain a new perspective on being impactful, doing good, and the role of journalism and check out the full episodes if you’d like to hear more!
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
It’s easy to get distracted by the flashy surface of the fashion industry, but it’s the sinister underbelly that we need to delve into to truly start making a difference. In the latest installment of our series on the Impact of Fashion with our partner, Dhana, we are joined by Tara Donaldson, Executive Editor of WWD, Founder of The Diversity List, and former Editorial Director of Sourcing Journal, to talk about how the business and media of fashion co-exist.
In her work, Tara has been covering the business of fashion, from textiles to retail, bringing light to the important issues of sustainable and impactful fashion, and speaking to a more inclusive and equitable fashion industry.
In this episode, Tara explains the role of media in the fashion industry and its effects on sustainability, social impact, and inclusion. She breaks down the effects of fast fashion on the immediate communities and environments of workers along the supply chain and shares her views on what precisely needs to change to prevent unethical labor practices and expose the bad actors!
We find out why we need to be supporting smaller brands who are building their business with sustainability at the center, starting with the design process, and the difficulty larger brands face in turning the ship around.
The term “sustainability” contains everything from waste prevention to the social impact element, and Tara touches on why it’s critical to pay attention to and elevate the voices and contributions of people of color in the fashion industry.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Now, more than ever, we need a dose of good news. The past few years have seen an ever-increasing wave of negative stories that are hard to ignore. Our guest today is trying to change some of that.
Branden Harvey is the founder of Good Good Good, the host of the Sounds Good Podcast, and the managing editor of The Goodnewspaper, through which he aims to spread 'real good news' to inspire action and hope in his readers, listeners, and community.
For Branden, it isn’t about ignoring the difficulties and tragedies that are present in our world, but rather he hopes to balance out what has become overwhelming and disheartening.
Branden has some great tips for staying energized and proactive, and this means reading the news instead of watching it, and finding a balance that is healthy for you and your needs instead of passively doom-scrolling.
Cory speaks to Branden about his background and what led him to where he is today, with some attention on mentorship, his passion for photography, and the beginnings of the Good Good Good brand. Branden also talks about the habits that help him stay positive about the future, and the gratitude he feels for his work and community.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Today we are joined by Kate Stoddard to explore how eating crickets could be the key to a sustainable food system.
Kate is a mother, social entrepreneur, and environmentalist. She has a Master’s in the science of nutrition and is interested in finding regenerative solutions to mending broken food systems. She is the Founder of Orchestra Provisions, an organization that is reimagining traditional protein sources by incorporating crickets into daily-use superfood blends.
In our conversation, Kate talks about how she discovered the benefits of eating insects and decided to build a product line to advocate for them. We discuss our rich history of entomophagy (eating insects), what has separated Western culture from this practice, and how Kate is overcoming the barriers to its re-adoption through her marketing.
Our conversation also covers the many reasons why insect protein is more sustainable than other sources, and how Orchestra Provisions is slowly shifting perceptions using their line of delicious spices, protein powders, and therapeutics.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
How can businesses be more sustainable? And from the consumer’s side, what can we do to push businesses to make more sustainable choices? This episode marks the final installment of our sustainable business series.
Today, we unpack the seven most common prescriptions on how to become more sustainable, and three ways to become a more conscious consumer. We touch on the role of the Fashion Transparency Index, and the B Impact Assessment, along with taking an analysis of every company you spend money with.
We use the examples of Patagonia and Mud Jeans to illustrate companies who make value-driven decisions, and touch on why, to address global warming, you need to address current needs.
The majority of waste is created when we don’t use materials that have taken energy and resources to manufacture. We discuss how bearing that in mind to make sustainable choices works for the good of the planet, rather than just serving as a marketing tool.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More ⭐️SPONSOR: Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
What makes a sustainable business actually sustainable? There are many ways that a business can make an impact with seemingly standard business operations, and today we're breaking down the practices involved in this by leaning on an excellent impact analysis tool: the B Impact Assessment (BIA).
While the BIA process is extensive and rigorous, the results show major differentiators between those who are truly sustainable businesses and those who are not. Today we jump straight in with a quick explanation of how a company can use this to measure its impact on its workers, community, environment, and customer, with the aim of ultimately joining the Certified B Corporation community.
Hear about the two levels of sustainable business practices before we dive into the four impact areas of governance, community, environment, and customers.
From transparency, civic engagement, and community partnership to energy and water usage, carbon footprints, and financials (and a whole lot more), this episode covers all the basics of how this assessment aids the progress of a business along the path to truly being a force for good.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More ⭐️SPONSOR: Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Today, host Cory starts a new mini-series in which he unpacks the central concept of sustainable business. The next few episodes will expand on the points that are raised here. Things kick off with a few new perspectives on why sustainability matters, and from there Cory gets into some definitions, as well as why defining what a sustainable business is so important for the practices that follow.
Listeners can expect to hear about the main factors that make a business sustainable and why these need to be baked into the core of any business with such aspirations.
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- *📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More ⭐️SPONSOR:* Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Today we are joined by Nivi Achanta, founder and CEO of Soapbox Project, making social impact easy for busy people, starting with bite-sized climate action plans!
During this conversation, Nivi tells us the story of what led her to start Soapbox and what she’s aiming to achieve with it. We touch on some of the reasons that people don’t take action and she shares which factors she believes have led to her success, as well as why you should just do things and see if they lead to your success.
We ask Nivi about her challenges and wins, why she felt that bringing Soapbox into the community space was the next step rather than just a newsletter, and what has been so exciting and productive about that process. She advocates for trusting your users and emphasizes the fact that community is about collaboration rather than control.
Nivi believes in positive messaging around social change and shares experiences that have motivated her to make a change. She shares some powerful advice, as well as all the details of her journey that will empower listeners to make a change.
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More ⭐️SPONSOR: Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
We often believe that people who are more successful than us have worked harder than us, and so hustle culture has become so ingrained in today’s workforce. But it doesn’t have to be this way!
You would expect the three people involved in a fast-growing tech startup that’s doing north of a million dollars in revenue would be burning the midnight oil, but that is not the case.
Today we are joined by SparkToro’s Marketing Architect, Amanda Natividad, and Co-Founder and CEO, Rand Fishkin, to talk about exchanging hustle culture for chill work. SparkToro is an audience research software program that helps brands discover what their audience reads, watches, listens to, and follows.
Before co-founding SparkToro, Rand also co-founded the SEO software company Moz and wrote the book Lost and Founder about that experience. When he co-founded SparkToro, he did it with a very different approach.
In this episode, we discuss the concept of chill work, how it differs from hustle culture, what goals and objectives look like when you embrace this mindset, and how to embrace it from the inside of an organization that does not. You’ll also hear more about what SparkToro does and how it may benefit you.
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More ⭐️SPONSOR: Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Neoliberal capitalism turns life into money by killing it, but what good is that money on a dying planet?
Today we speak to Paul Hawken about how to end the climate crisis in one generation using an approach centered on regeneration.
Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment.
For Paul, the solutions to climate change are local, where human beings use their imagination to form economies that create more life than they take.
We discuss Paul’s book Drawdown, in which he provides a list of 100 potential solutions to climate change and ranks them by the potential amount of greenhouse gases each could cut.
We also talk about his new book, Regeneration, which offers a unique approach to understanding and taking action to address the climate crisis.
In this conversation, Paul talks about why the fear and guilt-based climate change narratives don’t work and how we need to reimagine our relationship to our surroundings if we are to save the planet. He also addresses the lack of purpose people feel thanks to the current system and why bringing the earth back to life will bring people back to life too.
-- --
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER:
The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- --
📄 Full Show Notes: Links, Transcript, & More
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST:
- Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!)
- Subscribe to the Newsletter
- Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE:
- YouTube
ABOUT CORY AMES:
- Newsletter
- Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS:
Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Welcome back to part two of this special project, where we recap some of the strongest moments from our guests recorded throughout the year to close out 2021!
Featured in this two-part series are ten impact business leaders who are changing the course of business for the good of the planet and people everywhere.
First up is Laura Vicaria, CSR manager of MUD Jeans, to talk to us about circularity in the context of sustainability, and how sustainability should extend to dispel the power dynamic in the fashion industry and ensure that everyone benefits across the supply chain.
Next, we hear from Corey Kohn about how her Buddhist upbringing informs how she does business and the deeper purpose of her tech agency, Dojo4.
Another guest committed to using business as a force for good is tree farmer, Aram Terry, who explains why reforestation should be made into a business and why wood is the most sustainable building material.
Amy Hall follows with a definition of true sustainability and some insightful solutions to address fast fashion.
Finally, we welcome Eleven Radius’ Asheen Phansey and Monica Park, veterans of corporate sustainability and the fashion industry, respectively. Asheen points out the opportunity of circularity, while Monica identifies its greatest barriers and their respective solutions.
-- -- 💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday. Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/ -- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs. Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
In this special two-part project, we're recapping some of the strongest moments from our impact business leader guests throughout the year – the ones who are changing business for the good of the people and the planet – to close out 2021!
First up is Madeleine Shaw, who gives us her expansive definition for social entrepreneurship, and tells us all about her aim to help people feel empowered to enact change.
Next, we hear some pearls of wisdom from Giancarlo Marcaccini, from Yogi Tea, about bouncing back from failure, loving what you do, hiring good people, and facilitating success.
Carol Sanford talks us through her three Cs of leadership, which include capability, culture, and consciousness.
Christopher Marquis, who recently produced a book called, Better Business, on the role of the B Corp in reinventing capitalism, comes in next. He is a believer that when both structure and intent have the correct aim, business has the ability to be a force for good. You’ll hear the two things that set the B Corp apart from other forms of business.
And lastly for this first-of-two parts, we ask Faith Legendre about her views on fashion and sustainability, and she shares some unexpected statistics with us.
Tune in again in a couple of days for the second episode on these inspiring Impact Leaders!
-- --
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST:
- Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!)
- Subscribe to the Newsletter
- Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE:
- YouTube
ABOUT CORY AMES:
- Newsletter
- Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS:
Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
We still have a long way to go in terms of sustainability in fashion, but there are solutions!
Not only that, there is an increasing number of brands and organizations actively working towards change.
Today we’re back with another installment of our series on the impact of fashion. Joining us is Lucy Shea, CEO of the change agency, Futerra, to talk about sustainability in the fashion industry and why the fashion industry matters.
Lucy is an expert in the business of climate action and sustainable lifestyles and has advised clients such as Tommy Hilfiger, Unilever, Sky, and the World Wildlife Foundation. She radically reimagined garment recycling over a decade ago by creating the global clothes swapping movement, Swishing.
In our conversation with Lucy, She shares her thoughts on what she believes to be the most effective and respectful route towards change, and why she considers a living wage to be an absolute necessity for the future of our planet.
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs. Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Mandeep Soor is one of the co-founders of bendi, a company helping businesses to measure, manage, and communicate their impacts and become sustainability leaders.
In this episode we pick Mandeep’s brain about the progression of bendi as they delve deeper into measuring and defining sustainability, the challenges and roadblocks her clients face, and her predictions for the future of fashion and technology.
You’ll hear why even the statement ‘sustainable fashion’ is fraught with challenges, why the only truly sustainable product is a fully circular one, and why she thinks of sustainability as a spectrum rather than a goal.
Hear all about how bendi works, what she envisions for its future and the future of fashion as a whole, and why she talks about footprints and journeys in the sustainability space in this new episode in our series on The Impact of Fashion, with our partners at Dhana.
💌 BETTER WORLD WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: The Better World Weekly is a weekly newsletter written and published by Grow Ensemble Founder and Podcast Host, Cory Ames. For the latest insights, analysis, and inspiration for building a better world, join the 1000s of changemakers and social entrepreneurs from all sectors all over the globe who get this email in their inbox every Monday.
Subscribe >>> https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
-- -- 📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More 📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE: * YouTube * Twitter * LinkedIn
ABOUT CORY AMES: * Newsletter * Twitter * LinkedIn * Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS: Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs. Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
Andrew Morgan is an internationally recognized filmmaker, and the director of The True Cost, a documentary about the global impact of the fashion industry. First released in 2015, the film took Andrew and his team on a journey around the world, from documenting brand-name factories in Bangladesh, characterized by disgraceful working conditions and human rights violations, to the elite catwalks of Paris Fashion Week.
This episode continues our series on The Impact of Fashion, where we explore the social, environmental, and economic challenges facing the fashion industry with our partners at Dhana.
In this conversation with Andrew, we discuss his love of filmmaking and storytelling, how he first decided to pursue this documentary without any prior interest in fashion, and how his understanding of the world has shifted in the years since it was first released. We delve into the systemic changes necessary to influence the future of fashion to be more equitable, sustainable, and humane, and unpack how to remain hopeful when change doesn’t happen fast enough.
Andrew also shares how he continues to stay informed of the fashion world, how his work has influenced the way he parents and why he wants to remind listeners of the unseen impact of their lives. Tune in for an honest and thought-provoking conversation on the impact of the fashion industry and the challenge of optimism.
🗣 TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- Welcome back to our Impact of Fashion series.
- Introducing today’s guest, Andrew Morgan, the director of The True Cost.
- Andrew shares what originally drew him to storytelling and filmmaking as a medium.
- The documentary that Andrew made in response to the sudden loss of his father.
- The healing power of film and how Andrew discovered his role in the filmmaking process.
- How Andrew discovered his skill for bringing together an exceptional team of people.
- How a newspaper article prompted Andrew’s research into the true cost of fashion.
- Andrew’s experiences filming The True Cost and his continuing journey with its content.
- The huge scope of the film and why editing was the most difficult part of completing it.
- The ongoing changes that have happened in Andrew’s life since making the film.
- How making The True Cost has impacted Andrew’s parenting and how he discusses difficult topics with his kids.
- Andrew’s thoughts on the film after eight years since starting production.
- How Andrew has continued to stay informed of the fashion industry and what has been taking place.
- The mix of optimism and disappointment that Andrew feels about the fashion industry and its impact.
- How awareness and consumer consciousness have shifted and what it means for the future of fashion and waste.
- How Andrew is continuing to work in the fashion space, and the subject of his next film.
- Andrew shares his book recommendations and his thoughts about his morning routine.
- Andrew’s advice: why you cannot understand the unseen impacts of your life.
📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More
⭐️SPONSORS: The Impact of Fashion is our series with our partners at Dhana, a leader in circular fashion.
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE:
- YouTube
ABOUT CORY AMES:
- Newsletter
- Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS:
Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
The exchange of wedding rings is a centuries-old tradition, and most wedding ring makers have remained stuck in the past, utilizing environmentally-unfriendly materials, and leaving a whole cohort of modern-couple ‘typographies’ out of their branding scope. But not Holden!
Holden is a custom wedding ring company built on the principles of sustainability, transparency, and inclusivity.
In today’s episode, host Cory Ames is joined by Holden’s cofounder, Andrew Lim, and its content marketing lead and first full-time employee, Carrie Adams. Tuning in to this conversation, you’ll hear the ins and outs of Holden's origin story, how the company differentiates itself in an all-around positive way, and the exciting plans they have for the future.
Cory's wedding band is from Holden, so from personal experience, he can vouch for the way they put into practice everything that they stand for!
Choose a wedding ring through Holden using this link here, and Grow Ensemble receives a small commission at no extra cost to you. Those commissions help support the production of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast!
🗣 TOPICS DISCUSSED: * Andrew and Carrie explain what Holden’s mission is. * Where the idea for Holden originated, and the company that preceded it. * Growth that Holden has experienced since Carrie joined the company 2 years ago. * How Holden gives back. * Cory's personal experience with Holden. * The transparent process of customizing a Holden ring. * Customer service that Holden provides. * How Holden puts its commitment to sustainability into practice. * Accessibility of Holden products. * Holden’s exciting plans for the future. * Book recommendations from Carrie and Andrew. * Brands that Andrew and Carrie are inspired by. * Valuable advice from Carrie and Andrew around being an entrepreneur.
📄 Full Show Notes - Links, Transcript, & More
📣 SUPPORT THE PODCAST: * Leave a Review (on Apple Podcasts!) * Subscribe to the Newsletter * Share the Podcast on Twitter or LinkedIn
GROW ENSEMBLE:
- YouTube
ABOUT CORY AMES:
- Newsletter
- Website
FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS:
Get the courses, coaching, and services to help grow your business and expand your impact with our Better World Business Growth programs.
Our newest course, SEO Traffic + Impact will help you use search engine optimization (SEO) to build an audience around your better-for-the-world business and mission.
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
While the fashion industry is overwhelmingly known for its environmental exploitation and social injustice, the culprits and structures behind these atrocities remain largely under wraps.
In order to address the issues within the fashion industry, corporate transparency is key. After all, how are we to create change when we don’t even know what is happening and who is responsible?!
In this episode, we discuss the critical role and current state of transparency in fashion with Fashion Revolution's founder, Orsola de Castro.
In our Episode with Orsola, we discuss:
- What is transparency in the fashion industry?
- The importance of transparency
- Where transparency and fashion activism meet
- What is fashion activism?
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/transparency-in-fashion/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
On the Goodmakers Podcast, Grow Ensemble Founder Cory Ames was interviewed to talk about how he got into social entrepreneurship, why & how he founded Grow Ensemble, and what his thoughts and opinions are around the latest emerging trends in social enterprise today. Check out this episode to hear about Cory's story of dropping out of college, becoming a 22-year-old CEO, and founding Grow Ensemble, the impact-driven media and education company it is today. Connect with Grow Ensemble & Goodgigs:
- YouTube
- Membership
- Goodgigs
- GoodMakers Podcast
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
Fast fashion brands lead us to believe it’s as easy as buy, buy, buy. There’s no time to wonder about the humans behind T-shirt production because we’ve found a good deal.
Now, as we learn more about the human cost of garment production, we know fast fashion cannot continue. Garment workers are facing food insecurity, poverty, and unsafe working conditions. Changemakers everywhere have the power to work collectively and spark lasting change.
Sure, regulating labor rights and protecting garment workers won’t be easy. But Ayesha Barenblat, founder and CEO of Remake, shows us we can all play a part in advocating for garment workers. In a conversation with Cory on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Ayesha explains why workers' rights are central to the future of fashion.
Fast fashion can’t continue distancing itself from the people behind the products. In this post, we’ll dive deeper into factory working conditions and provide a roadmap for protecting garment workers and advocating for a better future together.
In our Episode with Ayesha, we discuss:
- What are the Conditions Like in Fast Fashion Factories?
- Why is Fast Fashion Labor Hard to Regulate?
- How Should the Fashion Industry Treat Workers?
- The Roadmap to Garment Worker Protection
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/fast-fashion-factories/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
Even if you’re not interested in fashion, the fact is everyone wears clothes. As social entrepreneurs and changemakers, it’s important to recognize how far we’ve come in the fashion industry. Reflecting on our progress gives us the motivation to keep going.
Cory spoke with eco lifestyle expert and serial social entrepreneur Marci Zaroff on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation podcast. They discussed fast fashion, its environmental impacts, and how brands are joining the momentum to disrupt the fashion industry as we know it.
Disrupting the fast fashion industry may be a slow process, but the good news is we’re moving in the right direction. In this post, we’ll cover why eco fashion matters, how eco fashion has evolved, and what’s next for the fashion industry.
In our Episode with Krystle, we discuss:
- What Does Eco Fashion Mean?
- Why is Eco Fashion Important?
- When did the Eco Fashion Movement Start?
- Eco Fashion Today
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/eco-fashion/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
Take a look around you—carpets, curtains, sheets, upholstery, the clothes we wear. TeXtiLes aRe evErywheRe!
Textiles are so embedded in our everyday life that we barely notice them, let alone spend time visualizing all the textiles that exist in the world and those still being created.
For this reason, and because textile pollution is much less visible than other kinds, we don’t usually think of textiles in terms of sustainability. And yet, the fashion industry is the fourth most polluting industry in the world after energy, transport, and agriculture.
As such, considering the development of sustainable textiles and processing systems is central to addressing the climate crisis.
Developing sustainable textiles and in a more sustainable way won’t be easy—the textile industry’s ubiquity and ties to agriculture, science, manufacturing, culture, and so many other fields means we must develop multidimensional solutions that reach across industries and ideologies.
As Materevolve’s Krystle Moody Wood explains to us, it is exactly this ubiquitous and intersectional nature that makes the textile industry so poised to create revolutionary change.
The sustainable textile movement is key to bringing about a more regenerative world. In this post and accompanying podcast episode, we’ll discuss the current environmental impacts of the textile industry and how we, as both consumers and companies, have the power to ignite systematic change at every level.
In our Episode with Krystle, we discuss:
- The Textile Industry’s Impact on the Environment
- The Framework of the Textile Industry
- A Consumer's Guide to Sustainable Textiles
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainable-textiles/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
The dirtiest item in fast fashion sits in most of our closets. With its use of cotton, chemicals, pesticides, and indigo dyes, denim has been making its mark on the environment for decades. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Changemakers in the fashion industry are disrupting the denim space. Brands like MUD Jeans are choosing recycled and organic cotton and leading the way in circular, sustainable production.
We’ve talked to fashion industry leaders about how to reduce textile waste, what to do with unwanted clothes, how to shift from linear to circular fashion, and more. Today, we’re taking sustainable fashion a step further to talk all about denim production.
Laura Vicaria is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) manager at the first circular denim company, MUD Jeans. On The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Cory and Laura discuss the challenges and opportunities of producing sustainable denim. In this post, we’ll cover how MUD Jeans is leading the way for eco-friendly fashion, and we’ll learn Laura’s tips for sustainable denim production.
In our Episode with Laura, we discuss:
- The problem with denim production
- The environmental impact of demin
- Can denim be sustainable?
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainable-denim/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
For this episode of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Madeleine Shaw joins Cory for a second time as they discuss the journey to becoming a social entrepreneur.
Madeleine is an incredibly accomplished social entrepreneur herself. She is the Co-founder and Director of Partnership and Impact of Aisle, a B Corp focussed on commercializing reusable menstrual products, the founder of G Day, a national event series for tween girls, and Nestworks, a family-friendly co-working community. She has also just published her first book, The Greater Good: Social Entrepreneurship for Everyday People Who Want to Change the World.
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/how-to-become-a-social-entrepreneur/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
For this episode of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Cory interviews Brett Jenks, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Rare, which is an organization that is dedicated to utilizing behavioral insights to effectively encourage individuals to take action to help the environment.
Environmental concerns, such as climate change, can often feel so monumental that one person’s actions seem trivial. However, individual actions can have a major impact, especially when they converge into collective action. This post will explore why individual actions matter and how utilizing behavioral science can improve the effectiveness of sustainability campaigns.
In our Episode with Brett, we discuss:
- Why is individual action important for sustainability?
- What does it take to actually change behavior?
- Common social science tools that effect change
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/individual-action/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
Fashion has always been cyclical, reusing older trends and updating them ever so slightly.
But technology is pushing cyclical fashion to become circular, meaning that the useful life of garments extends indefinitely. Those old t-shirts or jeans you wore 15 years ago, or the ones your parents had way before that, can now become part of your current wardrobe again.
Faith Legendre, the owner of the circular economy advisory company, Afire Consulting, explains to Cory during this episode of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, “...they make 2 million black size two shirts [and] it’s bad for the environment. It’s bad for the psyche.”
Let’s look at how technology and fashion are colliding for a more sustainable future of the fashion industry by decreasing wasteful production and increasing personalization.
In our Episode with Faith, we discuss:
- What is the role of technology in the future of fashion?
- What are the Environmental Impacts of Fashion?
- How Can Technology Improve Sustainability in the Fashion Industry?
- How Does Technology Change the Fashion Industry Workforce?
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/tech-fashion/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
The booming field of computer science and technology is full of promise and opportunity. Tech jobs with top companies are highly coveted but what is it really like to work in the tech industry?
A career in tech can mean great perks, hard work, and continuous evolution of new skills. It is also a field that could benefit from more social support. Prioritizing the humanity of the people who consume and create the internet could make it a safer, more fulfilling place to work and to be.
Host Cory Ames sat down with Dojo 4’s Corey Kohn on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast as part of our new series on technology. They discussed tech and culture, and how reconnecting with humans and nature is the antidote we need.
In this post, we’ll discuss the modern experience of working in tech, the unique challenges facing women and people of color in a white male-dominated industry, and what we can do to find meaning while working in this field today.
In our Episode with Corey, we discuss:
- Working in tech: what's it like?
- What's it like to be BIPOC in tech?
- What's it like for women working in tech?
- How technology affects us all
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/working-in-tech/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
Rethinking textile waste to reduce the impact of fashion
The world is becoming more aware of the negative impact of fashion, and social entrepreneurs are making major moves to turn fast fashion into a sustainable, circular industry.
We’ve talked about the human cost of apparel production and the Rana Plaza disaster, how individuals can avoid fast fashion and responsibly dispose of old clothes, sustainable business, and the circular fashion economy, and more through our Impact of Fashion series.
Today we’re taking a step back in the production process and talking all about textiles.
Stephanie Benedetto is tackling textile waste through her sustainable deadstock textile marketplace, Queen of Raw. She spoke with Cory on The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast about the magnitude of textile waste and how technology can reroute unused textiles from the landfill to new customers.
In our Episode with Stephanie, we discuss:
- What is textile waste, and what can we do about it?
- What are the different types of textile waste?
- Why is textile waste a problem?
- How do we create diverse boards?
- How to Reduce Textile Waste
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/textile-waste/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
When I think of a corporate boardroom, the image that comes to mind is a long, narrow table, big windows, views of a city skyline, middle-aged or older white men, and maybe a couple white women. And I’m not alone.
In this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Cory interviewed Jerusha Stewart and John Replogle of Take Your Seat and discussed the importance of diversity in board membership while reflecting on the current landscape of board diversity in America.
In our Episode with Jerusha and John, we discuss:
- Board Diversity: What is it & why does it matter?
- What are the benefits of having a diverse board?
- What are the challenges to creating a diverse board?
- How do we create diverse boards?
- Ways you can take action
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/board-diversity/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
To end out Plastic Free July, we're rounding out our month of plastic-free content with 11 steps to help you kick plastic to the curb (for good!) in multiple areas of your life.
With a little help from our friends over at EarthHero, we put together a helpful list of tips and product alternatives sure to simplify your journey toward a plastic-free future.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How to set yourself up for plastic-free success
- A complete step by step walkthrough on how to go plastic-free
- Great planet-friendly alternatives to everyday plastic products
- The ways plastic might win and how to stay the course
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/how-to-go-plastic-free/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
In honor of Plastic Free July, we're reposting our episode with Eric Hudson, CEO of Preserve.
Preserve is a certified B-Corporation on a mission “to help reduce the harm caused by the industrial age by demonstrating that products can be both fabulous to use and lighter on the earth.”
In this episode, we discuss:
- The impact single-use plastics have on the oceans
- Unconventional methods for reducing plastic’s environmental impact
- Innovative Initiatives contributing to the plastic-free cause (such as POPI)
- How Eric foresees Preserve's continued development and mission to rid the world of single-use plastic.
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/preserve-eric-hudson/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
In honor of Plastic Free July, we're circling back to a post we did in partnership with our friends over at Plaine Products to dig into the myriad of effects plastic pollution has on people and planet (some that may surprise you!).
In this episode, we discuss:
- The effects of plastic pollution on the human body
- The effects of plastic pollution on our economy
- The Indirect effects plastic pollution has on humans
- Long term effects of plastic pollution on humans
- Who is fighting for our health and how you can join the movement
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/how-does-plastic-pollution-affect-humans/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
In honor of Plastic Free July, we're reposting our episode with Svanika Balasubramanian, CEO and Co-founder of rePurpose.
rePurpose is a global movement of conscious consumers and businesses committed to going Plastic Neutral. As the world's first Plastic Credit Platform, rePurpose makes climate action simple and effective for companies of all sizes by removing and recycling as much ocean-bound plastic waste as they produce while embedding sustainability into their product experience to reach and retain purposeful consumers.
In our Episode with Svanika we discuss:
- rePurpose's unique angle to combatting plastic waste
- How rePurpose went from an honors thesis to a full-blown company
- What's responsible for the company's quick and exceptional growth
- Svanika and her fellow co-founders' experience being young entrepreneurs in the space
- New Insights Svanika has learned about plastic waste on her journey
- The importance of an intentional company culture
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/repurpose-svanika-balasubramanian/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
🤩Become an Ensemble Community Member
More than simply a response to the altruistic call of social responsibility, the participation of entrepreneurs in the burgeoning sustainable fashion industry is also, at the bottom line, a smart business decision. Climate change and social strife are existential dangers, and because of that, are huge business risks that currently have—and will continue to have—a very direct negative impact on every sector within the fashion industry.
Indeed, the future of the fashion industry, our environment, and our communities depend on adopting a new paradigm that opts out of the abhorrent practices currently and historically plaguing fashion. The only way forward is for fashion entrepreneurs to become a part of an entirely new conscious fashion economy: one that is rooted in responsible growth, sustainability, and circular design.
So, how do you become a successful fashion entrepreneur within this new industry?
In this show-post and the corresponding episode of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, we speak with Caroline Priebe, founder of the Center for the Advancement of Garment Making (CAGM) and seasoned design director and sustainability strategist, to better understand the practices a fashion entre
In our Episode with Caroline we discuss:
- How to become a successful fashion entrepreneur and leader in a new fashion economy
- Adopting a holistic perspective
- Embracing circular design
- The Sustainable Leadership Masterclass
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/fashion-entrepreneur/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
- Membership
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
Listen in for an update on what's changed and what's happened at Grow Ensemble over the last 90 days and what's to come in the next 90 days to follow!
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/q2-2021/
Get Connected with Grow Ensemble:
- Ensemble Community Membership
- Our Collections
Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬 Subscribe on YouTube
Fashion, as we know it, is linear. From material extraction to textile production, design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and end of life, the fashion industry is designed to maximize clothing sales. But what if that business model could shift?
Changemakers are reimagining the business of fashion, designing circular systems, and disrupting the status quo to build a truly sustainable industry.
Cory spoke with two of those changemakers on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast, Asheen Phansey and Monica Park of circular fashion business consultancy and Public Benefit Corporation Eleven Radius. This discussion of the circular fashion economy and how business solutions can help us break the fast fashion cycle is the newest installment of our Impact of Fashion series in partnership with Dhana.
Check out earlier episodes to learn about the Rhana Plaza Collapse, Inclusivity & Sustainability in Fashion, How to Avoid Fast Fashion, and the concept of circular fashion, then listen to this great conversation all about the business of circularity in fashion!
In our Episode with Giancarlo we discuss:
- What is Circularity?
- Linear fashion economy
- Circular fashion economy
- Business solutions to fast fashion
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/circular-fashion-economy/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Without a doubt, starting your first business has been or will be one of the most challenging ventures you’ve ever set out to accomplish.
However, as a social entrepreneur, you’ll face even greater challenges. From the beginning, you’ll need to have a much grander vision for the influence and impact your business might potentially have. Additionally, social entrepreneurs must solve problems in a way that doesn’t involve cutting corners, putting people or the environment in harm’s way, or sacrificing the core values that are at the heart of their personal beliefs and businesses.
Beyond this, successful entrepreneurs operating within the sustainable capitalism movement must use their mission-driven business to create solutions for the large-scale issues that we face to lead their industry into a future of sustainability and regeneration.
Needless to say, that’s a lot to have on your plate!
You’re going to need help, and since the road to success often means heeding the advice of those who have already succeeded, we sat down with Giancarlo Marcaccini, a successful entrepreneur and the CEO of Yogi Tea Company, which is otherwise known as East West Tea Company.
In our Episode with Giancarlo we discuss:
Throughout the conversation, Marcaccini gives us his best entrepreneurial tips and pieces of business advice for aspiring social entrepreneurs, and he explains how and why they are necessary for entrepreneurial success.
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/entrepreneur-tips/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
YeSeul Kim has recognized the power of education her whole life, which is why she has kept coming back to it throughout her eclectic career path. YeSeul is currently the Head of K-12 Education at H-FARM International Schools. On this episode, YeSeul shared her personal experiences in education and why she champions innovation as being key to the future of schooling.
In our Episode with YeSeul we discuss:
- The power of education to change lives.
- YeSeul's experiences in the corporate, nonprofit, and education sectors.
- H-FARM's method for an entrepreneurial education that empowers students for an uncertain future.
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/power-of-education/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
We are covering the big picture of the apparel industry through our ongoing Impact of Fashion series in partnership with Dhana. Head over to the series page to learn more about the Rana Plaza disaster that brought the world’s attention to the abuse and danger garment workers face, conscious fashion, slow fashion, circular fashion, and how we can build sustainability and inclusivity into fashion.
On this episode, Cory speaks with Amy Hall about her 28-year career with Eileen Fisher; social consciousness work including environmental sustainability, human rights, philanthropy and policy; her new consultancy Impactorum; fast fashion solutions; and what sustainability in fashion can look like.
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
http://growensemble.com/fast-fashion-solutions/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Additional Resources:
- J. Hilburn
- Rendez-Vous
- Patagonia
- Mara Hoffman
- Allbirds
- Reformation
- Nimbly
- Worn Again Technologies
- Evernu
- Inspiroue
✏️Social Good Blog
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Excited to be back with another update here, to share with y’all an inside look of what we are working on at Grow Ensemble.
Here’s a look at the year to date after May wrapped up.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Our host Cory chatted with Cassell Ferere, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of PAGE Magazine, the world’s first magazine covering sustainable fashion. In our latest series on the Impact of Fashion, Cory is speaking with experts across the industry to unearth the true impact of fast fashion and empower consumers to make informed decisions.
Cassell’s work focuses on making sustainable fashion more accessible to everyone. Through PAGE, he’s able to give people a more inclusive perspective on fashion through the lens of sustainability.
In our Episode with Cassell we discuss:
- Cassell's professional background as a writer, filmmaker, photographer, and designer.
- How PAGE Magazine is encouraging authentic, inclusive discussions on sustainable fashion.
- The impact of fashion on impoverished communities.
Links from the Episode:
- PAGE Magazine
- Cassell Inc.
- Circular Fashion and Dhana Inc.
- Patagonia
- The True Cost of Fashion Documentary
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainability-in-fashion/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
The buildings we spend time in deeply affect our health. This is what the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is communicating to architects, designers, and workers across industries and borders. We spoke with the CEO and President of IWBI, Rachel Hodgdon, on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how things like air quality, water quality, and even seat placement shape not only how we perform at work, but how physically and mentally healthy we are.
In our Episode with Rachel we discuss:
- What is an innovation ecosystem?
- How the World Economic Forum is scaling innovation ecosystems around the globe.
- Her background in technology and sustainability.
- The power of affecting systems change globally and becoming more circular.
Links from the Episode:
- International WELL Building Institute on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube
- U.S. Green Building Council
- Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, by Paul Hawken (Pre-Order)
- Strengths Finder 2.0
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/positive-work-environment/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
What makes the world’s most successful companies successful? Sales, growth, market expansion...all contributing factors. But perhaps the most crucial determinant for a company’s success are the local players involved in getting it off the ground: its innovation ecosystem.
The World Economic Forum has been a long standing supporter of sustainable business and economic development. Their Scale 360° initiative seeks to cultivate innovation ecosystems within cities, making them new hubs for innovation. Behind the scenes, Helen Burdett is leading this initiative and ensuring both public and private support for local entrepreneurs to take their concepts from written on a napkin to the real world.
We spoke with Helen on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how innovation ecosystems are crucial for altering the status quo that we know and accept. In this post, based on our conversation with Helen, we’ll explain what an innovation ecosystem is, how innovation ecosystems are built, and provide an example of how one of our favorite environmentally friendly companies has cultivated and built their own innovation ecosystem to accommodate a world-shifting new material.
In our Episode with Helen we discuss:
- What is an innovation ecosystem?
- How the World Economic Forum is scaling innovation ecosystems around the globe.
- Her background in technology and sustainability.
- The power of affecting systems change globally and becoming more circular.
Links from the Episode:
- The World Economic Forum and Scale 360°
- Helen on LinkedIn
- The Wandering Inn
- The Power of Habit
- Circular Trailblazers: Scale-ups Leading the Way Towards a More Circular Economy
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/innovation-ecosystems/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
During his time in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua, Aram Terry saw firsthand the devastating impact of deforestation and in contrast, the economic benefit of forest stewardship. This fueled his desire to found businesses that focus on sustainable forestry as a means to extend the lives of our forests for future generations.
The value forests provide goes beyond beauty; their resources can be monetized. A recent estimate puts the value of our global ecosystems at $142.7 trillion annually.
Since forests have both tangible and intangible value, it’s only right that their management is as sustainable as possible. On the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Aram shared how he’s making an impact with not one, not two, but three (!!!) businesses focused on reforesting deforested land and creating a market for young wood.
In our Episode with Aram we discuss:
- What drew Aram to Nicaragua and forest stewardship in particular.
- How Masaya & Co. was started and the growth the company has experienced
- How Aram's two other ventures also prioritize sustainable forestry and reforestation
- The economic benefit of reforestation and making wood products
Links from the Episode:
- Masaya & Co on Instagram and Made Trade
- Maderas Sostenibles and Guayacan, Aram’s other ventures
- Taking Root
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainable-forestry/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Jump on any major highway in the United States and you’ll come across a dark blue bumper sticker with the words “Keep Tahoe Blue” adorning many vehicles. The organization behind the slogan is the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which just as its name implies, has been using advocacy, education, and boots on the ground for sixty-plus years to preserve Lake Tahoe’s unique majesty.
On the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, we had the pleasure of welcoming the Chief Strategy Officer of this incredible organization: Jesse Patterson.
Jesse talked us through the importance of Lake Tahoe and how the organization has made a tangible impact to protect the inherent value of this natural wonder. In this post, we’ll explore exactly how the organization is enacting environmental protection practices that ensure the destination’s longevity far into the future.
In our Episode with Jesse we discuss:
- What makes Tahoe so blue
- The history of Lake Tahoe's development
- The biggest environmental challenges Lake Tahoe is facing and how the League to Save Lake Tahoe is addressing them
Links from the Episode:
- League to Save Lake Tahoe on Facebook. Twitter, and Instagram
- Quiet by Susan Cain
- PM Press
- Keep Tahoe Blue Sticker
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/keep-tahoe-blue/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
We spend around seven hours per day consuming content, a number that’s only increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether it’s news, Netflix, or social media, people are constantly reading, absorbing, and learning new information. Still, a 2019 study showed that 32% of people actively avoid the news. So, what is the content we’re taking in? What is it teaching us, and how does it inform our views and our mental health?
The Solutions Journalism Network is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting newsrooms and journalists who are sharing solutions stories. Solutions journalism outlines responses to social problems that aren’t only uplifting, they’re success stories that increase audience engagement and provide unique insight. As a society, we need these high-level, evidence-based reporting projects to help combat false information and encourage unity in a divided population.
In our Episode with Fara & Kelly we discuss:
- What solutions journalism is and why it's needed
- How the pandemic has shaped solutions journalism
- How Next City uses solutions journalism
- How solutions journalism can model positive responses to social issues for other cities
Links from the Episode:
- Solutions Journalism Network on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
- Know Your Price by Andre M. Perry
- Next City on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
- Next City’s Best Solutions of 2020
- You Are What You Read by Jodi Jackman
- Upcycled carpet tiles by FLOR
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/solutions-journalism/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In April of 2013, the Rana Plaza building collapsed, killing 1,132 people and maiming more than 2,500 others. This tragedy became a symbol of the fashion industry’s impact and need for sustainable reform.
April 24, 2021 marks eight years since the Rana Plaza disaster, and it also marks the ceremonious kick-off of Grow Ensemble’s series: The Impact of Fashion.
This series, created in partnership with sustainable fashion leaders at Dhana, will provide a comprehensive look at the social, environmental, and economic impact of the fashion industry, much of which provided the underpinnings for the Rana Plaza disaster.
This episode is our launching pad where we are going to:
- Introduce you to the avoidable tragedy at Rana Plaza; and
- Explore what has been done since the collapse to address the working conditions and protection of workers in the fashion industry.
Keep up with our series on The Impact of Fashion, here.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
We record The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast* with Riverside, check them out.
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Ah, democracy. A system where political leaders are fairly elected for the people, by a majority of people, to protect and serve the nation. Or, not so much.
The influence of money in politics and campaign funding has become a terrifying new reality in the shared democracy of the United States of America. Politicians are no longer elected for their platforms and ability to serve the American public. With cash on the table, politicians exist to serve their donors instead of their voters, which affects the policies they support, how they allocate government spending, and their expressed values.
A few organizations are working to remove the influence of cash within politics. American Promise is making a difference by attempting to uphold our democracy via the passing of the 28th Amendment, which would overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that allows uncapped spending and contributions from corporations to candidates in an election cycle. On the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Cory spoke with President Jeff Clements on the stakes of implementing such groundbreaking legislation and how the organization’s goal shapes their day-to-day work.
In our Episode with Jeff we discuss:
- The role of money in today's political system.
- Why American Promise is pushing for a 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
- The role of capitalism in politics and how money impacts corruption.
Links from the Episode:
- American Promise on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn
- 2021 National Citizen Leadership Conference
- Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations by Jeff Clements
- Our Common Purpose
- Jack by Marilyn Robinson
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/influence-of-money-in-politics/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in June 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/one-percent-for-the-planet-kate-williams/
Only 3% of philanthropy goes to environmental causes and 1% for the Planet, an environmental organization unlike any other, is shifting the very way we think about philanthropy by encouraging businesses and individuals to give just 1% of their sales or income to an environmental nonprofit. This member community is shifting the conversation around giving and elevating the standard for businesses.
In our Episode with Kate we discuss:
- 1% for the Planet’s history
- How just 1% truly is creating global change
- How businesses and nonprofits find success through powerful partnerships
- How Kate sees her role as CEO and leader
- The importance of storytelling to raise awareness and inspiration
Links from the Episode:
- Kate on LinkedIn
- 1% for the Planet on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn
- The Planet Post
- The Planet Service Announcement
- We’re Still In
- Oliver Russell
- All Good Products
- Brooks Wine
- B Corporation
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t require feminine care products, such as tampons, to have their ingredients disclosed, even though they spend a combined six years inside the bodies of women around the world. Overall, the feminine care industry is selling sexual wellness products that aren’t catered towards women’s health; they often contain harmful ingredients and perpetuate a destructive narrative around female sexuality.
Enter our savior in sustainable, affordable, safe sexual health products: Meika Hollender. Meika revolutionized the personal care industry and redefined the stigmatized nature of sexual wellness for women through her company, Sustain.
In our Episode with Meika we discuss:
- Meika's founding of Sustain Natural and the trials and tribulations of running a socially conscious business.
- Meika's new role at Grove Collaborative and the acquisition of Sustain by Grove
- The role of business in social and environmental issues
Links from the Episode:
- Sustain Products on Grove Collaborative
- Grove Collaborative
- Sustain’s Website
- Get On Top: Of Your Pleasure, Sexuality & Wellness: A Vagina Revolution, by Meika Hollender
- Seventh Generation
- Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting from Birth to Preschool by Emily Oster
- Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood And Trusting Yourself and Your Body by Erica Chidi Cohen
- Erica Chidi Cohen’s company, LOOM
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/meika-hollender/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Luxurious, sweet, delectable, delicious. Around the world, chocolate is a consumer favorite. It tops our ice cream, fills our bellies on Halloween, and makes a s’more a s’more. Chocolate is so ingrained into our everyday lives, but most consumers aren’t aware of the disastrously dangerous supply chain from cocoa bean to bar.
Tony's Chocolonely has risen to global fame since the company's first slave-free chocolate bar hit shelves in 2005. Today, Tony's is a B Corporation and Fairtrade chocolate company elevating the standard for chocolate companies everywhere.
In our Episode with Ynzo we discuss:
- The current crisis of modern slavery in the chocolate value chain
- The work Tony's is doing to combat slavery and raise the bar for other chocolate brands.
- The consumers and companies both play in ethical chocolate.
- The role of certifications in the industry and what they actually mean for producers.
Links from the Episode:
- Tony’s Chocolonely on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
- Tony’s Chocolonely on Thrive Market
- The Chocolate Case Documentary
- Rotten: Bitter Chocolate on Netflix
- Sign the Petition for 100% Slave Free Chocolate
- Into the Wild by John Krakauer
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
http://growensemble.com/slavery-free-chocolate/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
The month of March and International Women’s Day is dedicated to remembering the glass-ceiling shattering suffragists, visionaries, and trailblazing women who have fought for equality on behalf of women today, and women of the future.
Whether you’re a march on Washington activist, a low key petition-signing advocate for equality, or just venturing into your celebration of Women’s History Month for the first time, here are some of our ideas for how to honor the progress the women’s rights movement has made and how to support the goals of the movement today.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in April 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/civic-dinners-jenn-graham/
If you’ve ever been to a sub-par networking event, you’ll know that community-building efforts are only as strong as the people participating and the resources available to ensure a solid connection.
Building a community is an essential part of any well-functioning team or brand. A supportive community offers value and is key to cultivating employee engagement. So, when a business is fostering new connections and building a community that provides real impact, what are the benefits? What is the shared power in building a community together?
Civic Dinners is a platform that gives groups the opportunity to host events around a certain topic, and provides them with the resources to do so with ease. Whether an individual is interested in discussing the future of the climate crisis or a company is eager to spark open conversations on neutral ground, Civic Dinners is creating communities rooted in relationships. Founder Jenn Graham’s unique vision has allowed for more than 1,300 dinners to take place.
In our Re-run Episode with Jenn, we discuss:
- The story and meaning behind Civic Dinners
- How She and the company are addressing and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic
- What’s led to Civic Dinners’ momentum and success, having over 1,500 dinners hosted, from New Zealand to Atlanta, and many cities in between since launch.
- Lessons and insights she has learned over the years on successfully fostering civic engagement and community
Links from the Episode:
- Jenn on Facebook, LinkedIn
- Civic Dinners on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Civic Dinners Virtual Happy Hours
- Jasmine Crowe of Goodr
- Techstars Social Impact Team
- Center for Civic Innovation Fellowship
- For the Love of Cities by Peter Kageyama
- The Emotional Infrastructure of Places by Peter Kageyama
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Full Show Notes & Bonuses Here
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In this podcast, Grow Ensemble shares the purpose-driven marketing strategy that we’ve used to drive over 86,000 monthly views to our brand here at Grow Ensemble.
Along with our traffic growth, we’ve:
- Grown our podcast listenership in 2020 by 339% vs. 2019.
- Grown our Better World Weekly Newsletter list by 132% in the last 6 months.
- All the while paying $0 for ads. We’ve done this entirely with our content marketing strategy (blogs, podcasts, etc.).
How were we able to build this global community of change-makers in 15 months’ time without any ad spending? We follow the Grow Ensemble 4Ps of Purpose-Driven Content Marketing.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in February 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/home-storytellers-francisco-alejandra-alcala/
There’s an inherent power in storytelling. When we watch a film, our bodies physically react by releasing oxytocin and sparking empathy. We identify, mourn with, and feel for the people in the stories we’re hearing about.
But what if the stories we hear are sad to start, but pivot to being uplifting and enlightening? In many people, that triggers a response to participate in the solution that lifted the character out of treacherous conditions and into a better life. This is how Home Storytellers is shedding light on the solutions surrounding the global refugee crisis.
By focusing on the incredible potential of these people to succeed and drive change in their new communities, Home Storytellers uniquely brings awareness to the refugee crisis as a whole, through the lens of refugee crisis solutions The nonprofit organization shares uplifting refugee stories to inspire people, businesses, and governments to act in support of refugees becoming self-reliant. Plus, each film partners with a nonprofit organization that is providing aid to displaced peoples for the utmost impact.
In our Re-run Episode with Francisco and Alejandra, we discuss:
- How Home Storytellers was conceived
- What it’s like to form a family-run organization
- The lessons learned from their first few projects
- How they are hoping to move forward as an organization
Links from the Episode:
- Home Storytellers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn
- Francisco Alcala on Facebook
- Alejandra Alcala on Instagram, LinkedIn
- Asylum Access
- There is Hope
- Watch Hot Dogs on a Tricycle
- Watch No Single Origin
- Watch Sawdust Trailer
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in June 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/fill-it-forward-matt-wittek/
Just about everything we use in our daily lives has been designed and redesigned to meet our needs. In fact, the device you’re reading this post on is a result of product innovation.
At Grow Ensemble, we’ve had the privilege of speaking with entrepreneurs who have completely redesigned systems and products to make the world a better place. But how have they done this? And why?
It’s because social entrepreneurs have the ability to harness product innovation and scale positive impact. Matt Wittek, the founder and CEO of Fill it Forward, is one of those people.
Matt didn’t set out to create a reusable bottle to compete with other reusable bottle companies. Instead, he set out to make a product that would help reduce plastic pollution, create a community of like-minded everyday philanthropists, and increase clean water access. It all started with a bottle, a phone, and a sticker.
In our Episode with Matt, we discuss:
- His entrepreneurial journey from making a durable water bottle to creating a sustainable movement.
- The marriage of philanthropy, technology, and product innovation.
- The reason the company decided to use the bottle as a way to fund clean water projects.
- The lessons Matt has learned from scaling the company.
Links from the Episode:
- Matt on LinkedIn
- Fill it Forward on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, LinkedIn
- WaterAid
- Wine to Water
- Charity Water
- TOMS
- Warby Parker
- KeepCup
- Klean Kanteen
- Thirst by Scott Harrison
- Little One Step by Simon James
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Social Good Blog
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Welcome to our first Grow Ensemble Community Update of the year!
Excited to be back with another update here, to share with y’all an inside look of what we are working on at Grow Ensemble.
Here’s a look at the year to date after February wrapped up.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Full Show Notes & Bonuses Here
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Purchasing trends show that people prioritize environmental impact when buying. Our move towards companies that share our interest in protecting the planet comes at a time when the choice is becoming more and more of a no-brainer.
No matter what we are looking for, there is almost always an option that is comparable in price, equal or better in quality, and doesn’t come at the expense of the planet. Not only are some companies responding to consumer preference, but, excitingly, many are leading the way forward in terms of environmental stewardship.
As companies increasingly label themselves “eco-friendly,” it can be tricky to identify the companies that are truly eco-friendly and those that are merely jumping on the environmental bandwagon for “green marketing.”
But worry not! After a brief discussion of what it means for a business to be truly environmentally sustainable, we will share a list of our favorite companies leading the way in planet-friendly business practices.
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
🤩Enter the Giveaway, HERE!!
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Learn about our Biodynamic Wine + Virtual Tasting Giveaway kicking off on February 22nd!
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in May 2019. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/atlasgo-thomas-querton/
The most “engaged” employees do the most in their work. Engagement is what motivates an employee to personally invest in their work, think creatively, and contribute enthusiastically. When this only describes 13% of the global workforce, the lack of engagement is worthy of attention and action.
Unengaged employees have lower productivity, which translates to lower employee satisfaction and lower revenue for your business. So how can you improve employee engagement and cultivate a passionate workforce? By focusing on health, teamwork, and impact of course!
AtlasGO is a tool that companies like Salesforce have used to increase employee engagement through sweaty challenges. Each wellness and fitness challenge completed contributes to nonprofits around the globe and creates a sense of camaraderie among employees. Integrating doing good into work brings purpose and meaning to each day.
The AtlasGO platform successfully lowers barriers to corporate philanthropy and welcomes employee engagement in creating impact. Co-founder Thomas Querton explained on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast that sports bring people together from every background—making room for everyone to take part in making a difference.
In our Episode with Thomas, we discuss:
- The importance of defining your own measurements for success and how that plays into the continued development of atlasGO
- How altasGO cultivates a healthy and fun work environment and the strengths of working on a team while building an example conscious business.
- How to seek out mentors, what steps to take in creating those relationships, and how mentorships have helped Thomas in his growth with atlasGO
Links from the Episode:
- altasGO on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
- Thomas on LinkedIn
- Richard Branson
- Movember Foundation
- Thomas’s Email
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
So you’ve heard about the environmental impact of plastic pollution, meat consumption, and food waste, but do you know about the environmental impact of the internet?
Alarmingly, our digital footprints aren’t as clean as we think. Each spam email, Netflix binge, and Instagram refresh adds up to roughly 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is about the same as the entire airline industry. Let that sink in for a minute, the entire airline industry!
Don’t worry, we’re not saying that you need to stop using the internet (that would be crazy, we’re not crazy). We’re just saying that there’s a smarter, more environmentally-friendly way to be using the internet. Naturally, one company is doing just this by installing ground-breaking technology all around the world that sucks up carbon emissions while releasing oxygen and improving everyone’s health and wellbeing. You may have heard about them: trees.
Ecosia is the world’s only search engine that uses ad revenue to plant trees, more than 118 million trees since their inception to be exact. In doing this, the company is fighting the negative ramifications of climate change and making a healthier, more livable planet for all.
In our Episode with Ruby, we discuss:
- The origins of Ecosia, the only search engine that plants trees.
- The benefits of a fully transparent technology company.
- Ecosia's "200% renewable" status and designation as the first Certified B Corp in Germany.
- Ecosia's selection process for tree planting partners around the world.
Links from the Episode:
- Ecosia Search Engine
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
- This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate by Naomi Klein
- Five Calls App
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/ecosia-review/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Capitalism came into fruition when the world was full of seemingly inexhaustible resources. But as we know, this is no longer the case. Climate change is threatening how we do business, and some businesses are fighting right back.
Consumers in today’s markets are increasingly aware of corporate transgressions. We’re tired of seeing an economic system that rewards corporate behavior at the expense of other people and our shared planet.
One way we’re seeing a shift in the global economy is through sustainable capitalism and the B Corp movement. Professor and author Chris Marquis is proving that capitalism doesn’t have to be all bad, it can be a force for good when adjusted through the lens of sustainable businesses.
Chris spoke on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how the B Corp movement is integral to shifting businesses towards social good and how much progress they’ve made in the last decade for a more equitable, livable future.
In our Episode with Chris, we discuss:
- The B Corp Movement and how it changed Chris's perceptions of corporate social responsibility.
- The differences between corporate social responsibility and a B Corp.
- The evolution and future of capitalism as it relates to the B Corp Movement and sustainability.
- How changing the way businesses operate can help change the world.
Links from the Episode:
- Chris Marquis on LinkedIn and Twitter
- Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism by Chris Marquis
- The Value of Everything and The Entrepreneurial State by Maria Mosacato
- Allbirds
- The B Corp Directory
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainable-capitalism/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in December 2019. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/reduce-recidivism/
Almost 2.3 million people are in correctional facilities and 5 million formerly incarcerated people live in the United States. All too often, incarcerated people are left ill-equipped to reenter society without falling into the same conditions that contributed to their initial imprisonment: unemployment, poverty, violence, and dependency.
The unemployment rate of previously incarcerated individuals, no matter the offense, is 5x higher than the general population. The effects of incarceration expand beyond one individual as well. Seventy percent of children who have incarcerated parents end up
“in the system” and develop criminal records themselves as well.
Defy Ventures is making a difference by prioritizing sustainable solutions for ex-criminals through the lens of entrepreneurship.
By working with prisoners prior to their release and providing intentional programming that sets them up for success in the workforce, Defy Ventures is lowering the recidivism rate and giving the formerly incarcerated population the tools they need to break the cycle of imprisonment.
In our Episode with Andrew, we discuss:
- The causes of recidivism and the systemic issues behind mass incarceration
- How Defy Ventures is helping to reduce recidivism through education programs, employment, and giving access to resources
Links from the Episode:
- Defy Ventures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Just shy of Antarctica, Patagonia proudly possesses grasslands, deserts, glacial fjords, and rainforests. Patagonia’s vast and remote nature doesn’t deter visitors. Instead, many flock to the edge of the continent to visit the famous Torres del Paine National Park or the crystal clear Chilean lakes. The changing needs of this vibrant area have led to a shift in land use, with more developers building up and agricultural land expanding.
To ensure that the biodiversity, environmental quality, and accessibility of Chile’s Northern Patagonian Lakes remains strong for both inherent environmental value and tourism, Chile Lagos Limpios (ChLL) is bridging the gap between the community, the developers, and the government. ChLL uses data to inform decision-making at the highest level. By integrating sustainable economic development into the region’s pristine wonders, ChLL hopes to preserve the lake system before it becomes a dire situation, as Lake Tahoe did in the 1960s due to rapid development, harming the socio-economic welfare of the entire area.
In our Episode with Fernando, we discuss
- The development of his nonprofit, Chile Limpios Lagos (ChLL).
- How the work of ChLL is addressing sustainable economic development and incorporating all stakeholders into the ecosystem.
- The relationship between Lake Tahoe and the Patagonian Lakes.
- Why everyone benefits from clean and healthy water.
Links from the Episode:
- Chile Limpios Lagos on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, & Facebook
- Fernando on LinkedIn
- The Tao of Leadership by John Heider
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainable-economic-development/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
As a wise, mustached, orange creature once said, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues”. You may recall the famed Lorax, from the imagination of Dr. Seuss. He was right, trees are critically important to the health and wealth of our shared planet but have no voice in how they’re used.
There are so many benefits of trees, across all sectors. Trees are important not only to the environment but also to society and the economy. These are some of the reasons that Derrick Emsley, CEO and Co-founder of tentree, started his company. tentree isn’t an apparel company that plants trees, they’re a tree planting company that sells apparel.
In our Episode with Derrick, we discuss:
- tentree's founding story and their goal to plant one billion trees by 2030.
- How tentree operates with organizations around the world to plant trees that have a positive impact on the environment and local communities.
- How this Certified B Corp uses ethical manufacturing and sustainable materials to combat the fast fashion industry.
Links from the Episode:
- tentree on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
- The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky
- Patagonia
- Bombas
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/importance-of-trees
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in January 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/shea-yeleen-rahama-wright/
More than 1.5 million nonprofits operate in the United States, but they’re not the only organizations doing good! Social enterprises use a market-driven approach to solve social and environmental problems as well. Oftentimes, these socially responsible companies are doing just as much good as their nonprofit brethren.
Rahama Wright, founder and CEO of Shea Yeleen, is quite familiar with how nonprofits and social enterprises function to bring about change as she has run both in order to improve the lives of female workers in the African shea industry.
While both nonprofits and social enterprises yield measurable impact for their causes, there are some key differences that separate the two. Rahama spoke about her experiences and transitions with Shea Yeleen, her business that produces ethical shea butter skin care products, on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast.
In our Episode with Rahama, we discuss
- How Rahama started Shea Yeleen
- Rahama's journey from nonprofit to social enterprise
- How Shea Yeleen is working to empower women in the shea industry
Links from the Episode:
- Shea Yeleen on Twitter, Instagram
- Rahama on LinkedIn, Instagram
- B-Corp
- Net Impact
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
How do you start your day? Unplug your phone, start the coffee maker, cook some breakfast, watch the news, maybe start some laundry?
It’s often hard to connect the dots between these everyday actions and climate change. But until we convert our energy systems to renewables, flipping the lights on, driving to work, or flying across the world unfortunately does mean contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
The good news? You can neutralize your carbon emissions through carbon offsetting! Carbon offsetting is the process of paying to support a project that will sink as much carbon as you emit. Carbon offsetting encourages consumers to be accountable for their impact on the environment and pay the true cost of their goods and services.
If the world of carbon offsetting is confusing to you, you’re not alone. Carbon offsetting can be an effective way to combat climate change and account for individual behaviors that would otherwise negatively impact the environment, and so it’s important to understand how it works and how to discern the best services available.
Carbonbase is a young platform that flips the overly complicated world of carbon offsetting into a digestible and frankly, fun experience for consumers. By taking a quick quiz, you can easily start your journey to carbon neutrality and be connected to impactful carbon-sinking projects around the globe. Cory spoke with Max and Elliot on the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Podcast to learn more about the community they’re building to fight climate change.
In our Episode with Max and Elliot, we discuss
- What is carbon offsetting?
- How did Max & Elliot develop Carbonbase?
- What differentiates Carbonbase from other carbon offsetting companies?
Links from the Episode:
- Carbonbase on Twitter and LinkedIn
- Cory and Annie’s episode on the Carbonbase Podcast
- Pale Blue Dot by Anne Druyan and Carl Sagan Dune by Frank Herbert
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/carbon-offsetting
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Oregon’s most diverse wine growing region has been 200 million years in the making. Two-thirds of the wine made in Oregon is grown and bottled in a geologically rich area, nourished by a delicate balance of rain and sun: the Willamette Valley.
More than 700 wineries call the seemingly magical Willamette Valley home, which stretches 150 miles between Eugene and Portland, loosely following the Willamette River and holding the state capital of Salem. One winery with a particularly rich history in the Willamette is owned and operated by the Brooks family.
Portland native Jimi Brooks lived in the Beaujolais region of France after college to learn the intricate art of winemaking. Upon his return to the states, it was Jimi’s dream to open a winery that represented his own commitments to both land stewardship and excellent wine.
Although Jimi passed in 2004 shortly after establishing Brooks Winery in 1998, the winery serves as his living legacy. The Brooks community banded together in the wake of this tragedy and continues to produce wine in Jimi’s signature style. Jimi’s sister Janie spoke with us on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how she led the charge to make Brooks the first winery to become a B Corporation, Certified Biodynamic, and member of 1% For the Planet all in her brother’s honor.
In our Episode with Janie, we discuss
- The history of Brooks Winery
- How Janie worked to make Brooks a Certified Biodyanmic Winery, a 1% For the Planet Member, and the first winery to become a B-Corp
- The relationship between farming, ecology, and delicious wines and why they practice Biodynamic farming
- Why Oregon is one of the best wine-growing regions in the U.S.
Links from the Episode:
- Brooks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
- Brooks Wine Club
- Brooks Virtual Wine Tasting
- American Wine Story
- Kiss the Ground and the Kiss the Ground documentary
- The Biggest Little Farm
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/best-winery-oregon/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Oregon’s most diverse wine growing region has been 200 million years in the making. Two-thirds of the wine made in Oregon is grown and bottled in a geologically rich area, nourished by a delicate balance of rain and sun: the Willamette Valley.
More than 700 wineries call the seemingly magical Willamette Valley home, which stretches 150 miles between Eugene and Portland, loosely following the Willamette River and holding the state capital of Salem. One winery with a particularly rich history in the Willamette is owned and operated by the Brooks family.
Portland native Jimi Brooks lived in the Beaujolais region of France after college to learn the intricate art of winemaking. Upon his return to the states, it was Jimi’s dream to open a winery that represented his own commitments to both land stewardship and excellent wine.
Although Jimi passed in 2004 shortly after establishing Brooks Winery in 1998, the winery serves as his living legacy. The Brooks community banded together in the wake of this tragedy and continues to produce wine in Jimi’s signature style. Jimi’s sister Janie spoke with us on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how she led the charge to make Brooks the first winery to become a B Corporation, Certified Biodynamic, and member of 1% For the Planet all in her brother’s honor.
In our Episode with Janie, we discuss
- The history of Brooks Winery
- How Janie worked to make Brooks a Certified Biodyanmic Winery, a 1% For the Planet Member, and the first winery to become a B-Corp
- The relationship between farming, ecology, and delicious wines and why they practice Biodynamic farming
- Why Oregon is one of the best wine-growing regions in the U.S.
Links from the Episode:
- Brooks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
- Brooks Wine Club
- Brooks Virtual Wine Tasting
- American Wine Story
- Kiss the Ground and the Kiss the Ground documentary
- The Biggest Little Farm
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/best-winery-oregon/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Oregon’s most diverse winegrowing region has been 200 million years in the making. Two-thirds of the wine made in Oregon is grown and bottled in a geologically rich area, nourished by a delicate balance of rain and sun: the Willamette Valley.
More than 700 wineries call the seemingly magical Willamette Valley home, which stretches 150 miles between Eugene and Portland, loosely following the Willamette River and holding the state capital of Salem. One winery with a particularly rich history in the Willamette is owned and operated by the Brooks family.
Portland native Jimi Brooks lived in the Beaujolais region of France after college to learn the intricate art of winemaking. Upon his return to the states, it was Jimi’s dream to open a winery that represented his own commitments to both land stewardship and excellent wine.
Although Jimi passed in 2004 shortly after establishing Brooks Winery in 1998, the winery serves as his living legacy. The Brooks community banded together in the wake of this tragedy and continues to produce wine in Jimi’s signature style. Jimi’s sister Janie spoke with us on the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast about how she led the charge to make Brooks the first winery to become a B Corporation, Certified Biodynamic, and member of 1% For the Planet all in her brother’s honor.
In our Episode with Janie, we discuss
- The history of Brooks Winery
- How Janie worked to make Brooks a Certified Biodyanmic Winery, a 1% For the Planet Member, and the first winery to become a B-Corp
- The relationship between farming, ecology, and delicious wines and why they practice Biodynamic farming
- Why Oregon is one of the best wine-growing regions in the U.S.
Links from the Episode:
- Brooks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
- Brooks Wine Club
- Brooks Virtual Wine Tasting
- American Wine Story
- Kiss the Ground and the Kiss the Ground documentary
- The Biggest Little Farm
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/best-winery-oregon/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Regenerative medicine, regenerative design, regenerative therapy, regenerative agriculture, and yes, even regenerative business! What do all of these things have in common?
They’re bound by the idea that by tuning into the interdependence of systems, we can flourish into a new way of being that’s more resilient and beneficial for everyone.
Carol Sanford is a leader in both regenerative business and, as her latest award-winning book describes, The Regenerative Life.
By treating all aspects of a company as a living system with stakeholders, Carol unlocks growth potential and helps create companies that exceed innovation by being so flexible and strong that they’re incapable of being uprooted.
This is what we discuss in this episode with Carol Sanford.
Links from the Episode:
- Carol on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium
- The Regenerative Business
- The Regenerative Business Development Community
- Wholeness and the Implicit Order by David Bohm
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/regenerative-business/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
This episode originally aired in March 2020. You can find the full episode & show notes here:
https://growensemble.com/keepcup-abigail-forsyth/
We welcome the Managing Director and Co-founder of KeepCup, Abigail Forsyth. KeepCup is known worldwide for its bright, bold, and instantly recognizable reusable cups that have diverted billions of disposable cups from the landfill. Abigail is extremely passionate about saving our environment having dedicated her time and effort to many ventures bringing awareness to the cause.
In our episode with Abigail, we chat about:
- Her commitment to inspiring others to reduce and reuse
- KeepCup's 10 years in business milestone
- The current climate crisis, especially how it has impacted Australia with the recent bushfires
- Her dream of rehabilitating land affected by the fires
- The evolving role of KeepCup as they enter their second decade of business
- How success has impacted both her and the company
Links from the Episode:
- Abigail on LinkedIn
- KeepCup on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- “Australia Bushfires: A Signal to Act” by Abigail Forsyth
- “Our Hopes and Ambitions for the Next Decade” by Abigail Forsyth
- B-Labs (B-Corps)
- 1% for the Planet
- Abigail’s interview in Business Insider Australia
- The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
- War on Waste
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/keepcup-abigail-forsyth
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In our first episode of 2021, we welcome Emma Rose Cohen to the podcast. Emma is the Founder & CEO of Final Straw.
Final Straw creates reusable products that make reducing plastic a convenient and fun part of your day-to-day. They are best known for their reusable folding straw that went viral in 2018, catapulting them from a tiny startup to a successful brand offering a variety of eco-conscious and stylish foreverables™ that consumers are excited to use.
In our Episode with Emma, we discuss:
- How Final went from a small startup (with a kickstarter campaign goal of 12.5k that raised almost 2 million) to a thriving successful company
- The problem with plastic straws
- Emma's vision for Final moving forward
- How to reduce single-use plastic in our daily lives
- Plastic straw alternatives
Links from the Episode:
- Emma on Instagram and LinkedIn
- Final on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
- The Four Agreements by Janet Mills
- Blueland
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com//why-are-straws-bad/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In episode two of this two-part series, CEO of Grow Ensemble and host of the podcast Cory is exploring and sharing the most impactful lessons learned on how to make a difference from our top 10 episodes of 2020.
From building community to patience in growth, we unpack a treasure trove of valuable insight from our change-making guests to inspire us to make the world a better place in 2021 and beyond.
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/making-a-difference/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In episode one of the two-part series, CEO of Grow Ensemble and host of the podcast Cory is exploring and sharing the most impactful lessons learned on how to make a difference from our top 10 episodes of 2020.
From building community to patience in growth, we unpack a treasure trove of valuable insight from our change-making guests to inspire us to make the world a better place in 2021 and beyond.
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/making-a-difference/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In this episode, we welcome Ted Dintersmith. Ted is a film producer, author, and speaker on education and innovation.
Ted founded the nonprofit What School Could Be after realizing that there was a gap in standard education needing to be filled. What School Could Be seeks to reimagine what a classroom, a test, and a student all look like. Instead of stifling children’s interests and curiosity as the current public education system does, we need to allow each student to create their own path of learning and become purposeful contributors to society based on their own interests, talents, and potential.
As an organization, What School Could Be seeks to amplify the work of educators forging paths of innovation for their students. The purpose of school isn’t to provide data for our policymakers to use for funding and bills, the purpose of school is to help children live happy, fulfilling lives.
In our Episode with Ted, we discuss:
- How being a father informed Ted's decision to start his journey in Education and found What Schools Could Be
- Ted's experience traveling the country to visit schools and studying classroom curriculum and interaction
- The problem with standardized education
- What Ted and What Schools Could Be imagines the future will look like for schools
- How we can promote a more effective and impactful future for education
Links from the Episode:
- Ted’s Website
- Ted on Twitter and LinkedIn
- What School Could Be on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
- Ted’s TED Talk
- What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith
- Most Likely to Succeed
- The Years That Matter Most by Paul Tough
- The Overstory by Richard Powers
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/future-of-schools/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
In today's episode, we welcome Jordan Lonborg, viticulturist at Tablas Creek Vineyard for part two of our two-part series with the company.
Tablas Creek Vineyard is all about making change in the world of planet-saving agriculture. They are the first Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC™) vineyard in the world. That means that in addition to producing top-of-the-line wines people love, their agricultural practices help reverse climate change.
We're incredibly honored to be partnering with the great folks at Tablas Creek for this series, as well as a cause campaign surrounding sustainable wine and agriculture.
We spoke to Tablas' General Manager, Jordan Haas last week about the history of Tablas and how the Regenerative Agriculture Certification™ is changing the shape of California Wineries. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already.
In this episode with Jordan, we dive into:
- How Tablas Creek became the world's first ROC™ vineyard
- How being Regenerative Organic Certified™ is helping to fight climate change
- Jordan's insight into what it takes to run a people-and-planet-friendly operation
- The three pillars of the Regenerative Organic Certification™
Links from the Episode:
- Tablas Creek on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
- The Rodale Institute
- Kiss the Ground on Netflix
- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
Related Content:
- The show post for this episode (and Jason's episode from last week):
- https://growensemble.com/sustainable-vineyard
- Our articles in partnership with Tablas Creek:
- https://growensemble.com/sustainable-wine/
- https://growensemble.com/climate-change-and-agriculture/
- https://growensemble.com/regenerative-agriculture/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
In this episode, we welcome Jason Haas, Partner and General Manager at Tablas Creek Vineyard.
Tablas Creek Vineyard is all about making change in the world of planet-saving agriculture. They are the first Regenerative Organic Certified™ (ROC™) vineyard in the world. That means that in addition to producing top-of-the-line wines people love, their agricultural practices help reverse climate change.
We love what Jason and the rest of the folks at Tablas Creek are doing, and we're incredibly honored to be partnering with them for this episode and a cause campaign surrounding sustainable wine and agriculture. We also have an episode with their viticulturist coming next week, so stay tuned for that!
In this episode with Jason, we dive into:
- What sustainability in the wine industry means
- How climate change is affecting California’s wine production and farming practices
- Why farming regeneratively can be so uniquely beneficial to vineyards
- Sustainable vineyard certifications
Links from the Episode:
- Tablas Creek on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
- The Rodale Institute
- Kiss the Ground on Netflix
- The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
Related Content:
- The show post for this episode:
- https://growensemble.com/sustainable-vineyard
- Our articles in partnership with Tablas Creek:
- https://growensemble.com/sustainable-wine/
- https://growensemble.com/climate-change-and-agriculture/
- https://growensemble.com/regenerative-agriculture/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Today, we're chatting with Dean Cycon, founder and CEO of Dean's Beans.
Founded in1993, Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company roasts and sells coffee beans that actually have the power to change the world. Instead of focusing purely on profit (which they’ve been making since year one), Dean’s mission is to serve palate, people, and the planet.
In our Episode with Dean, we discuss:
- Dean's Beans origin and story so far
- Dean's experience as an indigenous rights and environmental lawyer turned social entrepreneur
- The effects coffee production has on people and the environment
- What ethical coffee is
- How you can support ethical coffee companies
Links from the Episode:
- Dean’s Beans on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
- Javatrekker by Dean Cycon
- Honor the Earth
- Food First
- Peace Development Fund
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/coffee-globalization/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we bring you our Grow Ensemble Community Update for November 2020. If you haven’t seen one of these before and you are curious how they work, you can check out our last two from September and October.
With these updates, our primary goals are to:
- Learn (and apply) everything we can as it relates to leaving the world a better place than we found it.
- Share everything we learn to bring more people into the community of more sustainable living, work, and business.
In this update episode, we cover:
- Grow Ensemble's community milestones and numbers
- Our social good blog growth
- The podcast growth
- Cause Campaigns and posts
-
What's next for December
- Our next Cause Campaign with Tablas Creek Vineyard
- New Podcast Guests
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/nov-2020
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Today, we welcome Dion Hughes and Nora Schaper, co-founders of plastic-free shampoo and conditioner brand HiBar.
Founded in 2017 after a trip to Mexico where founder Dion saw entire beaches covered in plastic, HiBAR was created to increase accessibility to salon-quality, plastic-free shampoo and conditioner. In addition to their mission of reducing ocean plastic, HiBAR aspires to show other industries how to reimagine their products to be plastic-free.
In our Episode with Dion and Nora, we discuss:
- HiBar's origin story
- The development journey of creating plastic-free, all-natural shampoo and conditioner bars for all hair types
- The planet-loving philosophy behind Hibar's unique product shapes and packaging
- How Dion and Nora view "competition" in the space
- Tips for going plastic-free
Links from the Episode:
- HiBAR on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook
- Bite Toothpaste
- Blue Planet Series on BBC
- Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson
- Plastic: A Toxic Love Story by Susan Freinkel
- Eating Up Easter Documentary
- Mudlarking: In Search of London’s Past Along the River Thames by Laura Maiklem
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/plastic-free-shampoo-conditioner
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In this episode, we're chatting with accomplished mission-driven business leader John Replogle, current Executive Chair of Leesa Mattress.
Founded as a Benefit Corporation, Leesa was built around the global issue of childhood bedlessness. For every 10 beds they sell, Leesa donates 1 to a child in need. Already, they’ve donated over 38,000 beds. They also use sustainable materials and design and manufacture their mattresses right here in the USA.
In our Episode with John, we discuss:
- John's experience as the CEO of both Seventh Generation and Burt's Bee's, as well as being a founding member of One Better Ventures.
- What makes a business 'mission-driven' and why they're necessary for true change
- Mission-driven vs purpose-driven companies
- Leesa's #1bedlessnight campaign
- How to start a purpose-driven business (or embed practices into an existing one)
Links from the Episode:
- John on Linkedin
- Leesa on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
- One Better Ventures
- White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
- One Bedless Night
- Generation Investment Management
- Imagine (UK)
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/mission-driven-companies/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Today we welcome back Anders Ankarlid, Founder and CEO of A Good Company for part two of our series on conscious consumerism.
If you missed the first one, A Good Company is a sustainable e-commerce marketplace on a mission to transform mindless consumption into conscious decisions. They create everyday products that are anything but ordinary—going the extra mile for each product and process to ensure that everything they produce is as responsible, functional, and high quality as humanly possible.
In part two of this series, we dive into:
- The impact shopping holidays like Black Friday have on the planet
- How shopping holidays can actually be leveraged to do good for the world
- Why A Good Company won't be selling their products on Amazon
- How Anders is instilling conscious ideals into his children
- How different spending methods can warp our perspective when it comes to consumerism
Links from the Episode:
- Anders on Medium
- A Good Company on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Related Content:
- Our first episode with Anders
- Our Article on Ethical Alternatives to Amazon (in partnership with A Good Company)
- Our Article on Conscious Consumerism (in partnership with a Good Company)
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Today we welcome back Anders Ankarlid, Founder and CEO of A Good Company.
A Good Company is on a mission to transform mindless consumption into conscious decisions. With sustainability and style at the forefront of what they do, they create everyday products that are anything but ordinary—going the extra mile for each product and process to ensure that everything they produce is as responsible, functional, and high quality as humanly possible.
We love what Anders and A Good Company stand for, and we're incredibly honored to be partnering with them for this two-part series and cause campaign surrounding conscious consumerism.
In part one of this series, we dive into:
- What conscious consumerism is
- The harmful effects of mindless consumption
- What responsibility consumers and brands have when it comes to the advancement of conscious consumerism
- Things to consider when buying something new
- How consumer experience drives product development at A Good Company
Links from the Episode:
- Anders on Medium
- A Good Company on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Related Content:
- Our first episode with Anders
- Our recent article in partnership with A Good Company (for a few people and planet loving alternatives to Amazon)
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
Today we welcome Paul Lynch, Founder and CEO of Cage Free Productions.
Founded in 2006, Cage Free Productions seeks to unearth the stories of underdogs, visionaries, and changemakers, and use them to change minds. This B Corporation and 1% For the Planet member does deep work to share powerful stories that create an emotional connection with the public and actualize change.
In our Episode with Paul, we dive into:
- What storytelling is
- Why and how storytelling is such a powerful tool
- What inspired Paul to found Cage Free Productions
- Tips and strategies to use storytelling for good in your life and business
Links from the Episode:
- Paul on LinkedIn
- Cage Free Productions
- Patagonia
- REI
- B-Corporation
-
- B Impact Assessment
- 1% for the Planet
- Black Marxism by Cedric J. Robertson
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/power-of-storytelling/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
In this episode, we're chatting with Sian Conway, Founder of #EthicalHour.
#EthicalHour is the world’s first and largest online community dedicated to helping social entrepreneurs scale their businesses through ethical marketing.
Members of companies that address the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profits use #EthicalHour’s platform to connect and grow their social impact network, strategize, and learn tactics to increase their brand awareness.
In our Episode with Sian, we discuss:
- The principles of ethical marketing
- What unethical marketing is and the issues it causes
- Examples of companies using ethical marketing
- What an ethical marketing strategy looks like
- Tips on embracing ethical marketing for your business
Links from the Episode:
- Sian on Twitter, LinkedIn
- Ethical Hour on Instagram and Twitter
- Patagonia
- Seth Godin’s TED Talk and Book
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/ethical-marketing/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Today, we're chatting with Leon Kaye, Executive Editor of TriplePundit.
Reporting on the triple bottom line, TriplePundit is an online publication that shares stories on the intersection of social justice, sustainability, and business.
Ultimately, TriplePundit shares with the world that businesses can be a force for good and enact positive social change. Each piece is written for an audience from corporate executives to concerned citizens.
In our Episode with Leon, we discuss:
- What it really means to be a sustainable business
- Why sustainability in business is so important
- How social justice and sustainability are related
- Leon's insight into what we should look for when aiming to support sustainable companies
- A few businesses you might not know are sustainable
- What led Leon into the world of environmental journalism
Links from the Episode:
- Leon on Twitter, LinkedIn
- TriplePundit
- The Economist
- Grist
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sustainability-in-business/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we bring you our third Grow Ensemble Community Update. If you haven’t seen one of these before and you are curious how they work, you can check out our first two from August and September.
With these updates, our primary goals are to:
- Learn (and apply) everything we can as it relates to leaving the world a better place than we found it.
- Share everything we learn to bring more people into the community of more sustainable living, work, and business.
In the update episode, we cover:
- Grow Ensemble's community milestones and numbers
- Our social good blog
- The podcast
- Our new Better World Business Growth (BWBG) training library
- New Cause Campaign with Plaine Products
- The Better World Business Community update
-
What's next for November
- Our next Cause Campaign with A Good Company
- A Case Study on our Social Good Blog
- New resource launches
- New Podcast Guests
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/oct-2020/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Today, we're chatting with Shamini Dhana, CEO & Founder of Dhana Inc.
First founded in 2008 as a youth sustainability brand, Dhana has evolved into a fashion technology company that aims to unite humanity through fashion and reduce the impact of the fashion industry on climate change.
Dhana is committed to accountability and transparency in their supply chains and is both a Certified B Corp and Fair Trade Certified business.
In our Episode with Dhana, we dive into:
- What circular fashion means
- The environmental impact of the fashion industry
- Dhana's creation of the world's first "circular memory jacket"—the ultimate example of sustainability in fashion
- Shamini's diverse professional experience leading to founding Dhana
- Tips on taking action on sustainable fashion as a consumer
Links from the Episode:
- Shamini on Facebook and LinkedIn
- Dhana on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
- Global Fashion Agenda
- Ellen McArthur Foundation
- Organic Trade Association
- Fair Trade International Group
- B Lab Community
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/circular-fashion
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Description
📄 Full Blog Post & any Bonuses:
- How Plastic Pollution Affects Humans
- How to go Zero Waste in the Bathroom
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
For this episode, we've partnered up with sisters and co-founders of Plaine Products, Lindsey McCoy and Alison Webster to chat about the plastic-free movement, plastic pollution risks, and a small step we can all take to reduce single-use plastic: going zero waste in the bathroom.
Plaine Products is an eco-friendly, all-natural personal care product brand dedicated to doing their part to reduce the disastrous effects plastic packaging has on the environment. Their entire product line is made of aluminum packaging and formulated without harsh chemicals, making them great for people and planet. They also offer customers a simple refillable product service, making it even easier to go zero-waste.
In our Episode with Lindsey and Ali, we dive into:
- What it really means to go zero-waste
- The effects of plastic pollution on humans
- Tips on reducing single-use plastics in your home
- Why the bathroom is a great place to start your plastic-free journey (and how to get started)
- The impact that the personal care industry has on the environment
- Their personal connection to the plastic pollution problem
- New insights they have learned since starting Plaine Products
Full Blog Posts here:
https://growensemble.com/how-does-plastic-pollution-affect-humans/, https://growensemble.com/zero-waste-bathroom/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we welcome Charity Ryerson to the show. Charity is the Executive Director and founder of the Corporate Accountability Lab. Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) is a law firm with a mission to unleash the creative potential of the law to protect people and the planet from corporate abuse.
The team at CAL is well-versed in human, labor, and environmental rights. By utilizing design thinking as their primary methodology, they are able to take more shots at the common goal of human equality and advocate for those who don’t have the opportunity and resources to advocate for themselves.
In our Episode with Charity, we dive into:
- What corporate responsibility really means
- CAL's unique approach to protecting people and planet from corporate abuse
- Problems in the current global supply chain
- Charity's journey in the world of social and environmental advocacy
- Charity's thoughts on restructuring as a means for corporate systemic change
- How we as individuals and consumers can hold companies accountable
Links from the Episode:
- Memories, Dreams, and Reflections by Carl Jung
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
- The Calm Meditation App
- Corporate Accountability Lab on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/corporate-accountability
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we're chatting with Elizabeth Whitlow. Elizabeth is the Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA). ROA was formed in 2017 by representatives from the Rodale Institute and two companies we mention quite often at Grow Ensemble: Patagonia and Dr. Bronner’s.
Joined by farmers and policymakers, these leaders in sustainability are fighting to “...heal a broken system, repair a damaged planet, and empower farmers and eaters to create a better future through better farming.”
In our Episode with Elizabeth, we dive into:
- The origin of and inspiration behind ROA
- ROA's new Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) program
- Elizabeth's background and unique experience with soil management
- Climate change's effect on agriculture
- Thoughts on the link between Covid-19 and changes in the food/agriculture industry
Links from the Episode:
- Elizabeth on LinkedIn
- Regenerative Organic Alliance on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- The Regenerative Organic Certification program
- Patagonia
- Dr. Bronner's
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/future-of-agriculture
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Welcome to our second Grow Ensemble Community Update. If you missed the first and you are curious how these work, feel free to check out our update from August.
With these updates, our primary goals are to:
- Learn (and apply) everything we can as it relates to leaving the world a better place than we found it.
- Share everything we learn to bring more people into the community of more sustainable living, work, and business.
In the update episode, we cover:
- Grow Ensemble's community milestones and numbers
- Our social good blog
- The podcast
- Our new Better World Business Growth (BWBG) training library
-
What's next for October
- Running our first Cause Campaign with Plaine Products
- The next BWBG Workshop
- The official Grow Ensemble HQ
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/sept-2020/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
This episode originally aired in March 2019. You can find full episode show notes here: https://growensemble.com/bodhi-surf-yoga-adrianne-chandra-huff/
In this episode, we welcomed Lindsey Mccoy to the show, CEO & Co-founder of Plaine Products.
Plaine Products is a conscious personal care brand on a mission to reduce waste and help stop the spread of single-use plastic through. Their refill and return model and eco-friendly packaging helped them divert over 50,000 plastic bottles from landfills since opening in 2017, a number they had planned to double in 2019.
In this episode, we discussed:
- Lindsey's role and responsibilities as a CEO
- What contributed most to Plaine Products' rapid growth
- Small steps for creating a more sustainable household
- The story and method behind diverting 50,000+ plastic bottles from landfills
- Plaine Products' origin story and founding a business with family
Links from the Episode:
- Lindsey on LinkedIn
-
Plaine Products
- On Twitter
- On Facebook
- On Instagram
- On Pinterest
- 1% for the Planet
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In the latest episode of the podcast, we chat with our first ever returning guest, Meghan French Dunbar. Meghan is the Former CEO & Founder of Conscious Company Media, and current founder of self-titled coaching company where she helps purpose-driven womxn business leaders on their professional journeys.
Meghan has had quite the career in the social entrepreneurship space. Along with founding both Conscious Company Media and her coaching company, she also founded the World-Changing Women’s Summit, the largest conference in the country for purpose-driven womxn.
In our Episode with Meghan, we dive into:
- Meghan's transition from Conscious Company Media to her current coaching venture
- What it really means to be a conscious company
- Meghan's recommendations on how you can become more conscious with your business
Links from the Episode:
- Meghan on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Conscious Business 101
- Conscious Company Media
- Justin Rosenstein, Asana
- Eileen Fisher, Eileen Fisher
- Kevin Rutherford, Nuun
- Patagonia
- Cotopaxi
- Southwest Airlines
- B-Corporation
- B Impact Assessment
- Great Places to Work
- 1% for the Planet
- Firms of Endearment by Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, & David B. Wolfe
- Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey & Raj Sisodia Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- Meghan’s first episode
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/conscious-business
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Patagonia. Ben & Jerry’s. Allbirds. TOMS. All of these brands share one thing in common: they are some of our favorite brands that have thoroughly committed to using their business as a force for good. In other words, each of these companies are Certified B Corporations: the gold standard in better business.
But what is a B Corporation really? Whether you're a curious consumer or wondering whether your business should look into getting certified and how the process works, this episode aims to provide a deeper understanding of Certified B Corporations.
In this episode, we discuss:
- B Corps and Conflated Terms
- Benefit Corporations
- CSR initiatives
- Mission-driven companies
- What is a B Corp?
- Why Certify?
- B Impact Assessment
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/what-is-a-b-corp/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we chat with SaraJoy Pond, Co-Founder of the Conveners. Conveners.org is a space for network members to experience the power of collective impact by joining together to share lessons learned and have a greater effect on positive social change through their collaboration.
Nonprofits, venture funds, and individual entrepreneurs have found value in utilizing the services offered by Coveners.org, which is as simple as being a platform that facilitates important conversations.
In our Episode with SaraJoy, we Discuss:
- What "convening" is and why it's important
- The conveners' role in impacting and facilitating change during covid-19
- How we can harness the power of dialogue to achieve impact and action
- How to get started building an effective social impact network
Links from the Episode:
- SaraJoy on LinkedIn
- Conveners.org on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
- Feeding America
- Social Venture Circle
- Influencer by Joseph Grenny
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/social-impact-network
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
This episode originally aired in January 2019. You can find full episode show notes here: https://growensemble.com/bodhi-surf-yoga-adrianne-chandra-huff/
In this episode, we welcomed Adrianne Chandra Huff to the show, Co-founder of Bodhi Surf + Yoga.
Bodhi Surf + Yoga is a conscious retreat destination based in Costa Rica. They are the first-ever B Corp Certified surf and yoga camp in the world, and their mission is to continue to be an exemplar of better business through their efforts in corporate social and environmental responsibility.
In this episode, we discussed:
- How Adrianne went from planning to study law to founding a responsible eco-tourism company
- Bodhi's approach to including their guest's in their efforts to better the community
- Adrianne's beliefs around the role of eco-tourism and its relationship to its surroundings and community
- Bodhi's and Adrianne's relationship with the B Corporation
Links from the Episode:
- Adrianne on Medium
- Adrianne on LinkedIn
- Bodhi Surf & Yoga
- On Twitter
- On Facebook
- On YouTube
- On Instagram
- CREST
- Amigos of Costa Rica
- ISA
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/bodhi-surf-yoga-adrianne-chandra-huff/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we're speaking with Matthew Weatherley-White of The Caprock Group. The Caprock Group is an impact advisory firm that focuses on protecting and growing family wealth. Caprock advocates for their clients and serves as true financial partners in all investment decisions.
The Caprock Group is different because it operates on the assumption that capitalism can be a force for good. Caprock directs impact-oriented families and mission-driven foundations to allocate money and invest in companies that make positive impact in the face of issues like climate change and social inequality. When impact investing supports these businesses, capitalism is leveraged to advance solutions to pressing problems and achieve positive social change.
In our Episode with Matthew, we discuss:
- What the future holds for capitalism
- How capitalism can be used as a force for good
- The Caprock Group's involvement in the B corporation as a founding member
- Matthew's thoughts on how capitalism has veered away from its original intent
Links from the Episode:
- Matthew on LinkedIn, Twitter
- The Caprock Group
- iPAR
- Matthew’s TED Talk in 2018
- B-Corporations
- SSIR Article on B-Corp Growth
- Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
- Capital and Ideologyby Thomas Piketty
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- Miyamoto Musashi’s writings
- The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/evolution-of-capitalism
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
What is a "reluctant" entrepreneur? Many socially-focused entrepreneurs who label themselves as reluctant fear a removal from the company’s original purpose. This hesitancy doesn’t make any entrepreneur less passionate about their product, it, instead, showcases an entire element of sustainable development: care for the planet, people, and supply chains
Caroline Duell, CEO of All Good Products, is an excellent example of this. Recently, we got to speak with Caroline on an episode of the podcast, and in this episode, we're breaking down what it means to be a reluctant entrepreneur and how Caroline (and a few other well-known social entrepreneurs) have used their reluctancy as a tool to create a truly better-for-the-world business.
In the episode, we cover:
- What it means to be a reluctant entrepreneur
- How Caroline went from a climbing guide & massage therapist to small business owner
- A few other examples of reluctant mission-driven entrepreneurs
- 3 tips to turn reluctancy into fuel for a successful business
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/reluctant-entrepreneur
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In today's episode, we're speaking with Rebecca Hamilton, Co-CEO of Badger Balm. Badger Balm is a family-owned conscious personal care brand with a commitment to pure ingredients and eco-friendly practices. Over the last 25 years since its inception, Badger Balm has become an innovative leader at the forefront of environmental responsibility in the personal care industry.
In addition to their eco-friendly and natural product line, Badger has been working tirelessly in their efforts to reduce their environmental impact. Becoming carbon neutral is no small feat, and Badger Balm is extending beyond carbon neutrality by including other greenhouse gas emissions in their climate action plan.
In our Episode with Rebecca, we discuss:
- Badger Balm's family-owned history
- The company's unique structure that allows them to continue to consciously invest in people and planet
- The B Corp Climate Collective
- Badger's commitment to Net Zero by 2030
- Their partnership with Revision Solar, where they will implement one of the largest ground and roof solar arrays in the region
- How Rebecca went from a reluctant entrepreneur to Co-CEO
Links from the Episode:
- Rebecca on LinkedIn, Twitter
- Badger on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
- Sunscreen powered by the sun
- ReVision Energy
- B-Corporation
- B Corp Climate Collective
- Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/companies-fighting-climate-change
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Thanks to some inspiration from friends (Anders Ankarlid of A Good Company), I'll be giving more inside looks at how the Grow Ensemble community is evolving over time.
I want to share everything we learn, apply, and test as we build a community around our brand and mission; so other impact-driven organizations can hopefully do the same.
In the episode, we cover:
- Grow Ensemble's community milestones and numbers
- Our social good blog
- This podcast
- Our Better World Business Growth (BWBG) community
- Our new YouTube Channel
-
What's next for September
- Launching cause campaigns
- What's new for the BWBG Community
- Persuing our B Corporation Certification
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/aug-2020
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In today's episode, we welcome Dr. Lana Joseph-Ford to the show. As a young girl, Dr. Lana Joseph-Ford suffered from hearing difficulties and a speech impediment, and she was bullied as a product of it. She used her childhood experience to develop a great sense of resilience, developing early-intervention strategies for individuals with communication disorders.
This experience is also what inspired her to become an audiologist and open her own practice, High Level Speech and Hearing Center in New Orleans. Dr. Ford is also the founder and CEO of Joseph-Ford Enterprises, and is an advocate for musicians’ health around New Orleans, with notable clients like artists Drake and the musical group Tank and the Bangas.
In our Episode with Dr. Ford, we discuss:
- Dr. Ford’s background and inspiration for founding her practice
- How to balance being a healthcare practitioner with being an entrepreneur
- Common challenges and misconceptions in the early stages of starting a healthcare practice
- What it took to teach Lana that developing core values as a company is crucial
- The shift to a virtual office in the era of COVID, looking ahead to the future
Links from the Episode:
- Lana on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- High Level Speech & Hearing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube
- “Healthy Habits” on Great Day Louisiana
- Tax-Free Wealth by Tim Wheelwright
- Millennial Money by Patrick O’Shaughnessy
- Jefferson Parish’s Dollars for Scholars
- New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter
- Boys Town
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/healthcare-entrepreneurs
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
🎥Full video interview
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In today's episode, we welcome the Co-Founders of Bodhi Surf + Yoga—Adrianne Chandra Huff, Pilar Salazar, and Tristan Bays, along with Filmmaker Jazeen Hollings.
Bodhi Surf + Yoga is a conscious retreat destination based in Costa Rica. They are the first-ever B Certified surf and yoga camp in the world, and their mission is to continue to be an exemplar of better business through their efforts in corporate social and environmental responsibility.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Responsible tourism and consumption
- Better business and Bodhi's role in the better business space
- The process of shooting The Bodhi Wave documentary released in 2020
Links from the Episode:
- Bodhi Surf + Yoga
- YouTube
- The Bodhi Wave documentary
Full Video Interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM9ESubM1Yc
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In today's episode, we welcome Amanda Tattersall to the show. Amanda is a multi-faceted and accomplished social entrepreneur, having headed many initiatives and worn many hats in the social change space.
Currently, she is the founder and host of the Changemakers podcast (where she shares much of her learnings, reflections, and lessons in social change strategy), the education lead at the Sydney Policy Lab, Sydney University’s bridge-building hub with the wider community, and is the strategic director of their post-COVID economic recovery plan.
In our Episode with Amanda, we discuss:
- The nuances of Amanda’s multi-faceted career in social change movements
- How Amanda’s youth influenced her journey in the social good space
- The world’s current state and what must be done to make a difference
- Why social entrepreneurs and leaders must think and reflect, not just act
Links from the Episode:
- Amanda on LinkedIn, Twitter
- Power in Coalition by Amanda Tattersall
- ChangeMakers Podcast
- Hong Kong stories
- Barcelona episode
- GetUp!
- Sydney Alliance
- Sydney Policy Lab
- “Organizing During a Pandemic”
- MoveOn
- Industrial Areas Foundation
- Cops/Metro
- School Strike 4 Climate
- Hong Kong Democracy Council
- Hong Kong Human Rights Act
- Barcelona en Comu
- Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky
- How Organizations Develop Activists by Hahrie Han
- A Collective Bargain by Jane McAlevey
- Rules for Revolutionaries by Becky Bond & Zack Exley
- This is an Uprising by Mark Engler & Paul Engler
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/strategies-for-social-change
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
For previous generations, the definition of “dream job” looked a little different than it does for people today. While health care, pension plans, and a 401K are certainly sought-after job qualities for anyone, many people today are looking to create more meaning and positive impact from their jobs. After all, work takes up substantial portions of our lives!
If you, like many others, are ready to start your better-for-the-world career, this episode is for you.
In the episode, we cover:
- What exactly is a social impact job?
- How to define your job search parameters
- Identifying your truly socially responsible options
- Where and how to find job listings
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/social-impact-jobs/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In today's episode, we welcome Masami Sato, CEO & Founder of B1G1 to the show. B1G1 is a global giving initiative that has grown into a global movement.
B1G1 helps businesses embed giving into the heart of their everyday activities through making giving for businesses easy, effective, and meaningful. At the time of this recording, the B1G1 community spans over 2,500 businesses and have created over 200 million giving impacts to date.
In our Episode with Masami, we discuss:
- How Masami went from running a frozen food distribution company to founding B1G1
- Why Masami says that in 13 years B1G1 hasn’t really changed at all
- What the future looks like for B1G1
- B1G1’s unique approach to business giving that turned their initiative into a global movement
- The significance of empowerment as a leader
Links from the Episode:
- Masami on LinkedIn
- B1G1 on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram
- Legacy: The Sustainable Development Goals in Action by Masami Sato & Paul Dunn
- Ocaquatics Swim School
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/philanthropy-in-business
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
As the community around social enterprise and conscious consumerism continues to gain momentum, there is one unavoidable (but often shamefully avoided) component to the whole movement: where is the money coming from when we vote with our dollar?
Is there something else we should be doing before we spend?
In this episode, we'll be breaking down traditional banking's social and environmental impact, what defines a socially responsible bank, and a few banks working hard to make a difference for your wallet and the world.
In this episode, we cover:
- What's the problem with traditional banking?
- What defines a "socially responsible" bank?
- Why you should make the switch
- 4 socially responsible banks we love
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/socially-responsible-banks/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode of the podcast, we're chatting with Caroline Duell, CEO & Founder of All Good Products. All Good Products is a skincare company making products free from harmful chemicals that are designed to be safe for the whole family.
Through Caroline’s devotion to sticking to her core values, All Good is a great case study in regenerative business. They are a certified B-Corp and 1% for the Planet member and have recently committed to going carbon neutral amongst other environmental benefits. All Good’s corporate machine is truly committed to living in harmony with nature and doing right by our mothership.
In our Episode with Caroline, we discuss:
- All Good products’ origin story
- How Caroline began and remains a reluctant businessperson
- The evolution of All Good from products sold out of the back of her van to a global brand
- All Good’s role in systemic change, be it social or environmental
- The secrets of maintaining a wonderful personal and professional relationship with your partner
Links from the Episode:
- Caroline on LinkedIn
- All Good Products on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube
- B-Corporation
- 1% for the Planet
- OSC2 (One Step Closer to an Organic Sustainable Community)
- Dr. Bronner’s
- Numi Tea
- Guayakí
- Sambazon
- Lotus Foods
- Beneficial State Bank
- RSF Social Finance
- The Regenerative Business by Carol Sanford
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/regenerative-business-model
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we’ll share with you our experience of reading and digesting Acumen Fund founder Jacqueline Novogratz’s book The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.
Novogratz is a social entrepreneurial success story, and learning even a bit from her experience she shares with us in this book, proves well worthwhile.
In the episode, we cover:
- A quick breakdown of the book: what it's about and why it was written
- A bit about Novogratz background in the social entrepreneurship space
- Key lessons & takeaways for the change-maker
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/the-blue-sweater-summary/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In the latest episode of the podcast, we welcome James Leitner, Founder & Executive Director of MissionCleanWater. MissionCleanWater is a nonprofit working to provide clean water and sanitation to under-served communities.
With 60% of all clean water projects in Africa failing, MissionCleanWater specializes in community engagement, aiming to develop new models that are oriented toward developing sustainable success within each specific community they work with.
In our Episode with James, we discuss:
- How to improve clean water access globally
- MissionCleanWater's grassroots approach to sustainable solutions
- James' background as an endurance runner and how it has influenced his work
- Unique nonprofit fundraising strategies
- James’ neutral stance in the running shoe argument
Links from the Episode:
- James on LinkedIn, Facebook
- MissionCleanWater on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn
-
- The Contact Us page leads straight to James, so you can reach him there.
- The 30-mile a day for 30 days challenge
- Well Aware
- Delaware Food Co-Op
- New Balance 880s
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/clean-water-access/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
From food and clothing to consumer electronics and vehicles, purchasing the things we need and want has always been an inevitable part of our everyday lives.
But what are the implications of buying something? Its impact doesn’t stop at you spending money and using the product.
In this episode, we'll be diving into:
- The rise of conscious consumerism
- How has it changed the world?
- How to be a Conscious Consumer
- Is conscious consumerism really a good thing?
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/conscious-consumerism/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄 Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In episode 104, we welcome Eric Nee, Editor-in-Chief of Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). SSIR is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. Considering themselves a peer-to-peer learning facilitation platform, SSIR relies on the social impact community to submit articles about their work and the community at large.
Eric has held the post of editor-in-chief since 2006, nearing 15 years with his finger on the pulse of the social impact ecosystem. While this is the longest job posting he has ever held, Eric has more than 35 years of experience in journalism and publishing.
In our episode with Eric, we dive into:
- How he went from changing bedpans to running a social impact publication
- The role of journalism and SSIR in the social impact ecosystem
- Major gaps in the social sector that need to be addressed
- How the social innovation space has evolved since he joined SSIR
Links from the Episode:
- Eric on LinkedIn
- Stanford Social Innovation Review on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
- Grameen Bank
- Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
- Business Roundtable
- BlackRock
- B-Corp
- The Giving Pledge (Bill Gates)
- GiveDirectly
- Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Guardian
- The Financial Times
- The New Yorker
- The Atlantic
- National Geographic
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/positive-social-change/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
What’s better than a new book, right?
Maybe a new book that also challenges you to take a more critical look at the environmental and social problems around you and inspires you to change the world?
Better yet, maybe it’s a new book that gives you both the tools and motivation to launch that social venture tucked away in your brain that will radically change the quality of life for those in your community.
In this episode, we’ve curated a list of books covering triple bottom line business, impact investing, and social innovation, all highlighting progress achieved through innovative business and nonprofit models.
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/social-entrepreneurship-books/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we're chatting with Adam Force, Co-Founder of Change Creator. Change Creator is a media company that empowers conscious entrepreneurs to change the status quo through the power of storytelling.
In addition to a podcast and a premier digital magazine, they have launched the Captivate Method, which helps impact-driven entrepreneurs supercharge their marketing to build trust and consistent sales. For the past 15 years, Adam and his team have become experts in storytelling, marketing online, building four businesses, and creating strategies for the biggest brands in the world.
In our episode, we dive into:
- Adam’s professional journey and the founding of Change Creator
- The importance of the pain point as a trigger
- How to innovate your marketing through storytelling
- Change Creator’s Podcast & Digital Magazine
- Captivate Method, Change Creator’s online program for purpose-driven entrepreneurs to boost their marketing
- Why Change Creator is pivoting away from being purely a media company
Links from the Episode:
- Adam on LinkedIn,
- Change Creator on LinkedIn
-
- The Captivate Method
- Magazine
- Podcast
- EthnoTek
- Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/what-is-storytelling
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In episode 101, we chat with Mark Horoszowski, CEO & Co-Founder of MovingWorlds. Originally an organization seeking to shift the perspective and priorities of professionals interested in volunteering while on a luxury vacation, MovingWorlds is now a social enterprise that helps businesses scale social impact and sustainability initiatives through engaging individual employees.
In our chat with Tom, we dive into:
- Scaling social enterprises through partnering with corporations
- How MovingWorlds evolved its priorities through solving problems in the marketplace
- The MovingWorlds Institute and other programs they provide
- The importance of focusing on the individual human and their skills and desires
- What Mark has learned over the past 10+ years in the social impact space
Links from the Episode:
- Mark on LinkedIn
- Mark’s email
- MovingWorlds on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube
- MovingWorlds Institute
- The S Grid Program
- Experteering
- Microsoft’s MySkills4Afrika
- Ariba
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- Steve Blank’s resources on customer development
- The Focus Framework by Justin Wilcox
- Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo
- Multipliers by Greg McKeown & Liz Wiseman
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/movingworlds-mark-horoszowski/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
We launched The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast in January 2019. Now, just a little over a year and a half later, we’ve hit the 100 episode milestone!
This podcast has become much of the ‘base’ from which we launched Grow Ensemble, our media and marketing company in the space of social impact and sustainable business.
In this special episode of the podcast, we're sharing some of the best tips we have to help the aspiring purpose-driven podcaster.
Hopefully, this can be a resource to help get you started. And while it’s not exactly a step by step guide, it’s (almost) all of the best we can share from our experience thus far.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Tips for Starting & Launching a Podcast
- Tips for Sustaining a Podcast
- Tips for Recording Podcasts
- Tips for Booking & Interviewing Guests
- Tools & Tricks for a Successful Podcast
- Tips for Editing & Publishing a Podcast
- Tips for Promoting & Growing a Podcast
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://coryames.com/podcast-tips/
Connect with Grow Ensemble CEO Cory & Grow Ensemble on Social:
- Grow Ensemble's YouTube
- Grow Ensemble's Twitter
- Cory's Twitter
- Grow Ensemble LinkedIn
- Cory's LinkedIn
- Grow Ensemble's Instagram
Resources & Links:
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
We can say so-long to the days when social impact was reserved for volunteers and nonprofit organizations. As consumers become more and more concerned with social and environmental issues we face in the world around us, more and more for-profit companies are responding by joining (and sometimes leading) the fight to tackle those social issues.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Why it's important for companies to be socially responsible
- How companies can be more socially responsible
- How you can tell which companies truly are socially responsible
- 10 of our favorite socially responsible companies
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/socially-responsible-companies/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
⭐️Download Your Episode Companion
📄Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In the latest episode, we chat with Tom Dawkins, CEO & co-founder of StartSomeGood. StartSomeGood is a global crowdfunding platform and education provider for social good projects. Tom has a plethora of experience in the social good space, founding Australian youth nonprofit Vibewire before StartSomeGood, and working for and consulting with various nonprofits, associations, and governments throughout his career.
In our chat with Tom, we dive into:
- The beginnings of StartSomeGood
- Tom’s evolution from political activist to crowdfunding platform founder
- Good Hustle, StartSomeGood’s 10-module course that prepares for launching a crowdfunding campaign
- The foundational elements required to launch a social enterprise
- The importance of early-stage innovation for the betterment of our world
Links from the Episode:
- Tom on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium
- If you connect with Tom on LinkedIn, be sure to mention you listened to this podcast!
- StartSomeGood on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
- GoodHustle.Online (10 modules)
- Collective Enoughness
- Manifesto for a Moral Revolution by Jacqueline Novogratz
- The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
- Let People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
- Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
- The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/startsomegood-tom-dawkins/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this audio edition of the Better World Weekly, we discuss:
- Eco-Friendly & Sustainable Promotional Products
- Supporting Black, Women-Led Social Enterprises
- Ensuring a Free & Fair Election in November
- A Socialist NBA—Is it Basketball or Socialism?
Want the Better World Weekly Newsletter sent straight to your inbox?
Sign up here: https://growensemble.com/newsletter
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
📄Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In this episode, we're speaking with co-founders of Fairware, Denise Taschereau (CEO) and Sarah White (COO). Fairware is a sustainable promotional merchandise company and B Corp that helps businesses to better engage their customers, employees, and partners through the creation of sustainable custom-branded products.
In our chat with Taschereau & White, we discuss:
- Their involvement in the activism side of the B-Corporation community
- Insights they've gained from being a certified B Corp for 10 years
- Tips on the B Corp certification and re-certification process
- Their thoughts and philosophies on ethical sourcing
- The beginnings of Fairware and how the business gained traction and grew
- The urgency to address the intersection between sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion in today’s political climate
Links from the Episode:
- Denise on LinkedIn
- Sarah on LinkedIn
- Fairware on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn
- Lookbooks
- Resources
- B-Corporation
- We the Change
- Asana
- Ben & Jerry’s
- Patagonia
- Decisive by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
- How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/fairware-denise-Taschereau-sarah-white/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
If you are on the fence about diving into a new volunteer experience or have doubts about whether or not volunteering is right for you, you might find yourself surprised at just how much you can gain from taking the plunge.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why volunteering is important
- The many benefits of volunteering
- How you can get started
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/why-volunteer/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
📄Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses
🌍Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
In the latest episode, we're speaking with Adam Kunes, Founder of purpose-driven boutique travel company Have Fun Do Good. Have Fun Do Good offers epic group travel experiences in the United States and abroad. Each experience incorporates a chance for participants to give back through volunteerism. Their aim is to change the idea of the traditional vacation mindset, hoping to provide attendees with an opportunity that will encourage them to continue to give back once they arrive back home.
In our chat, we dive into:
- The inspiration and origins behind Have Fun Do Good
- The benefits of incorporating volunteering into a more traditional vacation
- How Adam blended his experience with running a nonprofit and a for-profit business to run Have Fun Do Good
- The recent launch of their new initiative, Drink Beer Do Good
- How a Semester at Sea changed Adam’s life
Links from the Episode:
- Adam on LinkedIn, Instagram, and his email
- Have Fun Do Good on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram
-
- Video of their first Arizona trip
- Drink Beer Do Good
- TOMS
- Pencils of Promise
- Charity: Water
- Causeartist
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- The Last Dance (Michael Jordan docuseries)
Full Show Notes & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/have-fun-do-good-adam-kunes/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
Resources & Links:
✏️Blog Post & Episode Bonuses
🌍 Better World Weekly Newsletter
🎬Subscribe on YouTube
📈Get Help Growing Your Purpose-Driven Business
Sometimes change doesn’t require you to completely change what you’re doing. Sometimes it only requires you to change how you’re doing it.
A huge example of this philosophy: voting with your dollar.
In this episode, we cover:
- What voting with your dollar really means
- Why you should care where your dollars go
- How to "vote with your dollar" sustainably
- The role voting with your dollar plays in impacting change
Full Blog Post & Episode Bonuses:
https://growensemble.com/voting-with-your-dollar/
Connect with Grow Ensemble on Social:
- YouTube
For the Full Show Notes & Any Extras: https://growensemble.com/good-future-john-treadgold/
Today we welcome John Treadgold to the podcast. John is a communications consultant specializing in advising organizations on how to communicate their impact, as well as the founder and host of the Good Future podcast where speaks to leaders and innovators who are rethinking economics and working to build companies focused on the greater good.
In our chat, we dive into:
- John's diverse academic and professional journey
- How our choices in spending and investing can impact the environment
- What we can do to promote a more holistically sustainable lifestyle and economy
- The resiliency of ESG funds during the coronavirus crisis
- John's thoughts on what the new normal will look like in a post COVID-19 world
- Lessons and insights learned through his experience in the social enterprise space
Links from the Episode:
- John Treadgold on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Good Future Podcast
- John’s piece on the new normal
- Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
- Against the Rules Podcast (Michael Lewis)
- B Corporation
- Humanitix
- Who Gives a Crap?
For the Full Show Notes & Any Extras: https://growensemble.com/good-future-john-treadgold/
For the Full Show Notes & Any Extras: https://growensemble.com/millie-rachel-klausner/
In this episode, we speak to Rachel Klausner, CEO & Founder of Millie. Born out of the hope to make charitable giving more intentional and accessible for the millennial generation, Millie is a charitable giving platform that makes giving back as simple as swiping right. Millie has proven especially advantageous in the workplace, allowing companies to easily connect with their team through causes they care about and matching donations.
In our chat, we discuss:
- The relationship Millenials have with giving compared to other generations
- The day-to-day of running a start-up
- Transitioning into a new mode of programming
- How the Millie app has become a valuable tool in the workplace
- Rachel’s valuable advice on fundraising a social impact-startup
Links from the Episode: * Rachel on LinkedIn * Millie on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter * WorkInspired by Aron Ain * Just Mercy - movie, book * EJI * L'Oréal * Ben & Jerry’s
For the Full Show Notes & Any Extras: https://growensemble.com/millie-rachel-klausner/
In this audio edition of the Better World Weekly, we discuss:
-
How to create engaging blog content in the purpose-driven space
-
Making giving in the workplace easy with the charitable giving platform, Millie
-
Protecting the Black American vote with Lebron James
-
And More!
Want the Better World Weekly Newsletter sent straight to your inbox? Sign up here: https://growensemble.com/newsletter
In the latest Better World Weekly, current world events again take center stage. We discuss leaders tackling racism in the workplace, supporting black-owned businesses, how to land a job in social impact, the latest march on Washington, and more.
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-34/
For the Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/fill-it-forward-matt-wittek/
Today we welcome Matt Wittek, Founder of Fill it Forward. Fill It Forward, previously Cupanion, originally began as a product-focused company that sold reusable water bottles, they have since innovated in the giving and technology spaces through launching the Fill It Forward app. Every time a consumer refills their own water bottle, they have the ability to give clean water to someone in need.
Since 2012, Fill It Forward has funded hundreds of clean water projects, benefiting communities across the world in an effort to alleviate the global water crisis.
In our chat, we cover:
- Fill it Forward's journey and environmental Impact
- Lessons Matt has learned through actively persuing his and his company's mission
- How behavior has changed in the reuse space
- The momentum driven by Fill it Forward's innovations in giving
- The impact of taking risks financially
Links from the Episode:
- Matt on LinkedIn
- Fill It Forward on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, LinkedIn
- WaterAid
- Wine to Water
- Charity Water
- TOMS
- Warby Parker
- KeepCup
- Klean Kanteen
- Thirst by Scott Harrison
- Little One Step by Simon James
For the Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/fill-it-forward-matt-wittek/
Better World Weekly 33 covers quite a bit as we dive into violent vs nonviolent protests and their influence and ability to drive change, getting more done with your business by doing less, and hiring at Grow Ensemble as we continue to expand our business and impact.
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-33
For the Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/one-percent-for-the-planet-kate-williams/
In episode 86, we were honored to speak with Kate Williams, CEO of global environmental movement 1% for the Planet. 1% for the Planet inspires organizations and individuals to support environmental nonprofit solutions through an annual membership and everyday actions. Member companies pledge to give 1% of their total annual sales to environmental nonprofit partners. In 2019 alone, more than 3,000 members of the 1% for the Planet community spread amongst 40+ countries gave over $27 million.
In our episode with Williams, we dig into:
- 1% for the Planet’s history
- How just 1% truly is creating global change
- How businesses and nonprofits find success through powerful partnerships
- How Kate sees her role as CEO and leader
- The importance of storytelling to raise awareness and inspiration
Links from the Episode: * Kate on LinkedIn * 1% for the Planet on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn * The Planet Post * The Planet Service Announcement * We’re Still In * Oliver Russell * All Good Products * Brooks Wine * B Corporation * The Overstory by Richard Powers
For the Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/one-percent-for-the-planet-kate-williams/
In Better World Weekly 32, we're sharing lessons and tips we've learned while running a podcast, ethical coffee companies you can feel good about supporting, and an initiative run by a few young and innovative entrepreneurs working to change the way the world handles plastic waste.
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-32
For Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/repurpose-svanika-balasubramanian/
Today we're chatting with the CEO & Co-Founder of rePurpose, Svanika Balasubramanian. rePurpose is a global movement of conscious consumers and businesses committed to going Plastic Neutral. As the world's first Plastic Credit Platform, rePurpose makes climate action simple and effective for companies of all sizes by removing and recycling as much ocean-bound plastic waste as they produce while embedding sustainability into their product experience to reach and retain purposeful consumers.
What we cover in our chat:
- rePurpose's unique angle to combatting plastic waste
- How rePurpose went from an honors thesis to a full-blown company
- What's responsible for the company's quick and exceptional growth
- Svanika and her fellow co-founders' experience being young entrepreneurs in the space
- New Insights Svanika has learned about plastic waste on her journey
- The importance of an intentional company culture
Links from the Episode:
- Svanika on LinkedIn
- rePurpose on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter
- PlasticNeutral.Global
- 1% for the Planet
- B Corporation
- RISN
- MassChallenge Boston
- Sustainable Oceans Alliance Accelerator
- VitaCoco
- The Dip by Seth Godin
- The Most Good You Can Do by Peter Singer
For Full Show Notes & Any Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/repurpose-svanika-balasubramanian/
In this Better World Weekly, we're chatting about the basics of marketing a social enterprise, creating a circular economy, the 'real' Lord of the Flies, a certified B Corp treat to help you through quarantine, and more!
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-31
For Full Show Notes & Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/pela-case-jeremy-lang/
Today, we're talking with the Founder of sustainable phone case brand Pela, Jeremy Lang. Pela makes everyday products without everyday waste that educate and inspire a global community of people who are committed to making a positive impact on our planet. Their flagship product, the Pela phone case (the world's first 100% compostable phone case), has already garnered the support of over 100,000 customers worldwide.
In our chat, we discuss:
- Jeremy's sustainable business journey
- Pela's mission to eliminate one billion pounds of waste
- How Jeremy juggled a full-time job and the development of Pela for years
- The importance of professional partnerships
- More on Jeremy's and Pela's approach to sustainability
Links from the Episode:
- Jeremy on LinkedIn
- Pela on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- B-Corporation
- Climate Neutral
- Patagonia
- Tentree
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation
- Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
- The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
For Full Show Notes & Bonuses: https://growensemble.com/pela-case-jeremy-lang/
In our 5th audio edition of the Better World Weekly newsletter, we chat about lessons in entrepreneurship from Cotopaxi's CEO, world leaders, and a twice in a lifetime opportunity for CEO Anders Ankarlid and his company, A Good Company.
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-30
For the full show notes and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/a-good-company-anders-ankarlid/
Today, we're sitting down with Anders Ankarlid, CEO & Co-Founder of ethical e-commerce store A Good Company. The mission and message behind A Good Company is to move away from mindless consumption into a world where we all make more conscious decisions every day. From product to service, Anders and A Good Company strive to make ethical practices, sustainability, and complete transparency the norm and not the exception in the e-commerce space.
In our chat, we dive into:
- Anders' background and what led him to found A Good Company
- How the company found quick success
- The true environmental implications of free returns
- A Good Company's 3-pillared company structure: the company, A Good Community, and A Good Foundation
- Anders’ personal and professional priorities
- Reflections on both the past and future during COVID-19
Links from the Episode:
- Anders on Medium
- A Good Company on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
- A Good Foundation
- Medium
- Instapaper
- The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Jim Huling, Chris McChesney, and Sean Covey
- The Power by Naomi Alderman
For the full show notes and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/a-good-company-anders-ankarlid/
In the special 4th edition of the Better World Weekly Newsletter, we reflect on what the past month has meant to Grow Ensemble and what we hope to accomplish moving forward.
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-29
For the full show notes and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/preserve-eric-hudson/
In this episode, we're chatting with the CEO of Preserve, Eric Hudson. Preserve is a certified B-Corporation on a mission "to help reduce the harm caused by the industrial age by demonstrating that products can be both fabulous to use and lighter on the earth."
What we cover in our chat:
- The evolution of Preserve as a company
- Insights into the impact single-use plastics have on the oceans
- Unconventional methods of reducing plastic’s environmental impact
- Innovative Initiatives contributing to the cause (such as POPI)
- The keys to Preserve's long-term success and sustainability
- How Eric foresees the Preserves continued development
Links from the Episode:
- Eric on LinkedIn
- Preserve on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- POPI
- Gimme 5
- Harry’s
- Seventh Generation
- Method
- SC Johnson
- Stonyfield Farm
- Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute
- B-Corporation
- Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
For the full show notes and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/preserve-eric-hudson/
For the full write up and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/b-impact-assessment/
In this episode of the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Cory is joined by Grow Ensemble Co-Founder, Annie Bright.
They chat about the B Lab's B Impact Assessment, "The most credible tool a company can use to measure its impact on its workers, community, environment, and customers."
Tune in to this episode to catch a few things:
- What exactly is the B Impact Assessment?
- What companies could benefit from taking it?
- What sort of questions and criteria are covered in the roughly 2-hour assessment
For the full write up and any episode bonuses: https://growensemble.com/b-impact-assessment/
Enjoy the 3rd audio edition of Grow Ensemble's Better World Weeklynewsletter!
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-28
*When the waves are good, surf. When there\u2019s powder on the mountains, ski. <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nPatagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard didn\u2019t set out to be a businessperson. As he mentions in this very book, <\/span>Let My People Go Surfing<\/span><\/i>, he grew up wanting to be a fur trapper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Despite, or perhaps <\/span>because<\/span><\/i> of this fact, he\u2019s responsible for starting what would ultimately become one of the most successful and well-regarded outdoor clothing brands in existence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n**
In this book, <\/span>Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman<\/span><\/i>, he shares the history of his life, early days of Patagonia, and coming to terms with his \u201cprofession\u201d as a person in business.<\/span><\/p>","tablet":"
*When the waves are good, surf. When there\u2019s powder on the mountains, ski. <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nPatagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard didn\u2019t set out to be a businessperson. As he mentions in this very book, <\/span>Let My People Go Surfing<\/span><\/i>, he grew up wanting to be a fur trapper. <\/span>\n\nDespite, or perhaps <\/span>because<\/span><\/i> of this fact, he\u2019s responsible for starting what would ultimately become one of the most successful and well-regarded outdoor clothing brands in existence. <\/span>\n\nIn this book, <\/span>Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman<\/span><\/i>, he shares the history of his life, early days of Patagonia, and coming to terms with his \u201cprofession\u201d as a person in business.<\/span>"}},"slug":"et_pb_text"}" data-et-multi-view-load-tablet-hidden="true">*
*Full #ReadEnsemble Review & Write-Up:*
**https://growensemble.com/let-my-people-go-surfing/
Better World Weekly Newsletter:
https://growensemble.com/bww
When the waves are good, surf. When there’s powder on the mountains, ski.
Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard didn’t set out to be a businessperson. As he mentions in this very book, Let My People Go Surfing, he grew up wanting to be a fur trapper.
Despite, or perhaps because of this fact, he’s responsible for starting what would ultimately become one of the most successful and well-regarded outdoor clothing brands in existence.
In this book, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, he shares the history of his life, early days of Patagonia, and coming to terms with his “profession” as a person in business.* *#ReadEnsemble Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ **Read More on Amazon**
**Read More on Better World Books*********** *********With a summary, key quotes, and lessons learned, let\u2019s dive in to this *#ReadEnsemble<\/em> write-up. <\/span><\/p>","tablet":"","phone":"With a summary, key quotes, and lessons learned, let\u2019s dive into this *#ReadEnsemble<\/em> write-up. <\/span><\/p>\n"}},"slug":"et\_pb\_text"}" data-et-multi-view-load-tablet-hidden="true" data-et-multi-view-load-phone-hidden="true">*
With a summary, key quotes, and lessons learned, let’s dive in to this #ReadEnsemble write-up.****
The second audio edition of Grow Ensemble's Better World Weeklynewsletter!
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-27
See Full Show Notes here: https://grownesemble.com/honeybee-ennie-lim/
Today we deep dive with Social Entrepreneur Ennie Lim, Founder of the B Corp HoneyBee. Lim and the HoneyBee team work with hundreds of businesses and organizations across the U.S. to re-imagine financial health support in the workplace.
In our conversation, we discuss:
- Ennie’s own personal financial crisis and how that led to her founding HoneyBee
- HoneyBee’s growth since launch in 2016
- The method and meaning behind HoneyBee’s work
- HoneyBee’s company culture (authenticity and empathy being major components)
- Prioritizing financial wellness in the workplace, in this crisis and beyond
Links from the Episode:
- Ennie on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- HoneyBee on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- B-Corps
- What Do You Do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
- Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
- Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan
- How I Built This with Guy Raz
- Emily Weiss from Glossier Episode
- Dirty Money (Netflix)
- Tiger King (Netflix)
See Full Show Notes here: https://grownesemble.com/honeybee-ennie-lim/
The first audio edition of Grow Ensemble's Better World Weeklynewsletter!
To sign up for the newsletter, go here:
https://growensemble.com/bww/
For the archived email for this episode:
https://growensemble.com/bww-26
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/civic-dinners-jenn-graham/
Episode 71 of the podcast welcomes Founder & CEO of purpose-driven nonprofit Civic Dinners, Jenn Graham. The goal of Civic Dinners is to inspire global impact through community, connection, and conversation. They do this by helping people transform dinner tables into forums for positive social change. However, in the midst of the current crisis facing us all, in this new phase of "social-distancing," Graham shares her thoughts on navigating a new reality, and what her and Civic Dinners is doing to keep the conversation going despite it all.
In our talk with Graham, we dive into:
- The story and meaning behind Civic Dinners
- How She and the company are addressing and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic
- What's led to Civic Dinners' momentum and success, having over 1,500 dinners hosted, from New Zealand to Atlanta, and many cities in between since launch.
- Lessons and insights she has learned over the years on successfully fostering civic engagement and community
Links from the Episode:
- Jenn on Facebook, LinkedIn
- Civic Dinners on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- For the Love of Cities by Peter Kageyama
- The Emotional Infrastructure of Places by Peter Kageyama
- Jasmine Crowe of Goodr
- Techstars Social Impact Team
- Center for Civic Innovation Fellowship
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/civic-dinners-jenn-graham/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/yes-cacao-justin-polgar/
In today's episode, amidst the current global crisis, we have a very important and meaningful, deep-dive chat with Justin Frank Polgar. A dedicated craftsman, father, and the Founder of impact-driven botanical chocolate company, YES Cacao, Polgar has spent the past 10+ years on a journey of self-reflection--learning to allow his true self to guide him in life and business.
In our chat with Polgar, we cover:
- The mission and meaning behind YES Cacao
- His insights and personal reflections on the current crisis facing us all
- Why self-awareness is key to succeeding in the purpose-driven space
- The opportunities Justin is anchoring himself to during this tumultuous period and how YES Cacao is moving forward
- Staying determined and mindful in the midst of chaos
- His chocolate-making journey and what the craft means to him today
- The difference between making decisions out of "obligation from ego vs guidance from your higher self"
Links from the Episode:
- Justin on Facebook, Instagram
- Yes Cacao on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- The Right Use of Will by Ceanne DeRohan
- Messiah (2020, created by Michael Petroni, Netflix)
- The Philosopher’s Stone Grind
- Well Adjusted Clinic
- Dr. Randall’s Medicinal Mushrooms
- 11th Hour Coffee
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/yes-cacao-justin-polgar/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/keepcup-abigail-forsyth/
Episode 69 welcomes the Managing Director and Co-founder of KeepCup, Abigail Forsyth. KeepCup is known worldwide for its bright, bold, and instantly recognizable reusable cups that have diverted billions of disposable cups from the landfill. Abigail is extremely passionate about saving our environment having dedicated her time and effort to many ventures bringing awareness to the cause.
In our episode with Abigail, we chat about:
- Her commitment to inspiring others to reduce and reuse
- KeepCup's 10 years in business milestone
- The current climate crisis, especially how it has impacted Australia with the recent bushfires
- Her dream of rehabilitating land affected by the fires
- The evolving role of KeepCup as they enter their second decade of business
- How success has impacted both her and the company
Links from the Episode:
- Abigail on LinkedIn
- KeepCup on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
- “Australia Bushfires: A Signal to Act” by Abigail Forsyth
- “Our Hopes and Ambitions for the Next Decade” by Abigail Forsyth
- B-Labs (B-Corps)
- 1% for the Planet
- Abigail’s interview in Business Insider Australia
- The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
- War on Waste
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/keepcup-abigail-forsyth/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/active-impact-investments-mike-winterfield/
In this episode, we chat with Mike Winterfield, the Founder of Active Impact Investments—a venture capital firm that exclusively supports small to medium-sized social ventures in their early stages—helping them scale their impact and profit by providing funding and extensive capacity-building services to their portfolio companies.
In our chat with Winterfield, we dive into:
- His 20 years in the tech industry and his transition into Impact Investing
- The edge that allowed him to move into the financial space successfully
- His insights and outlook on what impact investing is and Active Impact Investments' unique approach to it
- The effect impact investing has on social and environmental wellbeing
- What Mike is most excited about moving forward in his line of work
- Resources for those interested in the impact investment space
Links from the Episode:
- Active Impact Investments on LinkedIn
- Mike on LinkedIn
- B-Corps
- SoCap
- Social Finance Forum
- B Labs Champions Retreat
- Whiplash by Jeff Howe Joi Ito
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
- Linchpin by Seth Godin
- Tip of the Spear by Ryan Hendrickson
- Drawdown by Paul Hawken
- Carbon Engineering
- Beyond Meat
- Tesla
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/active-impact-investments-mike-winterfield/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/ettitude-phoebe-yu-kat-dey/
In today's episode, we welcome the founders of Sustainable home goods brand, Ettitude, Phoebe Yu and Kat Dey. Born in 2014 from CEO Phoebe's desire for eco-friendly, high-quality bedding at an affordable price, Ettitude has revolutionized the home textiles space with their proprietary bamboo lyocell fabric that is as environmentally conscious as it is comfortable.
In our chat, we discuss:
- Phoebe and Kat's entrepreneurial journeys
- The inspiration for Ettitude
- Ettitude’s unique bedding products + the process behind them
- What Phoebe & Kat see as their respective roles in the company and their partnership
- Ettitude’s role in the global marketplace
- The culture Phoebe and Kat have cultivated around the company
- What they see for Ettitude’s growth and future
Links from the episode:
- Ettitude on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Phoebe on LinkedIn
- Kat on LinkedIn
- Tesla
- by HumanKind
- Beautycounter
- Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (short stories)
- The Biggest Little Farm (dir. John Chester, 2019)
- The Game Changers (dir. Louie Psyhoyos, 2019)
*See Full Show Notes here:* https://growensemble.com/ettitude-phoebe-yu-kat-dey/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/climate-neutral-austin-whitman/
In episode 66, we're chatting with Austin Whitman, founding CEO of Climate Neutral - an independent nonprofit organization that launched in March 2019. They are working to improve the world's knowledge of global warming and climate change and accelerate the transition to a low carbon world, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other fossil fuels by offering an easy system for companies to measure, offset, and reduce their carbon footprint and become "Carbon Neutral Certified."
In our episode, we discuss:
- Climate Neutral's system for helping companies reduce their carbon emissions
- Austin Whitman's journey and inspiration for founding Climate Neutral
- The Company's unexpected rapid growth since its launch in 2019 (they now work with over 120 brands helping them become Carbon Neutral Certified, we here at Grow Ensemble are one of those brands!)
- The challenges they have faced since launch
- What the future looks like for the Climate Neutral team
Links from the episode:
- Climate Neutral on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
- Austin on LinkedIn
- Peak Design
- Peter Dering on Grow Ensemble
- BioLite
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/climate-neutral-austin-whitman/
See Full Show Notes for this Episode here: https://growensemble.com/hemmings-house-greg-hemmings/
Today, we welcome Greg Hemmings, dedicated social entrepreneur, family man, courageous jack-of-all-trades, and CEO & co-founder of Hemmings House, a certified B-Corp film production company based in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada focusing on producing content that makes a difference.
In our episode, we chat about:
- Hemmings House's origin story and impact
- Gregs approach to jumping headfirst into new projects and experimentation
- How Greg has learned to overcome failure
- Greg’s parental journey
- Making positive social impact through B-Corps
- Greg’s goals for 2020
Links from the Episode:
- Greg on Instagram, LinkedIn
- Hemmings House Pictures on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube
- The Millennial Dream
- Greg’s 2019 Review
- The Boiling Point
- The Love Economy
- Filmpreneur
- Kaiya Hemmings’ CBC Report
- Not Business as Usual
- B-Corp
See Full Show Notes for this Episode here: https://growensemble.com/hemmings-house-greg-hemmings/
⭐️Show Notes: https://growensemble.com/climate-neutral-certified
⭐️Newsletter: https://growensemble.com/newsletter/
Show Description 👇
We’re with Greta! Global warming is the biggest existing threat to humankind. We are seeing the increasingly devastating effects of climate change each year.
Perhaps the most prominent discussion on this topic comes in the news as it describes governmental “efforts” to address the global climate crisis; the creation of the Paris Agreement; the United State’s departure from the Paris Agreement; etc. etc.
The governmental movements are incremental and they need to increase in speed and scope.
We have good news and bad news:
Bad news first: The grimy fossil fuel industry is not alone in contributing to the destructive levels of greenhouse gas emissions that are destroying our planet. We all play a role in the destruction.
Good news: Since we are all involved in the destruction, we can also take action against climate change at a meaningful level every day. We don’t have to wait for the government to require that we reduce our energy consumption!
In late 2019, we at Grow Ensemble made our first official commitment to protect, preserve, and advocate on behalf of our home planet—we enrolled in 1% for the Planet, where one percent of our revenues go to vetted environmental nonprofits.
Now, we are excited to share how we at Grow Ensemble are continuing to advance our climate action efforts…
We have committed to carbon neutrality!
Listen in to this episode for more on our most recent announcement.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/home-storytellers-francisco-alejandra-alcala/
Francisco & Alejandra Alcala, a powerful father-daughter duo, founded the United States-based nonprofit Home Storytellers in 2018. Their mission is to inspire people, philanthropic organizations, businesses, and governments to act in support of proven solutions that enable refugees’ self-reliance through visual storytelling. They deliver impact with very attractive ROI through communication campaigns powered by artful, character-driven short documentary films they produce with a team of seasoned filmmakers and photojournalists.
Based in Mexico, Francisco brings a unique combination of more than 30 years’ experience as a senior business executive in four continents for the Kellogg Company and a transformation into a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker. Alejandra is a visual designer based in Barcelona. Even though her background is in graphic design and she recently completed her post-grad in motion graphics and 3D design, her career has led her to explore different disciplines, such as animation, post-production, and art direction. Together, they have found that they can leverage their skills and passion to make a difference in the lives of many refugees through the art of storytelling.
They have since completed their first project, a short documentary called Hot Dogs on a Tricycle, which profiles a young man and his mother who were forced to flee El Salvador and successfully sought asylum status in Mexico. This film, produced in partnership with Asylum Access, helped that organization bring about social change by shedding light on the refugee crisis. They have recently released the trailer for their second project, Sawdust, profiling a Congolese refugee and his story of resettlement with his family in a refugee camp, a camp that is home to 42,000 refugees, in Malawi.
In this episode, Francisco and Alejandra discuss how they came up with the idea of using film production to showcase sustainable solutions for this refugee crisis, the lessons learned from their first film and partnership, and the goals they are hoping to achieve with their next film currently in development.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/social-enterprise-marketing/
Running a social enterprise, let alone marketing a social enterprise, is inherently more difficult.
You, as a social entrepreneur, have set your standards higher.
Achieving a profitable business model isn’t enough.
You’ve also determined to use your business as a force for good, to make an impact.
Whether you’ve determined to address chronic and systemic inequality, or the greatest environmental problems of our time, you’ve set your sights on a business model that’s about much more than doing business as usual.
And that’s why we want to see you succeed, get found online by potential customers and advocates of your brand, and accelerate the change you are looking to make in your industry and within the lives of your customers.
At Grow Ensemble, we’ve developed a Framework, a step-by-step marketing system built specifically for growing successful social enterprises and purpose-driven businesses.
This has come from my own work, where I took up digital marketing on the side in college, to starting my career in a digital marketing agency where I eventually became the CEO. At the time, I supervised nearly 100 client accounts, now, with Grow Ensemble, we produce a weekly podcast that has grown in listenership 289% year over year as well as a blog, that has helped increase our website traffic 267% over last year.
In efforts to accelerate this movement of social entrepreneurship and sustainable business, we help our purpose-driven clients to do the same—build their audiences online, compete and beat other traditional profit-centric businesses in their marketplace, all using our now tried and tested Grow Ensemble Framework.
And that is in part our goal for this post as well, to help you and your social enterprise get a game plan for marketing and messaging both your brand and mission online to build an audience of customers and advocates, to advance your impact even further (online and offline).
In this episode, we’ll start by outlining and introducing the principles that underlie this strategy, then we’ll dive deeper into each phase so you can get a sense for doing them yourself.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/fully-david-kahl/
David Kahl founded Ergo Depot in 2005, which was rebranded as Fully in 2016. Fully is an office furniture company committed to making workplaces healthier, happier, and more productive through its innovative, sustainable designs. Fully’s growth and commitment to running a better business has truly been profound and exceptional to learn about and watch. They were certified as a B Corp back in 2013 and are leaders in their local Portland chapter, helping develop a guide on how to create strong local B Corp associations around the world.
Fully, best known for the Jarvis chair, was recently acquired by a larger publicly traded furniture company back in Pennsylvania called Knoll. It was particularly fascinating to discuss with David this process and hear his reflections on it. He expresses both the positive and the negative sides of this acquisition process. It’s a great opportunity to learn about an exemplary model of a better business and a better businessperson.
Hearing about David’s transition from being a Wall Street CPA to a mindful CEO of a conscious business that is working to change the world one desk at a time is inspiring. Sometimes it takes a catastrophic event to give you some perspective, which is David’s situation, but it is awesome to witness how David has transformed as a human and as a businessperson since that event. David discusses that impetus for founding Fully, how David feels he has contributed to the success of Fully as a company, and the details of the acquisition process.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/shea-yeleen-rahama-wright/
Rahama Wright founded Shea Yeleen (a health and beauty company dedicated to empowering women in West Africa and the United States through the production, sale, and use of shea butter products) about 15 years ago in 2005. However, since then, Shea Yeleen has certainly taken a significantly different shape from how it originally was incepted. What originally started as a nonprofit has since transformed into a social enterprise business model. Rahama made this transition about six years ago. From that turning point, you can now find their shea butter in Whole Foods and MGM Resorts, and they have been featured in O, The Washington Post, MSNBC, and more.
It was excellent to hear Rahama share her truthful and insightful reflections on what has contributed to her staying power and her endurance in what can be an experience filled with such trials and tribulations, and what lessons she has extracted from this 15-year journey. We tend to glorify these kinds of experiences, but we found that Rahama was more honest than most in discussing both the positive and negative aspects of her journey with this company. And that’s what we loved so much about our conversation with her.
In this episode, we discuss Shea Yeleen’s beginnings as a nonprofit and how and why Rahama made the decision to convert the business into a social impact for-profit model instead; her honest reflections on this intense 15-year journey of entrepreneurship she’s been on; and some wise tips on both traveling and staying power as a business.
See Full Show Notes here: http://growensemble.com/spark-creations-lorie-corcuera/
Nine years ago, Lorie Corcuera co-founded SPARK Creations Inc. after going through a brutal divorce where she struggled to hold on to her identity and sense of self. After revitalizing herself, and defining her own individual values and purpose, she knew she wanted to help others do the same. While she and fellow co-founder Aileen De La Torre started with women’s retreats, their impact grew to a point where they brought their discovery process to organizations to help establish a more sustainable culture that leaves employees feeling more engaged -- not just in the workplace, but in the rest of their lives as well.
Lorie is insistent about the concept of life-long learning. She insists against using the word “expert” because while she always wants to share what she has learned, she knows that she is still learning and evolving. This type of open-minded thinking is a major component of why she is so effective at this line of work, and how SPARK has been able to reach almost a decade of impactful work.
What does an ideal company culture look like? What are the limiting factors that prevent organizations from getting to that point? How can leaders begin to reflect on their own personal values and belief system more deeply? These are the main questions that drive the thoughtful conversation within this episode.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/conscious-company-media-meghan-dunbar/
Meghan French Dunbar is the CEO and co-founder of Conscious Company Media - the nation’s leading media company dedicated to purpose-driven businesses and social enterprises. Conscious Company Media produces national events, such as the World-Changing Women’s Summit, the Conscious Company Leaders’ Forum (a forum dedicated to training leaders to use business as a force for good), and Their flagship product, Conscious Company Magazine, which was the first nationally distributed print publication in the U.S. to focus exclusively on sustainable and conscious business practices.
While Meghan’s role transitioned from doing everything in start-up land to editor-in-chief of the magazine to focusing on her responsibilities as CEO, she has learned a lot about herself and her passions and skills. Meghan has determined that her true zone of genius is in bringing people together to have thoughtful, deep conversations, providing people with the knowledge and tactics needed to change their lives. While she loves helping all kinds of people, her real focus is on allowing women to be more authentic, feminine leaders in the mission-driven business space, which is why she developed both the summit and her podcast.
But she could not have done this alone. Meghan emphasizes the power of community, and how important it is to surround yourself with people who share common experiences with you and believe in similar values. Four years ago, she founded a group of seven female CEOs who continue to meet and share their thoughts on being a woman in this space every other month. She also offers insights she has learned from both male and female business owners who have inspired her on this journey through the space.
In this episode, Meghan shares her journey with us, discussing her experience co-founding Conscious Company Media, lessons learned along the way, her thoughts on community, and her deep-rooted passion for connecting with, empowering, and supporting impact-driven women to help them make their mark by making a difference.
See the full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/social-entrepreneurs/
In early 2019, we here at Grow Ensemble launched The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, where each week we’ve been releasing an episode featuring both established and emerging leaders in the social impact and socially responsible business space.
We’ve covered a variety of topics with social entrepreneurs and innovators from a wide breadth of industries—tour companies, medtech, agencies, hospitality, and many many more.
In each conversation, I know our team here at Grow Ensemble has extracted a variety of lessons, and in this post (and two-part podcast) we want to share (a few) of those lessons with you.
Whether you want to hear from the CEOs of some of the world’s most successful socially responsible businesses, small business leaders punching way above their weight, or Executive Directors from nonprofit organizations influencing massive positive change, they are all in here. :)
Not to mention, businesses you’ll see (or hear) here, aren’t just running a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program to check the boxes on social good, these businesses and business people have integrated positive social change and impact into their core of how they do business and how they show up in the world.
What a pleasure it was to sit down with so many generous and successful social entrepreneurs and innovators thus far!
Excited for many more inspiring conversations and connections in the year to come.
See the full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/social-entrepreneurs/
See the full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/social-entrepreneurs/
In early 2019, we here at Grow Ensemble launched The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, where each week we’ve been releasing an episode featuring both established and emerging leaders in the social impact and socially responsible business space.
We’ve covered a variety of topics with social entrepreneurs and innovators from a wide breadth of industries—tour companies, medtech, agencies, hospitality, and many many more.
In each conversation, I know our team here at Grow Ensemble has extracted a variety of lessons, and in this post (and two-part podcast) we want to share (a few) of those lessons with you.
Whether you want to hear from the CEOs of some of the world’s most successful socially responsible businesses, small business leaders punching way above their weight, or Executive Directors from nonprofit organizations influencing massive positive change, they are all in here. :)
Not to mention, businesses you’ll see (or hear) here, aren’t just running a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program to check the boxes on social good, these businesses and business people have integrated positive social change and impact into their core of how they do business and how they show up in the world.
What a pleasure it was to sit down with so many generous and successful social entrepreneurs and innovators thus far!
Excited for many more inspiring conversations and connections in the year to come.
See the full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/social-entrepreneurs/
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/miles-4-migrants-andy-freedman/
Andy Freedman is the co-founder and managing director of Miles4Migrants, a nonprofit that uses donated airline miles to unite separated refugees and immigrant families. Since their inception in 2016, they’ve flown over 1,800 people, reunited 600+ families, and redeemed over 27 million frequent flyer miles, the equivalent of over $700,000 in cash value. In 2019 alone, they’ve flown nearly 400 individuals internationally, and with the worsening of the U.S. border crisis this last year, they’ve flown over 700 individuals within the United States. They certainly are not slowing the pace, as they’ve recently partnered with United Airlines for a Miles on a Mission campaign, where they were tasked with raising 5 million frequent flyer miles in 28 days. As of November 15, they hit that goal.
What’s incredibly valuable about Andy and Miles4Migrants’ story is the power of volunteerism and how it really takes a village. Andy and his two co-founders all currently volunteer their time to manage their organization. All work day jobs and are actively engaged husbands and fathers in addition to running this organization. While they finally were able to hire paid staff this year, they also relied on the power and passion of volunteers in a rapid period of growth after a tweet mentioning their work went viral last year. Learning more about how this organization was run without paid staff for several years is inspirational for those just starting up.
There are two fascinating topics of conversation in this episode. The first is the opportunity to learn and understand more about the needs of these refugees and asylum seekers. In efforts to put into perspective how impactful a small action like these airline miles can be in making such a significant life-changing impact. On the other side, following the trajectory of Miles4Migrants can help you visualize the process of identifying a problem in a population you’d like to serve and taking it from an idea to a full-blown execution.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/defy-ventures-andrew-glazier/
Andrew Glazier is the CEO and president of Defy Ventures, a national nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship employment and personal development for formerly and currently incarcerated men, women, and young adults. Founded in 2010, Defy has made significant process in this arena. They are now operating programs in seven states. They have enrolled over 5,000 entrepreneurs in training in prison and in their post-release program. They have engaged thousands of volunteers. As a result of this work, their one-year recidivism rate is 7.2% as compared to the national average of 30%, and they are proud to say that their employment rate for program graduates is at 82%.
This movement is all about mindset shift. Engaging the business community is key, as successful reentry into the workforce requires open-minded employers, who are willing to see a person’s value before dismissing them as a candidate because they have been in the system. Potential employers need to be willing to open their minds to this idea. However, it also requires a mindset shift on the formerly incarcerated person, as they need to recognize their own value and their own worth as a potential employee in order to communicate their value to others. That is the primary topic of this episode.
In addition, we chat about the issues of recidivism and mass incarceration, entrepreneurship as a rehabilitative tool, and the role the business community has in addressing these issues for this significantly sized and overlooked population.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/helpsy-alex-husted/
Alex Husted is the founder and CEO of Helpsy, a B Corp with a mission to reduce textile waste by helping people easily recycle their used clothing. They've saved over 25 million pounds of clothes and shoes from being thrown into a landfill in the last year alone.
Helpsy was founded in 2017 by Alex and his two childhood best friends who were interested in a career pivot. They weren’t sure what industry to develop a business in, but they did all have one key goal in mind: founding a business that addressed the triple bottom line, as they were interested in social entrepreneurism.
When an email came across Alex’s desk about a used clothing business that was on the market, that and two more acquisitions were made and Helpsy was born. Helpsy is already the #1 largest textile collection company in the Northeastern U.S., even now partnering with the city of Boston to determine how textile waste can be addressed in the city’s zero waste plan. Alex only hopes that Boston will lead the way, creating a domino effect that will cause other cities to look at how they can do the same thing.
In this episode, we discuss the need to move on from fast fashion and create a more sustainable future for the clothing and textile industry--and how Helpsy has been working to champion that cause. We also go in-depth on the values of joining the B-Corp community, and how rigorous but rewarding the process of certification can be. Alex and Helpsy have created the only certified B-Corporation currently in the used clothing business.
https://growensemble.com/the-workaround-amanda-munday/
Amanda Munday is the founder and CEO of The Workaround, a parent-friendly workspace with high-quality child care located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After attempting to balance hiring a marketing/sales team for the tech start-up she had previously been working at with raising two small children, she realized that there needed to be more support for parents in the workplace. Hence, in October 2018, The Workaround was born.
Along with founding The Workaround, Amanda is the author of Day Nine, a post-partum depression memoir published in April 2019. She has received international media coverage, including being named an inspirational speaker in Forbes Magazine, and she is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail, where she covers topics such as parenting, purpose-driven business, and the necessary evolution of the normal 9-5 workday. She is also the co-author of the Parenting Playbook, a free resource for tech founders to support parents in the workplace. Amanda currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for Creative Preschool of East Toronto, and in 2019 she joined the Board of Directors for the Danforth Mosaic Business Improvement Area (BIA).
In this episode, Amanda goes in-depth on what it was like to be both a parent and a full-time employee, which is what inspired her to found The Workaround; her challenges in launching The Workaround, and how those led her to rethink certain aspects of her business; the cultural stigma of parents in the professional world, and how society needs to rethink the professional structure to accommodate accordingly; and her vision for 2020 for both herself and The Workaround.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/phin-doug-lessing/
Doug Lessing is the founder of Phin, which is a social good platform that great companies can use to build meaningful relationships with people and causes through sponsored donations. Doug founded it in early 2019 after having spent 30 years with his incredible team building Firebrand Technologies, a software services company for book publishers.
Doug is a resident of Blue Point, New York. He is married to his wife, Grace; they have three Gen Z daughters and two young female Springer spaniels. He refers to himself as being outnumbered and influenced by strong women, which was a major inspiration for founding Phin in the first place.
In this episode, we discuss Doug’s transition to a social impact company after having grown up in Fire-Brand Technologies; Doug’s personal approach as an entrepreneur; how he attempts to create a space for creative thinking and deep focus; the work that is going to really move Phin forward; and how Phin was created to be a social impact organization from the get-go.
See Full Show Notes here: http://growensemble.com/becci-gould-kin-co/
Becci Gould is an associate director at Kin & Co, an award-winning culture and behavior change consultancy located in the UK. She is a culture strategy expert specializing in helping organizations to harness the purpose, culture, and values so that they can be more successful inside and out. Some companies she’s led successful purpose and culture change transformations with include O2, Open Reach, Danone, Heathrow Airport, and leading law firm BWB. In addition, she was instrumental in leading Kin & Co’s recent expansion into Canada.
Alongside her work at Kin & Co, Becci is a thought leader in the purpose and culture space. She sits on the advisory board of the IRM’s annual EU Business Change and Transformation conference, and she has released reports that are featured in the likes of Forbes and CityAm.
In this episode, we dive into how to create a thriving purpose-driven, employee-first company culture, including specific tactics and strategies such as the implementation of what Kin & Co calls Wednesday Offternoons.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/chris-chancey-amplio-recruiting/
After growing up in a family whose work all lied around the small business economy and the local community, and having the opportunity to partake in some corporate management and nonprofit roles, Chris Chancey realized that social entrepreneurship was the path he was destined to go down.
Chris is the founder and CEO of Amplio Recruiting, a staffing agency that places refugees into jobs across the U.S. Chris launched Amplio in 2014 after moving into a refugee community outside of Atlanta, Georgia. They have placed over 5,000 refugees from over 40 countries into full-time employment in over 300 companies in the manufacturing, construction, and hospitality industries. Amplio has generated nearly $12 million in revenue and operates in Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, and Raleigh-Durham.
As a social entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author of the book Refugee Workforce, in which he articulates the economic impact of refugees in America, Chris wholeheartedly believes in leveraging business to create greater stability for the 70 million displaced people around the globe.
In this episode, we discuss the origins of Amplio, the experience of Chris and his wife moving into that refugee community, how he got to know his neighbors better, and how that led to the idea that Amplio could be a solution for this community.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/giselle-waters-mad-fish-digital/
Giselle Waters is the associate director of content strategy and social impact at Mad Fish Digital, a purpose-driven digital marketing agency in Portland, Oregon. Giselle was responsible for Mad Fish becoming a certified B-Corp in 2018. She’s implemented a pro bono program that serves underserved communities with premium marketing services. She spoke at the B-Corp Champions Retreat on how to grow and market a purpose-driven business, which is how she and Cory connected.
Growing up in San Francisco where she was homeschooled, Giselle developed a strong interest in nonprofits, particularly after she spent her college years at UC Berkeley during the Occupy Wall Street movement. She thought she would end up working at a nonprofit theatre company, but she soon discovered a love for marketing, especially for purpose-driven businesses who were concerned about their social impact. When she was moving back to Portland from New York, she learned about Mad Fish. Developing a deep respect for their code of ethics, she opted to join their team, where her role has expanded in the past few years to include social impact as a key aspect of her position.
In today’s episode, we discuss how and why Giselle joined the Mad Fish Digital team, her initiative to champion the B-Corp certification, and a step-by-step process to craft a fantastic content strategy for a purpose-driven business.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/colleen-maggie-clines-anchal/
Colleen Clines traveled to India as part of her Design for Development class while getting her graduate degree in landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her only project prompt was to work with textiles with a community in need. While there, she connected with an NGO in the red-light district in Calcutta that provided working opportunities for women who were forced into the commercial sex trade and/or were survivors of domestic violence. This inspired her to want to contribute resources, which led to the founding of Anchal Project.
In 2011, Colleen brought her sister, Maggie into the business, as she had just graduated with a degree in architecture. Now, Colleen is CEO, while Maggie is Vice President and Creative Director.
Over the course of nine years, Anchal has grown into a nonprofit that utilizes design to foster change and make an incredible social impact. Anchal now employs over 150 artisans in both India and the Clines’ hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to design and manufacture original handmade bedding, decor, scarves, bags, and more.
In this episode, the Clines discuss the founding of Anchal, how Colleen tricked Maggie into joining the business, how the nonprofit has evolved, and the further impact they are looking to have as they continue to grow.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/julia-chung-admin-slayer/
Julia Chung is the rockstar CEO of both Spring Financial Planning and Admin Slayer. Spring Financial Planning is a financial planning firm that offers advice-only financial planning services to Canadians. Admin Slayer is a virtual assistant company that provides administrative, bookkeeping, and marketing support to entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their businesses.
Neither of these businesses would be possible without the incredible women Julia met along the way. Because she was able to form close relationships with them, both professionally and personally, she was able to rely on them to grow these businesses and herself. Julia has also allowed herself to slowly step out of the day-to-day operations of both businesses and focus more on her strengths, which are business development and strategy, and the management of her teams.
This development of these types of interwoven relationships is just one of the key topics that Julia touches on in this episode. In addition, this episode discusses how Julia manages acting as CEO of two companies simultaneously, Julia’s passion for delegation, an exercise to help you improve your delegation skills, and how the blending of work and life rather than the balancing of it can actually contribute to your overall success.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/madeleine-shaw-nestworks/
Madeleine Shaw is the co-founder of Lunapads, a multiple-award-winning East Vancouver-based social enterprise that is dedicated to creating sustainable solutions for positive periods. With the help of their customers, Lunapads is responsible for diverting over 20 million disposable pads and tampons from North American landfills every year. But Madeleine is not involved in the day-to-day of Lunapads at this point.
We dive deeper into Madeleine’s newest venture instead, NestWorks, a co-working space that lends itself to integrating a work/life balance between families. As this idea has been on her mind for a long time, she goes in-depth about her own experience with kids in the workplace, how work and life can be integrated, and advice she would have had for her younger self.
She is also working on a book that she considers a “manifesto of encouragement,” targeting potential social entrepreneurs who have either a small or big idea for how to impact the world through business but aren’t sure how to move forward. Through her own experience, she tells stories that she hopes will inspire more people to pursue entrepreneurialism and make their individual impacts to help make the world a better place.
In this episode, Madeleine shares many valuable insights from her journey in the purpose-driven space. We learn more about the motivation behind NestWorks and her own experiences as an entrepreneur trying to find balance between work and family, as well as tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and what she's doing to help inspire those seeking to make a difference.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/tara-nicholle-nelson-soultour/
Before Tara-Nicholle truly recognized her soul’s calling, she spent much of her life in shadow careers, getting a Masters in psychology, working as a lawyer, and acting as the Chief Marketer for MyFitnessPal before they went through a major acquisition in 2015. After she left that position, she realized that while she was good at marketing, what she was really excellent at was coaching people on how to find their own true calling and how to master their life in all areas.
Answering that calling is what led her to found SoulTour. With SoulTour, Tara spends most of her time helping high-achieving women and purpose-driven businesses. She guides them through daily rituals, courses, and challenges in SoulTour’s School of Spiritual Strategy to help them eliminate inner roadblocks up-level their reality on all fronts. She’s also authored an excellent book, The Transformational Consumer.
She is really excited about the future of what SoulTour has to offer. Having come to an understanding that her company’s people are looking to conquer the hard things that come their way, their future is about rebranding their content to address this shift in thinking.
In this episode, Tara discusses the hero’s journey and how it applies to her daily work, her own personal transformation and how she references it daily, the specifics of her coaching methods, and the process of authoring her latest book.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/frederick-hutson-pigeonly/
Frederick was born an entrepreneur. He launched and sold his first business at the age of 19 while on active duty in the Air Force. After an honorable discharge in 2005, he went on to build and sell his second business. Although his entrepreneurial spirit often led him to new opportunities, his ambition took him down the wrong path: At the age of 23, he was sent to federal prison for the illegal distribution of marijuana. It was this experience that motivated him to build a solution that would positively impact the lives of people who were being overlooked: his fellow inmates and their families.
This is where the idea of Pigeonly was born. Frederick launched Pigeonly in 2012 to make it easy for his subscribers to connect with their incarcerated loved ones in just a few simple clicks. One of their most successful and notable products is a low-cost phone solution for notoriously expensive prison phone calls, and another is the ability to easily send any printed letters, postcards, articles, etc. to inmates through the mail.
With Fredrick’s leadership, Pigeonly has become one of the largest independent inmate service providers in the country. Subscribers in over 88 countries and growing, Pigeonly reduces recidivism by keeping families connected while helping them save millions in these predatory fees every single year.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/yasmine-mustafa-roar-for-good/
Yasmine Mustafa drew directly from personal experience when founding ROAR for Good -- an innovative, mission-driven company developing tech to keep women safe in some of the most vulnerable circumstances.
The first piece of inspiration was her emotional experience as a refugee who survived the Gulf War and the insecurity of being an undocumented immigrant.
“I was constantly in a walking-on-eggshells environment,” she says. “I wasn’t sure if someone was going to find out [my status], and I was wondering if I was being exploited at work. I always had this fear in the back of my mind because of being discovered.”
The second piece of inspiration came when she did become an American citizen and took her passport backpacking across South America. Yasmine was shocked to encounter so many fellow travelers who had experienced sexual harassment and sexual assault. Right after she returned home, a friend and neighbor was raped. At that moment, she knew she had to do something.
Drawing from her extensive entrepreneurial experience (graduating with a major in entrepreneurship, launching 123LinkIt for bloggers and the Philadelphia chapter of nonprofit Girl Develop It) Yasmine founded ROAR for Good in 2014. The company started as a business-to-consumer platform equipping women with stylish wearables designed to emit a loud alarm in the case of an aggressor, and to message emergency contacts with location information immediately (there’s also a silent alarm option).
It has since pivoted to prioritize business-to-business duties, outfitting hotels with wearables for their staff. ROAR for Good's product not only meets a new law requiring hotels to protect their staffers, but it also meets a staggering need for safety in an industry when more than half of employees have experienced sexual harassment.
“It’s just horrible what they go through,” Mustafa says. “They open the door never knowing what’s on the other side. Imagine the anguish and mental anxiety.”
In this episode, we dive deep into Yasmine's experience as a refugee, as a woman, and as an inspiring social entrepreneur striving to make a difference. We learn more about the origin story of ROAR for Good and what ultimately led them to switch from a business-to-consumer to a business-to-business model, as well insight into entering the technological world with no real "tech" experience, and how she was able to build a successful, revolutionary tech product anyway.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/b-corp-champions-retreat/
In this episode of the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, host Cory Ames shares his experience of attending his second annual gathering of the B Corporation community. Whether you are familiar with this event or not, Cory briefly intros the event itself—giving an overview of the setting, the size, and the format of the conference (in case you are curious to attend). Later, he discusses his personal takeaways from the experience and his early immersion into the Certified B Corporation Community.
This event was hosted in Los Angeles, CA at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, Sept. 16 - 19, 2019
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/claire-booth-hanson-lok-lux-insights/
Claire Booth and Hanson Lok met working at a corporate company, but both realized the corporate culture was not for them. 10 years ago, when Claire founded Lux Insights, she knew that the first person to bring on board to work alongside her should be Hanson, and the rest is history. Lux went from a team of two working in Claire’s living room to a team of 13 working in two offices in Vancouver and Seattle.
In this episode, Claire and Hanson discuss how Lux has grown over the course of a decade, its core values that drive their evolution, the strength of their company culture, and Claire’s new book, Achiever Fever Cure.
See Full Show Notes here: http://growensemble.com/the-forcing-function-chris-sparks/
While Chris Sparks was unsure of what exactly he wanted to do, he knew that he wanted to become an entrepreneur in order to make an impact on the world. He didn’t feel he had the skills to do so, but realized that if he taught these skills to others, he would pick them up himself. Three years ago, Chris founded The Forcing Function, a company whose mission is to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs by offering them resources to develop and grow themselves.
In this episode, Chris focuses on the personal improvement feedback loop. He discusses his discovery of these major paradigm shifts, his process to make daily progress, some strategies to assist anyone who feels stuck, and the most important lesson he has learned from studying entrepreneurship.
See Full Show Notes Here: https://growensemble.com/klean-kanteen-jim-osgood
Having built his own consulting business in Colorado, Jim Osgood received a phone call in late 2010 from a friend who offered him the opportunity to become CEO & President of a company called Klean Kanteen, a family-run business who created reusable stainless steel water bottles as part of its mission to rid the world of single-use plastic. After months of interviews, he uprooted his family to California, knowing that the company’s values aligned deeply with his personal values.
On this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Jim discusses his transition to CEO of Klean Kanteen, the specifics of their strategic planning process, tips for growing and scaling your business, and his future aspirations for the company.
See Full Show Notes Here: https://growensemble.com/janji-david-spandorfer
While competing as a runner in college, Dave Spandorfer took a class on social entrepreneurship that gave him insight into that space. He thus developed an interest in creating a company that melded a socially conscious mission with a world-class product.
Shortly after that class, Janji was born. Their mission is to develop the world’s best travel running gear. They develop lines based around a specific country, working with local artists to inspire their designs. Once the line is complete, 5% of the proceeds from that line go to funding clean water sources in that country.
On this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Dave discusses how Janji’s design and manufacturing process became more immersive, the strategies and tactics that contributed to their recent rapid growth, and what he is looking forward to in Janji’s future. He also touches on some resources that were important to his personal and business development, as well as Janji’s travel sidearm, Janji Travel, that allows customers to get a taste of Janji’s immersion process.
See Full Show Notes Here: https://growensemble.com/meliora-kate-jakubas
While obtaining her Masters in Environmental Engineering, Kate Jakubas developed a keen curiosity for how the toxic chemicals in our cleaning products and detergents affected our natural environments and personal health.
Kate then set off on seeing if she could create a laundry detergent herself, without harmful and toxic chemicals, that would actually get her clothes clean. After coming home from playing a flag football game, she put her detergent to the test using it on a load of freshly dirtied clothes and came to find...her detergent worked! All the clean without the harm...
Continuing to use her environmental engineering background to develop additional household cleaning products, she founded Meliora Cleaning Products, a company focused on eliminating the impact that household chemicals have on the environment.
On this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, Kate dives into the backstory behind the founding of Meliora, how she really honed in on her company’s approach to the triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—and how they use metrics and certifications to hold themselves accountable to their own expectations they set for themselves. She also discusses her experience teaching this approach to others.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/sustainable-ux-james-christie
SustainableUX Founder James Christie works as director of user experience at Mad*Pow, which partners with the likes of inspiring companies like Cigna Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to make their interaction with clients more inclusive and accessible.
But as he started tapping more and more into his internal drive for purpose, he knew he sought more of it than what he was getting there. Yes, he enjoyed teaming up with fantastic nonprofit partners, but wasn’t as into collaborating with other clients driven by the bottom line. He wanted to make more of a positive impact.
And he was increasingly scared by how quickly climate change was intensifying.
“In software, I can help, but it’s not going to do you much good if the world’s on fire,” he says. “I began feeling increasingly irrelevant against that backdrop.” He began looking more deeply into the effects of his personal and professional carbon footprint, and how to measure digital impacts.
“What became more urgent was climate change,” he adds. “It’s become increasingly scary for me, as it has for many.” That led him to create, in a very hands-on and grassroots way, the SustainableUX Conference, to dig deep into how our ubiquitous digital habits affect energy use, pollution and more. He is also an active presenter (and writer) on topics including responsive design; in addition to SustainableUX, he has shared his research at South by Southwest (SxSW), IA Summit, UXPA International and UX Scotland.
He and his small volunteer team hoped the first SustainableUX would attract 40 visitors. It drew 400. Year two, 1,300 attended online, with hundreds watching presentations after the fact, absorbing insight into everything from green web-hosting to biomimicry in design.
See Full Show Notes Here: https://growensemble.com/better-practices-01
On this episode of The Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Podcast, we will be introducing a completely new segment, titled, “Better Practices.” With these segments we hope to share habits, thoughts, resources, and whatever else to help you, our community of social entrepreneurs to make your work more impactful.
Don’t forget to let us know what you think, and, if you have any Better Practices you’d like to share with the Grow Ensemble community — we may give you a shout out on future shows! Just send an email to cory {at} growensemble.com.
In our first go with this new episode format, Cory dives into a few different topics, spanning time tracking, to achieving personal and professional goals, as well as getting better sleep. Tune into this episode to hear all five of the Better Episodes Cory shares.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/michèlesoregaroli
Michèle Soregaroli is the founder and CEO of Transformation Catalyst. Her company coaches and consults with entrepreneurs and business founders who want their business to embody deeper value, more meaning, and sustained impact. She coaches her clients to identify and emphasize the principles and values that are embedded in the core of their companies.
In this episode, Michèle starts by explaining what a differentiator is and why it’s important in a business strategy. She gives us some tips on how to find the language to describe your differentiator and what that process looks like. With all of this and much more, have a listen to learn what steps you can take to build a character of integrity in your company.
See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/amylooper.
Amy Looper is co-founder and COO of One Seventeen Media, an AI tech ed. company that is making waves (or maybe calming them…) in the mental health space. Amy, along with her business partner Bath Carls, has built a life-changing product: Rethink It- an app that helps kids process difficult emotions in real time.
Rethink It has been wildly successful using technology to support kids from pre-k through 12th grade. The app has literally saved lives as it has preventing a school shooting, and has saved schools hundreds of thousands of dollars as it boosts attendance for kids who are more likely to miss school due to personal challenges. And their 19 years of data-collecting continues to propel them into more and more progress.
See full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/mark-cuddigan-ellas-kitchen/
Mark Cuddigan is the CEO of the number one baby food company in the UK, Ella's Kitchen. After reading an article He had a full professional life before joining the Ella’s Kitchen team, but the company transformed his life as it opened up his perception of how business can best run for itself, its employees, and the world all at the same time.
Ella’s Kitchen is not only the number one baby food company in the UK (and growing). The company has become a leader in social business and an advocate in B Corp certification. As the head of sustainability for the Hain Celestial Group, Mark’s practices around learning, leading, and working for society’s benefit extend far beyond his role as CEO.
In our episode, Mark talks about the epiphany that brought him into the world of socially-conscious business and explains why he strongly encourages others to join the community. He shares perspective on the unlimited potential (and responsibility) business has to create solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems and the importance of creating a supportive work environment for employees to set the foundation to expand your mission.
We at Grow Ensemble are focused on getting more eyes on better businesses and better business people. How do we do that? In addition to walking clients through the Grow Ensemble Framework and providing courses like our accelerator, we like to share tips with people looking to introduce themselves to the SEO space and get them started improving their search engine performance on their own.
Search engine optimization is the practice of making your company’s website the most easily discoverable for Google. Why is this important? Well, of course we want our company to come up as the top search result when someone searches our company name—if they’re looking for us explicitly, we don’t want to miss that opportunity for them to engage with us. But we also want our company to come up as a top search result when someone searches keywords relevant to our services and products, or the issues our company solves. If our company may be able to provide what a searcher is looking for, we want to make it to the top of that list.
In this episode I go through the three principles of SEO that we at Grow Ensemble focus on with our clients. These are the most basic principles of SEO that you can start looking into for your own website to get an idea of how your company is doing in terms of search engine performance, and even start to take some next steps for improving your current Google results. I am more than happy to answer questions and give a deeper explanation to anything I talk about in this episode: just shoot me an email at cory@growensemble.com
For full show notes go to: https://growensemble.com/social-enterprise-seo/
After traveling and studying yoga and meditation in the East, Bernie Geiss returned to work in North Vancouver. Transitioning back to Western life, he entered the insurance field, where he eventually founded his own financial services company. But Bernie found himself yearning for a company that truly reflected his values and principles, which led to his company’s transition to becoming an impact-driven business.
Cove Continuity Advisors focuses on honesty and accountability, interacting with clients with complete transparency. They are now B-Corp certified, members of 1% for the Planet, and Bernie has become increasingly involved in First Nation reconcili-action projects and even nationwide legislation on the issue.
See the full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/cove-continuity-advisors-bernie-geiss/
Sarah Woolsey is the founder of the Impact Guild—a co-working, event, and community organizing space based in San Antonio, Texas. Sarah’s journey started in the nonprofit world, which piqued her interested in whether there may be more a financially sustainable way to make the impact she wanted. Following that curiosity, Sarah was given the Impact Guild building for a whopping $1/year rent where she has built a strong community of impact-driven companies and social entrepreneurs.
Sarah and the Impact Guild host budding social enterprises in their space where idea sharing and community problem-solving is at the center of the space’s culture. They are deeply involved in the community hosting local events, highlighting social businesses and business people, and investing in social entrepreneurs around the world.
This episode is full to the brim of tips on the process of getting an idea out of your head and into the world. Sarah shares her experience getting the Impact Guild building (for $1/year!), her advice on balancing mission and business, and how to utilize your community as you build your business.
Peter Dering—founder and owner of Peak Design—quit his job in construction in pursuit of professional autonomy and, by scratching his own itch so to speak, he was able to create just that. Peak Design creates cutting edge bag and camera equipment to simplify taking your passion into your adventure. As the creator of some of the highest grossing Kickstarter campaigns ever, Peak Design remains a customer-focused company, with a steadfast mission of sustainability.
Peter and Peak Design are committed to offsetting their environmental impact and pushing for other companies to do the same. Peak Design donates 1% of their revenue to environmental nonprofits and guarantees their products for life—keeping them in the hands of enthusiasts and out of landfills. With the prospect of selling over $100 million in products this year, Peak Design continues to create amazing products for the adventurers among us, all while leaving the world a better, cleaner place than they found it.
In this episode, Peter shares his experience with the immediate boom Peak Design experienced after it’s first Kickstarter launch. He also provides a very tangible roadmap for how companies can take steps to structure their company to make sure they are doing their part in environmental conservation.
A few takeaways from our conversation:
- Have confidence in your abilities and take chances to create the life you want.
- Use the modern tools that exist to help young or beginning entrepreneurs.
- “There are a lot of small players out there who are willing to help companies out with a lot of the tricky aspects of design.”
- All companies making a profit could be (and should be) giving a reasonable effort to offset their environmental impact.
For full show notes, go to growensemble.com/peak-design-peter-dering.
After graduating from college, facing a less than promising job market, Hannah Davis—founder and president of BANGS Shoes—ditched her plans to go to law school and went to teach in China. During her travels, she discovered a pair of shoes that would completely change her trajectory.
Two years later she shipped her first pair of BANGS Shoes, beginning her journey through personal and professional development in the business world. BANGS Shoes directs 20% of their net profits to helping entrepreneurs around the world get their businesses started. To date, they have invested in an impressive 2,000 entrepreneurs across 70 countries.
In our episode, Hannah and I talk about her process accepting the business world as an avenue for change, and her experience learning how to use it in a way that is impactful for the world and for herself. Hannah shares the challenges she faced getting BANGS off the ground. She provides very honest advice for social entrepreneurs about the benefits of finding and keeping balance in your life.
A few takeaways from our conversation:
- Hidden in seemingly bleak circumstances, there can still be a great opportunity to flourish.
- Finding balance between your work and your personal and mental health is good, not only for you but also for your business.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel! Find and use the resources that are available to you. Google it.
- Most problems can be solved: try not to react through emotion. Instead, stay calm, look at your options, and problem solve.
In this episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast, Grow Ensemble Founder, Cory Ames, makes a few announcements regarding Grow Ensemble's changing role in the social business community.
As well, he offers up an AWESOME bonus for listeners of the podcast.
Tune in to make sure you don't miss it!
Manish Gupta is the co-founder and CEO of Matr Boomie, a fair trade company that empowers artisans in rural India to create and sell handcrafted products to international retailers.
With a background in engineering, Manish relied on the design expertise of his wife and business partner, Ruchi, to develop their mission of creating sustainable employment for marginalized communities. And Matr Boomie has done just that. Matr Boomie bridges the gap between the purchasing desires of western consumers and the handmade products of over 20,000 talented artisans in rural India. Their company continues to grow and serve as a leader in the world of fair trade and ethical production.
In this episode, Manish provides invaluable insight into the positive impact responsible trading can have on struggling communities and the benefits of working closely with the community Matr Boomie supports. He also shares some simple tips for how consumers can join the movement by making more conscious purchases, and how consumers can influence businesses to engage in the fair trade market themselves.
A few takeaways from our conversation:
- The ability of responsible, fair trade to empower struggling communities who have not found opportunity to use their art to sustain their families and their community
- Ethically sourced and produced products, like Matr Boomie’s, can be high quality while as well competitively priced
- How Matr Boomie is able to identify the challenges of their artisan partners and develop the relationships necessary to provide meaningful support
- What actions consumers can take to make sure the products they buy are truly fair trade products
Full show notes: https://growensemble.com/matr-boomie-manish-gupta/
Thomas Querton is the co-founder and CEO of atlasGO, a company that allows sweaty change makers to use fitness to raise funds and awareness for causes they care about. With over 1 million kilometers and $600,000 raised since its launch in 2017, it’s fair to say atlasGO is off to a running start, amiright?
Thomas himself is social entrepreneur from Belgium who relocated to San Francisco three and a half years ago to embark on the atlasGO adventure. AltasGO’s rapid progress has given Thomas valuable insight into finding a healthy balance in his personality and within the company.
In our episode, Thomas talks about the balance between pushing further for continued growth, while also taking a moment to enjoy achievements. He shares his experience developing his own measurement for success despite external pressures and we discussed the benefits of mentorships.
A few takeaways from our conversation:
- The importance of defining your own measurements for success and how that plays into the continued development of atlasGO
- How altasGO cultivates a healthy and fun work environment and the strengths of working on a team
- How to seek out mentors, what steps to take in creating those relationships, and how mentorships have helped Thomas in his growth with atlasGO
Full show notes: https://growensemble.com/atlasgo-thomas-querton/
Tim Frick is the CEO of Mightybytes, a certified B Corp digital agency based in Chicago. Mightybytes connects conscious companies and nonprofits to the digital solutions they need to create greater impact through online success. In addition to running his 22 year-old agency, he is an avid writer and a leader in the B Corporation community with a passion for sustainability.
Through blog posts, his own books, and conversations like ours, Tim shares his successes and challenges in building an enduring company in the ever-changing digital industry all while maintaining focus on their mission of sustainability and making an impact in the community.
In this episode, he provides insight into how he has been able to balance his roles as a writer and a CEO, the process of developing Mightybytes’ mission-driven identity, and the potential to achieve sustainability goals within the existing framework of your company.
A few takeaways from our conversation:
- How to manage a schedule with writing, being the CEO of a substantial business, while supporting the growth of the sustainable business community.
- How Tim’s desire for greater impact led him from working as a freelancer to growing Mightybytes to where it is today.
- How impact-motivated companies can use the B Corp certification process and B Impact Assessment as a roadmap for their company’s development and vision.
- The benefits of approaching sustainability and company problem-solving by engaging in whole-systems thinking.
Full show notes: https://growensemble.com/mighty-bytes-tim-frick/
Emily Lonigro is the President & Founder of LimeRed, a purpose-driven design firm and Certified B Corporation based in Chicago. Bridging the gap between design and impact, LimeRed helps meaningful brands and businesses showcase their unique message through expertly crafted digital strategies.
Since 2004, Emily and her team have been advocating for social good through their design work with like-minded clients, and the past 15 years have proved to be an interesting (and hugely inspiring) journey.
In this episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast, she dives deep into this journey — discussing how armed with only a computer, one client, and no formal business training — she was able to build a thriving business succeeding in its authentic mission to do good.
A few favorite takeaways from our conversation:
- Emily’s relationship with risk and the part it played in LimeRed’s success
- Navigating the mental and emotional stress of being committed to positive change
- What it means to design for impact and the key practices LimeRed employs to help their clients
- The “comparison trap” and the effects it has when building a business
Paul Bain is both the CEO and “Chief Tea Captain” at JusTea, where a group Canadians have partnered directly with Kenyan tea farmers to provide ethical, sustainable (and delicious!) fair trade tea.
On this Grow Ensemble Podcast, Paul shares the origin story of JusTea, telling how a 2012 trip to Africa with his dad inspired this business idea to both provide this high-quality, antioxidant-rich tea to an audience in North America, while at the same time creating sustainable employment for Kenyan tea farmers.
Since starting Justea in 2012, these folks have racked up the accolades and impact:
- They created Kenya’s first-ever, small-scale farmer-owned artisanal tea factory
- They’ve created over 200 jobs for youth and women in rural Kenya
- AND their Purple Tea recently won 2018 “Product of the Year” BCFPA Awards.
Paul and the JusTea team have truly found a balance between providing an excellent product while making a considerable impact.
Check out our conversation to find out how they’ve achieved this balance as well as:
- How JusTea came to be, and what significant impact they are making on the ground in local communities in Kenya where the tea is produced.
- How Paul and his JusTea team communicate while being spread amongst Kenya and Canada
- How Paul is evolving himself personally as a business owner and social entrepreneur given his non-business background.
Check out full show notes here: https://growensemble.com/justea-paul-bain
In this episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast, we speak with Ryan Honeyman from the LIFT Economy, an impact consulting firm based in San Francisco.
Ryan has been a staunch advocate and spokesperson for the B Corporation movement, and on April 23rd, he and his Co-Author, Dr. Tiffany Jana, are releasing the 2nd Edition of The B Corporation Handbook: How to Use Business as a Force for Good.
We dive into the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (topics highly relevant to the release of the new edition of the book), and how Ryan and his LIFT Economy team have begun to put the most marginalized as the center focus of their work with the hopes of making the greatest systemic change.
Ryan shares insights to the writing process, his hopes and intentions for releasing the 2nd edition of the handbook, and as well what he considers to be the next evolution of the social business and social impact business culture.
Ryan has either spoken with or worked with hundreds of B Corporations and impact focused businesses through his research for the two editions of the book, his consulting work on behalf of the LIFT Economy, as well as his founding (with his LIFT Economy partners) of the Force for Good Fund.
We talk about what he believes separates some of the most successful social businesses and social business leaders, as well as what the “greatest good” can be as you approach making an impact with your own business.
Often, the differences between big corporations and small businesses can feel as stark as black and white. On today’s episode, we learn that there is, in fact, a grey area. Founder and CEO of Brightly, an online ethical marketplace, Laura Wittig shares how her experience at not just one, but several large corporations, helped lay the foundation for her social good startup and the community that surrounds it.
Another exciting entrepreneur from the ethical fashion space, Laura’s path to founding her own social good company is marked by jobs at well-known corporations like Adobe, Amazon, and Google. Somewhere along the way, she realized that tech can be for good—even in the retail industry.
In this episode, Laura shares her story with us, taking us through her years as a Product Manager for major corporations, and then to her experience in building Brightly and its rich community of conscious consumers. Her story is packed with good advice and inspiring ideas, and we can’t wait to share it with you!
- Learn all about the Brightly mission, strategies, and community.
- Dive into the concepts of ownership and mindfulness—two values Laura found during her time at major corporations.
- Get inspired by easily implementable business practices currently used at Brightly.
- Hear about Brightly’s community building strategies and upcoming projects.
How do you transform a product into a catalyst for lasting, positive change? One entrepreneur in the ethical and fair trade fashion space believes that creating a community around your brand just might be the key. From model to marketing, her business works to create a deep connection between digital customers and artisan groups all around the globe. More importantly? It’s working.
Value, loyalty, growth–they’re achievements that every business strives for, but how does one actually attain them? In today’s podcast, Liza Moiseeva, Co-founder and CMO of GlobeIn, a fair trade subscription box and ethical online marketplace, shares what she believes might just be the key to them all.
A talented entrepreneur with a history in the nonprofit and social good sector, Liza attributes much of her success to community building. From running meetups with like-minded people to interactive Facebook Lives, a strong community has always been at the heart of Liza’s achievements.
Today, we get to hear about Liza’s invigorating perspective on community and growth through the context of GlobeIn, an exciting player in the ethical fashion world. They’ve managed to navigate a competitive industry while still promoting sustainable consumption, build a network of passionate and engaged customers and create powerful, lasting change for artisan groups all around in the world. What’s not to love? Tune in to hear all about it.
Today were sitting down with the CEO and Co-founder of Wize Monkey, Max Rivest, who talks to us about their company that produces coffee leaf tea. The road to success wasn’t always easy, but Max’s tireless passion and persistence have resulted in a successful business that not only crafts an entirely unique product, but one that also contributes to the sustainability of the coffee industry.
Max shares about his educational background, how his mother’s wisdom has been a guiding light along his path of important decision-making and about the job that gave way to a quarter-life crisis. We get into more detail about the time he spent in France, the valuable lessons he learned there and how a project in his MBA studies started him off on the exploration into coffee leaf tea.
Having a marketing and branding background, we discuss the various approaches Max has taken in selling their product, including the realization that they needed a stronger emphasis on the quality and taste of their tea rather than focusing predominantly on the social impact. There is so much to be inspired by, not to mention Max’s totally relatable experiences.
So be sure to join us today for another awesome episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast!
Some might call him a daredevil, but most will be inspired by his unimaginable displays of physical power. We are joined today by Logan Christopher, best known for performing insane physical feats, including pulling a firetruck with his ponytail! But this guy is far more than just a strongman.
Logan is the founder of Lost Empire Herbs, a company that sells all kinds of herbs from around the world to aid health and performance. His company is also part of the 1% For The Planet alliance and a number of other charities. Logan has written multiple books, the latest of which, Powered by Nature, we will be talking more about today.
In this episode, we get into the eclectic experiences that have shaped his interest in health and wellbeing and the philosophies that he has adopted as a result. Logan shares about the impact that his high school experiences have had on his personal growth and about the biography that inspired him to become a strongman.
Switching over to his role as a business owner, we talk about the early years starting off the business as a small team of siblings, how they grew into the dynamic business they are today and the importance of maintaining the quality standard of their products.
Join us today for Logan’s fascinating stories and to find out how much your health and overall wellbeing can benefit from returning to a more natural lifestyle!
Today on the show we are sitting down with Tim Lara, owner of Hawaiian Paddle Sports, to talk about his experience in building not just one, but five eco-tour companies on the Island of Maui.
Not only does Tim share his founder story, but he dives into his values, explaining how keeping them at the heart of everything — from who he hires to the structure of his tours — has shaped his success as a certified B-Corporation.
Tim is involved in so many different things, and it is really interesting to hear how he manages it all, on top of being a successful entrepreneur!
We cover a lot of big topics like environmental and social responsibility, as well as some fun things like the specific strategies that Tim has employed to progress his mission. It’s definitely an inspiring story.
So be sure to join in to our incredible conversation with Tim Lara!
Welcome back to the Grow Ensemble Podcast! Joining us today is Paul Hargreaves of Cotswold Fayre.
Paul is both the CEO of this specialty food wholesale business in the UK as well as a B Corporation ambassador. He specializes in providing purpose-driven startups with the advice and tools they need to build businesses that create good in the world.
Today Paul shares some of his experience and theories around building a successful, impact-driven business, what to expect from his upcoming book, Forces for Good, and what he’s found to be the key to a successful social enterprise.
There is tons of great information in this episode, including titbits and stories about Paul’s career. Be sure to join us for an insightful and inspiring conversation!
Welcome back to the podcast! Today on the show we welcome Lindsey McCoy, who is the CEO and Co-Founder of Plaine Products, a certified B corporation and member of the 1% For The Planet Alliance.
Plaine Products was founded in 2017 and is based in Terrace Park, Ohio. Lindsey runs the company alongside her sister, Alison, and they are on a mission to reduce waste and help stop the spread of single-use plastic. All of their products are vegan, non-GMO, cruelty-free, biodegradable, color-safe and free of parabens, sulfates, and toxins.
In this episode, Lindsey talks about the origin story of Plaine Products and how they are now on track to do over $1 million in sales after only being in business for two years. Lindsay also shares some of her best tips to begin taking action in reducing your plastic use and cultivating a more sustainable lifestyle and household.
Finally, we learn more about how Plaine Products has diverted over 50,000 plastic bottles from landfills already, and how they are planning to double that number in 2019. Plus, stay tuned to for an incredible offer of 20% off your first order at Plaine Products!
So, join us for an incredible conversation!
Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast! This time around we are doing something a little different.
After ten episodes we thought we would provide a little bit on context and reasons behind the show, just so everyone knows why we created the podcast, what it is about and have a little introduction to Cory and The Grow Ensemble.
The agency was founded in late 2018 and in this episode Cory shares a bit about the inspiration for what we do and what we are aiming to accomplish.
We appreciate all the listeners tuning in and cannot wait to grow and share more great content with you in the future!
See Full Show Notes Here: https://growensemble.com/loacom-david-fortson/
LOACOM Founder David Fortson developed his core values as a high school and college student, and they remain the same today: leadership, love for Mother Nature, environmental advocacy, and making his own way.
After chairing UC Santa Barbara’s environmental student group and leading all sorts of nonprofit and political campaigns, he traveled the world and decided to approach positive change from a different angle than activism, namely business. While he worked for now-famous Sonos on messaging for its sound technology, in his free time he launched the nonprofit that would become LOACOM.
After more than a decade in business, LOACOM has become an exemplar of what it means to do business better, as David and his Santa Barbara-based team have become members of the 1% for the Planet Alliance and the B Corporation community. They believe—and demonstrate— being about the greater good is good for business.
In this episode, he discusses how he takes innovative approaches to assemble his team, cultivating its welcoming vibe, clicking with inspiring clients and empowering them to honor their diverse missions to improve the planet.
Spoiler alert: Core values are a crucial part of all of it.
Today on the show we welcome Chris Hutchinson, who is the founder and CEO of the Trebuchet Group, a certified B Corporation from Fort Collins, Colorado. Chris and his company help leaders gain clarity and confidence and service teams that are looking for more from their jobs than just a paycheck.
The focus of our conversation today is primarily leadership and Chris’ philosophy around this idea. We discuss the work he has done in himself and with others, and the effect that great leadership can have on a company.
We discuss Chris’ history, personal and professional journey, and the book he published in 2015 titled Ripple. We also get into how to determine your focus and which projects to choose to further your professional education and reputation.
This episode is sure to help you down the path to be becoming a better leader, so for all this and more, be sure to tune in!
Welcome back to another episode everybody! Today on the show we are joined by the co-founder of Grain4Grain, Yoni Medhin. Grain4Grain is a new company based in San Antonio that is finding a way to deliver healthy, affordable pancakes to a growing customer base while at the same time reusing products from the beer brewing process.
They also have a commitment to donating a pound of flour for every pound they sell, which is where they get their name. Together with his business partner Matt Mechtly, Yoni has used farmer’s markets as a great way to get out and meet new customers and become visible locally.
Yoni tells us all about the inspiration behind the company and what it stands for, the day to day of running Grain4Grain and how they envision going forward as the business grows. He also gets into forming partnerships with breweries, attracting clients, and the actual recipe of the mix!
So for this great conversation be sure to join us, here at the Grow Ensemble Podcast!
Welcome back to the Grow Ensemble Podcast! Our guest on today’s episode is Russ Stoddard, the founder of Oliver Russell, a socially geared business that builds brands for purpose-driven companies. Russ started Oliver Russell in 1991 and has been at the helm ever since.
In our conversation, we cover the beginnings of the company, the founding ideas and ethics and how Russ and the team have managed to stay afloat for so many years in a rapidly evolving world. Russ gives us great insight into the inner workings of a remarkable initiative and an exemplary business making a difference in the world today.
We also talk about the social impact that has come to characterize much of Oliver Russell’s history and how Russ manages this aspect of a business that needs to remain profitable. You really get the sense that this is Russ’ true calling and hearing him detail his journey and beliefs is a great motivation!
So join us for this massively inspiring chat and get it all!
Welcome back to the Grow Ensemble Podcast. In today’s episode, we speak with Allison Gibson, part owner and Operational Director of Paintbox Catering and Bistro, a B Corporation located in Toronto.
It was an awesome conversation with Allison and we cover a number of things in this episode, a few of those being Allison’s and Paintbox’s thoughts on culture and leadership and how that’s led to the success of not just Paintbox but also their staff.
We talk about the social enterprise certification, specifically the B Corporation Certification and how that was an early difference maker for Paintbox in companies and early customers choosing to work with them over others. Finally, Allison shares how she manages herself given some of the crazy commitments, times and otherwise that are oftentimes required of working in the catering and service industry as Allison does.
So stay tuned for this incredible episode!
Welcome to a new episode of the Grow Ensemble Podcast. In today’s episode, we speak with Austin Buchan, the CEO of College Forward, a non-profit based in Austin, Texas.
In our chat, we cover a lot, but a few things specifically that you will get a lot of value from. First and foremost, we talk about College Forward’s evolution and how they have and are innovating in response to customer, in their case, student feedback.
We also talk about the challenges for both Austin and the organization in his transition to taking over as CEO for a founder. Finally, we talk about the inherent contradiction that College Forward is facing in attempting to solve the social problem and as well, creating a long-term sustainable business.
So don’t miss out and be sure to listen in to today’s episode!
Welcome back to the Grow Ensemble Podcast. In today’s episode we speak with Jessica Kellner, one of the four cofounders of BARK Media, a B corporation located in Lawrence, Kansas. The BARK Media folks help impact driven brands craft their content strategies to help share their unique mission. Jessica shares a list of valuable insights in today’s episode.
At the highest level, she’s going to talk about marketing not just being a means of turning some specific metrics that you want to see, but rather an opportunity, almost an obligation to build a relationship with a community around your brand and company.
She talks about fundamentals that you’re going to need to hit to execute on an effective communication and marketing plan and as well, she’s going to talk about the importance of collaborating with other folks in your space and industry, and also in the social enterprise sphere. So stay tuned for an incredible conversation and episode with Jessica Kellner of BARK Media.
In today’s episode of The Grow Ensemble Podcast, we are joined by Henry Marshall from Canniloq, a company specializing in creating high end stash containers for the safe consumption of cannabis. As a relatively new venture, Canniloq is starting to make inroads into the burgeoning market as marijuana is steadily becoming more widely legal in the US.
We hear from Henry about the early stages of establishing the company and product and his priorities in this regard, as well as his initial experiences of the industry at large. Henry talks to us about networking and partnerships and some of the marketing strategies they have already implemented to get their name out there. From there the conversation turns to the more socially impactful side of the company, something that seems integral to the way they do business and envision the future. The Unloq the Truth Campaign that Canniloq is spearheading is dedicated to raising awareness, support, and resources for those who have suffered at the hands of antiquated and skewed drugs laws. This means job creation, educational events and more for ex-convicts and a plethora of initiatives to introduce the new found capital of the legal cannabis industry back towards those who suffered before it was regulated in this way.
For a fascinating business and ethical discussion be sure to listen in!
Today we are chatting with Adrianne Chandra-Huff from Bodhi Surf + Yoga, a socially and environmentally focused holiday lodge in Costa Rica. Adrianne gives us a great look at the company, how they started and the lessons that are taking forward into the future.
She shares some of her insights and beliefs around the role of such a business and its relationship to its surroundings and community. We get in the guests’ experience, communication, the facilities, and sustainable growth for this type of business. For Adrianne, the experience is really focused on learning about yoga and surfing, Costa Rica and getting a glimpse into another way of life. The three key takeaways from our discussion are how to leverage the unique opportunity available to the tourist and hospitality industry in extending a guest’s experience, how to exceed their expectations and the best ways to give back and make an impact with a business. For a great chat about a wonderful company and its initiatives, be sure to tune in!
Full show notes at: https://growensemble.com/bodhi-surf-yoga-adrianne-chandra-huff
Casey Ames is the founder of Harkla, a company that creates products to support those living with special needs. The product lines include weighted blankets, sensory swings and lap pads. Casey founded Harkla in 2015 after he saw a gap in knowledge and quality for special needs resources. So he set out to build a company dedicated to helping families and children through exceptional, high-quality products with a goal of relaxing, relieving, or creating joy in a family's special needs journey. Inside this episode, Casey shares a ton of valuable insights in our conversation, including Harkla’s unique work styles and team, being completely remote in a results-only focused organization. He also talks about the strategies and tactics that have led to surpassing $1 million in revenue in under three years times and of course, he shares more on Harkla’s impact and what they are doing to give back beyond just the products that they are creating to support the special needs community that is supporting them in return. For a fascinating conversation, stay tuned to today’s episode!
Full show notes at https://growensemble.com/harkla-casey-ames/