I Can Do Something About This: Recent Episodes
Christal Earle and Rafik Riad
I Can Do Something About This is a podcast for people whose ideas are making the world better. Each week, Christal Earle and Rafik Riad talk with change makers from around the world that have realized that they can, in fact, create the kind of world they want to live in. Have you ever looked at something in your world that you knew needed to change - and then realized that perhaps you are the one who can start to change it? Then this is the place for you. Get inspired and learn from leaders and entrepreneurs from all over the world about what's possible when you raise your hand and say, "I Can Do Something About This".
When we go through difficulties and traumatic experiences, it can be easy to get stuck in simply surviving. But life is about the possibilities of who we can become.
That's why we love this inspiring conversation with Connie Jakab!
Connie Jakab is the Co-Founder of Certified Flourishing Coach, a company creating an evidence-based framework to change the game in mental health and to help people flourish.
She is reimagining education for students falling through the cracks and teacher mental health through the Flourishing Educator Program that she, a psychologist, and executive coach have created.
She is also the author of four books and a sought after speaker for her vulnerability and humour.
Find Connie at www.conniejakab.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Have you ever seen a powerful documentary and asked yourself, "Ok, now what?"
We have.
And that's why we wanted to talk to Sholeh Alemi Fabbri and learn how change happens as a result of a great story, film, even a podcast :)
Sholeh Alemi Fabbri has been producing award-winning content for two decades and has received three Canadian Screen Award nominations.
In 2021, Sholeh launched Good Measure Productions, focusing her talents at the intersection of production and impact. She is currently developing several narrative projects including Eclipse with writer/director duo Atefeh Khademolreza and Samuel Kiehoon Lee and One Last Pheasant with writer Delphine Roussel.
Sholeh shifted into films as the Production Manager for the award-winning Documentary “Last of the Right Whales” by Director/Producer Nadine Pequeneza. The film was the #1 Canadian film opening weekend and recently had its broadcast premiere on CBC’s The Nature of Things. Good Measure Productions has also led impact work and audience development on a number of productions including Last of the Right Whales, Scrap (Stacey Tenenbaum), Peace By Chocolate (Jonathan Keijser), Stupid For You (Jude Klassen), and the upcoming Everest Dark (Jereme Watt).
Prior to starting her own production company, Sholeh was the Executive Producer of ET Canada for over 7 years as well as several other broadcast programs. In 2022, she was selected to be part of the Banff Spark Accelerator program for Women in Media at the Banff World Media Festival. Sholeh sits on two boards including Story Money Impact a charity that connects media makers to changemakers and Artists for Peace and Justice, a non-profit organization that supports access to education for impoverished youth in Haiti.
She is a member of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the DOC Institute and WIFT-T.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How Sholeh's eyes were opened about the power of impact producing
- How a film can help create change and real life experiences
- What it means to create content that impacts people and generates change
- How we can amplify messages and stories that matter
- The projects that Sholeh has been able to support and what the outcomes have been so far
- The film, Peace By Chocolate
- How she built her business, one question at a time
Find Sholeh at Good Measure Productions: https://goodmeasureproductions.com/
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Have you wondered what it looks like to decolonize business - even your own? Then you will appreciate this conversation with our guest, Vanessa Lesperance.
Vanessa is a mixed heritage Métis woman who is originally from Treaty 1 territory (Winnipeg, MB). She is a facilitator, instructor at the Justice Institute (co-teaching on power and privilege), and a speaker.
After earning her master's degree in leadership from Royal Roads University with a focus on decolonizing business through workplace spirituality, she became interested in the potential benefits of labyrinths in the workplace.
Vanessa recently started Vancity Labyrinth where she combines the medicine of the labyrinth with the power of sharing circles to offer her clients an ancient modality to create deep connections to self and others in the circle.
Some of her previous clients include Google, HILTI North America, TELUS and various school districts and universities.
In addition, Vanessa works with Indigenous women entrepreneurs from across the country with the not-for-profit, The Indigenous LIFT Collective.
Find Vanessa at https://www.vancitylabyrinth.com/about
Learn about the Life Collective here: http://liftcollective.ca/
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
The way forward is through. There is no other path that will generate change in us and allow us to grow through it all.
Meryl Cook knows this well - and has some great insights into how unlocking your creativity through art is invaluable...
Colour, texture, joy and self-compassion say everything about Meryl Cook’s beautifully-crafted hooked rugs, her books about her journey from homeopath to artist and journal writer, and her journal writing practice.
What began as a way of holding space for herself following breast cancer treatment has led Meryl Cook to a career as an artist and writer and to working with teams and individuals to reconnect with their joy and sense of purpose.
Meryl is best known for her Wild Woman series of hooked mats, her use of the eight Chakra colours in her artwork and her recent class Wild Women at Sea on a schooner off the coast of Maine. She describes herself and her ideal client as ‘Renegade’.
Since 2016 (and online since 2020) Meryl has spoken and facilitated creativity and wellness workshops throughout North America. Recent corporate clients include Adsum for Women & Children, Dalhousie University, EY, Landing Strong, and Get Hooked at Sea.
Meryl is a Journal Council member of the International Association for Journal Writing. She is the author of two books, One Loop at a Time: A Story of Rughooking, Healing and Creativity (2016) and One Loop at a Time, The Creativity Workbook (2017). Her chapter “Journaling and the Reinvention of the Self One Loop at a Time” appears in Transformational Journaling for Coaches, Therapists and Clients by Lynda Monk and Eric Maisel (June 2021). Her chapter “Journaling and Design Inspiration” is in The Great Book of Journaling by Lynda Monk and Eric Maisel (June 2022).
Meryl is a juried member of Craft Nova Scotia and a member of ART 1274 Hollis Gallery. Her artwork can be found in galleries as well as in private collections.
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Have you ever wondered how plastic is impacting our health? Our community? Even our social equity and accessibility?
For our guest today, starting something simply out of curiosity has opened up a whole new world of awareness. Her insights are really fresh and she has a LOT of great ideas of how to take action where you are, with what you have.
Lindura is an actress, model & co-founder of PlasticFree Toronto (@plasticfreeto), an educational hub about climate change through the lens of social justice & environmental racism.
Lin & Toni have hosted workshops, webinars, and sustainable tours in Toronto, all with the hopes of normalizing discussions about climate, centering the BIPOC experience, and making complex issues more approachable. They show that dealing with hard topics is not all doom and gloom, and reclaiming joy & freedom is key to creating positive change.
Lindura is also passionate about sustainable fashion, as it has huge potential for inspiring worldwide change. She enjoys highlighting brands that are doing the work to honour their workers, redesign our ideas of “waste”, and carefully consider the sourcing of their raw materials.
Lindura sits on the board of the Canadian Green Alliance, and the steering committee of ReusableTO. She has been featured in Toronto Life Magazine & Byrdie, and has written articles for Impact Magazine, Spring Magazine, Simpli Zero, Bare Market, and Good Space.
When she’s not working, you’ll most likely find her in the trees, or at home having a dance party for no reason.
Find Them on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeto
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. Https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Sometimes great ideas are able to get traction through building off of what is already there. Gavin's story of building Lucky Iron Fish is evidence of how that can look.
Dr. Gavin Armstrong is a committed and award winning impact entrepreneur. He is currently serving as the Founder and CEO of Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise® (LIFe), a social enterprise dedicated to alleviating iron deficiency around the world using simple health innovations. Through this role he was a Fulbright scholar at Auburn University and was awarded the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social Entrepreneur category in 2016. In 2017 he received the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award and was named 'Social Entrepreneur of the Year' by EY Canada. In 2018 he successfully pitched his company Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise on CBC's Dragons Den where he was able to secure a deal with two dragons. In 2019 he was named Small Business Leader of the Year by the Canadian Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC).
**A long-term advocate and activist against hunger and malnutrition, Gavin is the first Canadian to receive the William J. Clinton Award for international work against hunger and is the inaugural recipient of the international Michaelle Jean Emergency Hunger Relief Award. He has also helped the Lucky Iron Fish win multiple Cannes Lion awards including the Grand Prix and several Clio Design Awards including the Grand Prix in healthcare.
In this episode, we talk about:**
- Gavin's journey to discovering the concept of what would become Lucky Iron Fish
- How to listen and learn before making assumptions around what people need and want
- The challenges and wins that he and the team have experienced over the journey of bringing Lucky Iron Fish to the people that need it the most
Lucky Iron Fish: https://luckyironfish.com
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
When you open your heart to what is right in front of you, great things can happen. Sitti Soap is proof that lasting impact is possible, even when the odds are stacked against you.
Noora Sharrab is the cofounder of Sitti Soap, a social enterprise business committed to the self-reliance of refugee and displaced communities. In particular, they are focused on working with Palestinian refugees in Jordan, co-creating their products and brand.
In this episode we discuss:
- how a search for ways to help resulted in seeing an obvious business opportunity.
- what it means for people who have lived in refugee camps for so many years and the extended families that they are seeking to support
- how Noora and her co-founder, Jacqueline, started to build unconventional paths to profitability for Sitti Soap
- the difference between building a true partnership and simply helping
Sitti Soap: https://sittisoap.com/
Brave Soles: https://bravesoles.life
Buy Good. Feel Good: https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Domestic Violence is so much more prevalent than we may care to admit. Although the path out of it is difficult and precarious, knowing there are people like Hannah Kay reminds you that you are not alone.
Hannah Kay Herdlinger has been living her passion throughout her life -- connecting
with and helping others. Her career has taken her across many industries starting with serving in the United States Senate for Senator Mark Pryor.
She was then recruited to join Facebook as a founding member of the Washington DC political office. Sheryl Sandberg connected with Hannah Kay during the period of time of the writing and publication of the book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead”, which provided international exposure to the non-profit, Lean In – created to empower all women to achieve their ambitions. Hannah Kay became Head of Operations for that entire organization.
She then connected with Arianna Huffington and took time to help her
launch Thrive Global.
Hannah Kay was born with the purpose of living her life connecting with others. Her passion is to help others build confidence in themselves, which fueled the creation of Thread Talk – a company with the purpose of supporting
domestic violence survivors. Hannah Kay lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Hannah Kay's journey out of domestic violence
- What she learned through talking with women's shelters about what they need
- How we can follow the thread of what's working and create something work sharing
- Remembering why the world needs what we bring is vital to our success
- How to never underestimate the power of simply starting wherever you are and filling in the details along the way.
https://threadtalk.com/
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
When life does not go as planned we can be tempted to give up or give in. However, if you are Luke Anderson, you make the decision, over and over again, to decide the kind of future you want for yourself and those who face the same hurdles.
Get ready to leave this episode different then when you first showed up.
**After sustaining a spinal cord injury in 2002, Luke Anderson was all of a sudden introduced to a world that's not well suited for a wheelchair user. His frustration encountering access barriers led him to co-found the StopGap Foundation, which raises awareness about the importance of a barrier free and inclusive society.
StopGap works with different community leaders across Canada delivering education and resources that inspire societal perspective shifts, the removal of barriers in the built environment, and policy change. Their iconic brightly painted ramps can be found in more than 60 communities all over Canada, helping ensure our society's collective understanding about the importance of accessibility and inclusion continues to advance and grow.**
Luke is a licensed professional engineer, a nature lover, an avid meditator, an aspiring harmonica virtuoso, and is the recipient of a Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal.
https://stopgap.ca
In this episode, Christal, Rafik and Luke discuss:
- How Luke's accident and subsequent paralysis altered the course of his life
- How continually encountering physical barriers to access eventually opened his eyes- and mind - to possibilities
- Luke's daily choices that help him stay focused
- What we mean when we talk about "accessibility"
- A fabulous explanation of what access intimacy really means
- Why StopGap matters and how to get involved
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Big visions that have the potential to dramatically make a difference in the lives of many people need the right partnerships to make it happen. Funto Boroffice knows all about this.
Funto Boroffice is the founder/CEO of award winning Chanja Datti Ltd, (http://www.chanjadatti.com) a waste collection & recycling social enterprise. Chanja Datti is dedicated to transforming the waste in their environment into value and creating jobs.
She is also the founder of Quidroo, a fintech startup providing access to working capital for Nigeria SMEs, especially women-owned SMEs.
Prior to starting Chanja Datti, she spent 3 years as a Senior Aide to Nigeria’s Honorable Minister of Power, covering Investments, Finance & Donor Relations. Before that, she spent 17 years gaining global financial, strategy and project improvement experience - 12 of those years she was a GE executive in the U.S, working in the largest GE Capital Americas business.
She graduated with a Masters’ degree in Financial Management from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in New York, and has a Bachelors’
degree in Accounting and Finance from Northeastern University in Boston where she graduated cum laude (with honors).
Funto is a founding member and Vice President of the Recycling Association of Nigeria (RAN), founder of Initiative for the Advancement of Waste Management in Africa (aka W.A.S.T.E Africa), a Fellow of the Waste Management Society of Nigeria, and an alumni of the several prestigious local and international programs and
sits on several boards.
In 2021, Funto was recognized by Global Citizen.org as one of 11 Change-making
Africans that the world needs to know about. She was also recognized by CNBC Rising Woman Africa series as one of 31 African women leaders in 2021. As well, she is a winner of the 2021 WE Empower UN SDG Challenge.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Funto's insights gleaned through living between the U.S. and Nigeria.
- Her moment of inspiration about what would later become Chanja Datti
- How she learned to find ways to engage the people who needed their help the most
- Surprising projects and social change initiatives that Chanja Datti is spearheading
- How she stays motivated
- The 4 P's that Chanja Datti is built on
- The unlimited potential of relationship building
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Do you wonder how some people seem to be able to pivot and find new possibilities in places others may never be able to see? Angela has a lot to teach us about how her journey has created those possibilities, time and again.
Angela DeMontigny is an internationally-renowned, Native Canadian (Cree/Metis) designer, born with a “passion for fashion” that began when she was a young teen. A prominent leader of the Indigenous luxury movement in fashion design for over 2 decades, Angela is famous for her luxury brand of bespoke and ready-to-wear, all leather clothing collections, bold accessories and luxury, leather handbags.
Her pieces have been sold in galleries and specialty boutiques (including her own), throughout North America and Europe, outfitting award-winning singers, performers, and other high-profile personalities from across Canada and the U.S.
A consummate trailblazer, Angela has also produced some of Canada's most prestigious showcases and galas for Indigenous designers such as, FashioNation (Toronto’s L'Oreal Fashion Week), Fire & Fashion (Planet IndigenUs), From Culture to Couture, and Aboriginal Fashion Week (2010 Winter Olympics), and a featured designer in an all Canadian designer show 'Canada 150 Fashion Tribute' during Toronto Women's Fashion Week in October 2017.
She designed and operated her beautiful, flagship brick & mortar store, DeMontigny
Boutique & Gallery for 6 years in the heart of Hamilton's exciting art and fashion district, offering custom fitting and design services to her clientele. Angela now operates her boutique fully online through her website including her Indigenous wellness brand: LODGE Soy Candles. https://lodgesoycandles.com/
In this episode, we talk about:
- Angela's journey to fashion that took her around the world
- The indigenous values and generational wisdom that is an integral part of all that she creates in the world
- What it's like to pivot in business when you need to respond quickly to a situation beyond your control
- The power that art has to help teach and speak to us on many different levels of who we are, both personally and as a culture
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
What do you do when you wish there was a camp for kids that you have incredible empathy for? Well, if you are Harry and Chris, even though it seems like a crazy idea, you simply start to create one.
**Rainbow Camp® is a welcoming, inclusive, safe space for 2SLGBTQ+ youth ages12-18 to experience summer camp.
Founded in 2012 and run by members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community (including many former campers), Rainbow® is committed to developing a camp community honouring creativity, individual choice, and social justice, while having fun.
Situated in the pristine wilderness just East of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, Rainbow Camp® has welcomed over 700 campers from across North America since 2012. Over 70 percent of campers are subsidized based on financial need, to ensure that everyone can attend. Campers call it a life-changing experience, and in some cases, a life-saving experience.
Husbands Harry Stewart and Chris Southin, were recently selected as recipients of the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal for co-founding Rainbow Camp® and for their work in support of 2SLGBTQ+ youth. The camp is organized by the Welcome Friend Association, a registered charity that provides outreach to and support for people affected by gender and sexual issues.
Welcome Friend Association’s Rainbow Camp® was the recipient of a $100,000 donation recently from celebrity Colin Mochrie, who had chosen it as his charity of choice when he won Laugh Out Loud’s Last One Laughing Canada in early 2022. They are online at: www.WelcomeFriend.ca**
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Subscribe and read show notes at https://Icandosomethingaboutthis.com
Facing the unknown can be overwhelming. However, it can also be the door into the next chapter of something great.
This week, Christal turns the microphone back on Rafik and gets him talking about the behind the scenes of his journey that brought him across three continents, many countries, and numerous lessons about how to start with what you know.
In this episode, Christal and Rafik talk about:
- Rafik's experience growing up in Cairo and how his eyes and heart were opened to injustice at an early age
- How responding to the next opportunity that shows up has the potential to alter your course in ways that we can't even see in the moment
- Rafik's journey to Canada, launching his own social enterprise, and the early days of Buy Good. Feel Good.
- How he has never been scared to ask for help when he needed insight or feedback and what that has created along the way.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. htttps://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Sometimes it can take an exceptional amount of courage to be honest about what is, and isn't, working in your business. That's why our conversation with Liz and Paul is so refreshing!
Hands up if you love honey! Liz and Paul are the founders of African Bronze Honey and they have figured out how REAL forest harvested honey can help make the world more fair for us and the planet.
https://www.africanbronzehoney.com/
About Liz Connell:
Liz is Co-founder and President of the African Bronze Honey Company. In her 30+ years of experience, Liz has worked in the public and private sectors and as an entrepreneur and artist. During her 8 years in Zimbabwe she started a computer training school offering training and certifications to more than 1000 students.
Liz is also an artist who, for the moment, only dreams about painting.
About Paul Whitney:
Paul is Co-founder and Managing Director of the African Bronze Honey Company. Also known as the King Bee, Paul is a serial entrepreneur and creator of many unusual businesses including, the Comedy Commission, a comedy troupe that entertained conferences in western Canada for a decade; ContinuFix, a patented technology for photofixer recycling that operated successfully in Zimbabwe for almost 20 years; Oceanarium, a seafood supply company in a landlocked country; and The Storm Alliance that provided protection against damage from hurricanes throughout the Caribbean and the northeastern States.
Paul is also an actor and writer. He has been in more than 30 movies, wrote a regular humour column for the Edmonton Sun, has written 4 screenplays and is working on a documentary film about his father, big band leader, Moxie Whitney.
Paul and Liz started the African Bronze Honey Company in 2012 as the perfect opportunity to use their skills, talents and passion for making the world a better place by doing business.
The African Bronze Honey Company / 10,000 Beekeepers was created to market organic, fair trade forest honey on behalf of tens of thousands of forest beekeepers in southern Africa. The beekeepers earn a sustainable income from the honey harvest while they protect forests that last year alone, captured more than 200,000 tonnes of carbon. That’s almost 2 kgs per jar of honey.
As a Canadian B Corporation and member of the Fair Trade Federation, the company has become recognized across North America as an innovative social enterprise offering high quality, ethical, food products for retail, wholesale and bulk markets., while adding value at source and helping to protect vast at risk forest areas that help fight climate change.
In this episode we talk about :
- Liz and Paul's journey to discovering what didn't work, despite their best intentions
- The surprising elements of our business models that we can grow in unlikely ways
- Why naturally harvested honey is good for all of us - especially the bees and the earth
- What they have learned on this 10 year journey that is still evolving.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the Founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. https:buygoodfeelgood.com
Did you know that a simple choice at the grocery store about the humble banana is actually a powerful force for change?
Meet Jennie Coleman, Owner and President of Equifruit.
Jennie Coleman has been owner/president of Equifruit since 2013. She combines a lengthy career in business with longstanding social justice roots, set during two years’ volunteer work in Namibia in the mid-90s.
She loves fair trade for its pragmatic approach to sustainable business.
She loves Equifruit for... the fruit (YUM!), the farmers, and the fact that something as simple as eating a fair trade banana can have such a positive impact on someone’s life and community.
In this episode we talk with Jennie about some staggering truths:
- How Jennie stumbled upon a great fair trade business idea.
- How Jennie's experience working in Namibia gave her insight about how economic activity can change lives in any community
- Learning to understand the size of the problem you want to address
- How to break down the truth of what fair trade is able to help create for families and communities
- The challenge of building something when you don't have the background in that business and how to apply what you know to what you see in front of you
- How to think about our choices in simple ways that may surprise us
Check out EQUIFRUIT and fall in love with bananas all over again - we promise! https://equifruit.com
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles: https://bravesoles.life
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good. : https://buygoodfeelgood.com
Wondering how a brand that focuses on representation and sustainability makes it happen? Us too. So that's why we wanted to chat with Tiffany Asamoah!
Tiffany Asamoah knows what it’s like to solve problems, scale projects and build meaningful relationships. She has led in many Fortune 50 Organizations as a Sales and Technical leader. As an experienced leader Tiffany found her passion in creating unique solutions for underserved groups. As an African American women she knows how important it is to have representation. Leveraging her career and Masters in Project Management, she set out to grow herself creatively.
That’s how BOLD Swim came about. The Vanity Fair & Glamour featured BOLD Swim was established to change the conversation around inclusivity, diversity, sustainability, and self-love.
The forward-thinking brand thrives by capitalizing on the latest in sustainable technology. Leveraging partnerships with like-minded affiliates and blogs such as EcoCult, The Good Trade, and more, BOLD Swim strives to bring eco-conscious, inclusive swimwear to empower those to live their lives BOLDY.
Each piece is sustainably sourced and ethically produced to fit the ethos of a consciously curated closet by a female-led company dedicated to giving back. BOLD Swim supports initiatives that include the empowerment of girls and women, rights for equality and the advancement of sustainable technology, and organizations working to establish social impact and eco-tourism measures.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
When someone has a special love for a region of the world, turning that love into something that creates tangible change isn't easy. But it's worth it.
Meet Farrukh Lalani, founder of Daria Day.
Farrukh's journey to social entrepreneurship began almost ten years ago when she left her corporate job to pursue something more fulfilling and joined an international development agency. Her work took her from Syria to Afghanistan to Tajikistan and finally to Pakistan, her birthland. It was a country she had often heard about from her family but hadn’t visited since childhood.
In Northern Pakistan, nestled at the foothills of some of the world’s tallest mountains, Farrukh worked with some of the most isolated and impoverished communities. To break the cycle of poverty and provide the community with additional sources of income, various NGO’s had implemented gemstone processing and jewelry making programs for women in Gilgit. Working for an NGO she realized that NGOs were very good at implementing training programs but often failed to take the next crucial step – create market access. The artisans, having received this extensive training, were still unable to stake out a livelihood as they had no access to profitable markets or ideas of what to produce. Witnessing the vulnerability of these communities Farrukh founded Daria Day to provide artisans with a sustainable livelihood and a path towards prosperity.
Daria Day is an ethically sourced and exquisitely handcrafted jewelry brand that is deeply committed to elevating the lives of the artisans who create each piece. Each piece of jewelry is accompanied with a product card detailing the name of the artisan and the origin of the gemstone. By supporting the economically disadvantaged, Daria Day hopes to make a difference by breaking the cycle of poverty and to show that we are all connected.
In this episode, Farrukh and Christal talk about:
- What originally brought Farrukh to the mountains of northern Pakistan and the fight for climate justice
- The challenges of building a supply chain in an extremely remote area of the world
- What inspires her to dream about what's next
- What you didn't know - but we all should understand - about mining and fair trade
- How to see through the lens of opportunity when you are witnessing so much injustice, day after day.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
Thinking you have a great idea is one thing. However, understanding how to give that idea the space to grow in a way that builds trust and hope is a very different journey. Ryan and the team at Aruna Project are such a great example of how to do this well.
Ryan Berg is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aruna Project**, an athleisure brand creating lifelong freedom for victims of sex trafficking through employment marked by holistic care.
Ryan’s experiences ranges from Education – teaching young men in juvenile detention, serving communities in interior China, and lecturing to thousands across the US on the issue of human trafficking, to Social Entrepreneurship – creating the Aruna Project producing functional luxury bags and accessories made in freedom by women freed from sex trafficking.
He has conquered the Great Wall, survived a street fight in India, got the shake down from the Turkish police, held a world record, competed against NBA all-stars, all with the common thread of serving the marginalized.
He serves on the Freedom Business Alliance Board of Directors. He is a Praxis fellow. He is married to his high school sweetheart, April, has three children and a pooch named Petey.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles. Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.**
Have you encountered a difficult truth in the world that you can't ignore? Then you are going to want to learn about Kelly's journey to building "Fashion Takes Action".
Kelly Drennan founded Fashion Takes Action in 2007. It came to life through her desire to create a better, more sustainable future for her two daughters. Her role at FTA is to identify the barriers to sustainability that exist for both industry and consumers, and do what she can to remove them.
Determined to make fashion circular, Kelly co-wrote Canada’s textile recycling feasibility report, and is now leading a group of national stakeholders in a mechanical textile recycling pilot.
From 2018-2020 she convened the Ontario Textile Diversion Collaborative (OTDC) which was a group of more than 30 stakeholders (municipalities, charities, collectors, retailers, NGOs, policy makers and academics) committed to increasing textile diversion, through a collective impact framework. Kelly is a strategic partner in the Circular Economy Leadership Canada, an advisor to the Textile Lab for Circularity in Vancouver, and was a member of the City of Toronto’s Circular Economy Working Group where she brought her sustainability expertise to their Fashion Industry Advisory Panel.
In 2014, Kelly created the annual World Ethical Apparel Roundtable (WEAR) Conference, and in 2020, the WEAR webinar series. She has hosted hundreds of industry experts in sharing practical insights to thousands of global attendees through these forums, and is a sought-after speaker herself, having given hundreds of presentations to industry, academics and consumers, including a TED talk as part of the Global TEDx Countdown event focused on climate action.
Kelly is passionate about collaboration and bringing together multiple perspectives in an effort to take action. In 2019 she co-created the Sustainable Fashion Toolkit in partnership with PwC Canada, and she oversees FTA’s youth education program My Clothes My World that she created in 2014 for students in grades 4-12 — delivered to more than 25,000 students in classrooms across Ontario and in Vancouver – and which is now being delivered virtually.
In 2017, Kelly was the recipient of the prestigious Clean 50 award given to Canada’s climate leaders, where she was recognized for Education & Thought Leadership, and was the first recipient of the award for the fashion industry.
In this episode, Christal, Rafik and Kelly discuss:
- Kelly's aha moment that came at an unlikely moment in her life
- What it looks like to build a movement that is based on a common value and the thread of hope that we can find
- Where Kelly sees the greatest potential for sustainable change
- Learning to do and be better with our choices, one by one
- Some exciting products and collaborations that Fashion Takes Action is launching with major brands in Canada
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
If you are inspired by how to make the world more just and inclusive, then you are going to want to hear from Alexa.
Alexa Jovanovic is a braille fashion designer and the founder of emerging designer fashion brand, Aille Design (pronounced: eye).
Aille Design works alongside the blind and visually impaired community to create fashion with braille that is fully legible and customizable. Each design is handmade in North America with premium fabrics and crystal pearls. Their pieces can be used for the functionality of the legible braille, can be dressed up as a unique fashion statement, or worn to initiate conversation about braille and the importance of accessibility.
Aille Design has a partnership with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and donates 5% of profits to the organization.
In this episode, Alexa and Christal talk about:
- Alexa's recognition of how fashion is awakening to diversity and inclusivity - and all the challenges that still exist in the industry
- What we mean when we talk about the effects of exclusion
- Alexa's experience learning how to appreciate the perspective of visually disabled people and their lived reality with fashion and navigating the world.
- The questions that we can be brave enough to ask ourselves about equality and inclusion
- The opportunity for business to be less transactional and more transformational
- What does true "accessibility" mean in our lives and the world we are building.
- Alexa's perspective on taking disability into consideration right from the beginning of how we build, design and interact.
- What great design can provide for all of us
- Questioning if our experience is the "norm"
- Alexa's number one tip on being an ally and what is NOT appropriate.
- How make your own business more accessible for the disability community starting today
Article that Alexa shared with Christal from The New York Times.
Christal Earle is the founder of Brave Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
If you have ever wondered how a business model that is making impact in the most direct way possible REALLY works, you will want to hear what Laurinda has to say!
Laurinda Lee-Retter founded Kind Karma through her personal experience with the lack of meaningful employment while recovering from mental illness.
Although she always dreamed of being an entrepreneur, Laurinda worked in the corporate world as an Executive Assistant for almost a decade prior to launching Kind Karma and as a retail manager before that.
Despite her career choices, Laurinda has always depended on art and creativity as a therapeutic outlet and attended Indiana University in pursuit of a career in music.
Now, she channels that creative energy into designing beautiful pieces of jewelry that also enable vulnerable youth to create brighter futures.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Laurinda's journey and personal mental health challenges that inspired Kind Karma
- Why she chose to work with at risk youth to build her company
- How she learned to question her assumptions around working with vulnerable youth
- Learning to define ways to do better
- How Kind Karma is providing a unique opportunity
- Ways to take action in our own ideas to create social change
Christal Earle is the founder of Braves Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
Get ready for an awakening around business, harmony and the power of a vision that's rooted in honesty, honour, and love.
Christal and Rafik talk to Jennifer Harper, founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty.
In this episode, we hear about how Jenn's journey through recovery and loss shaped her dream into reality.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How losing her brother to suicide gave Jenn a vision for creating a different future for indigenous youth
- What it means to use Life Cycle Thinking in her beauty brand
- What recycling really means
- How Jenn has woven her Anishnawbe cultural values into everything they do
- What the 7 Generations teachings mean for product development
- How business success looks in indigenous community
- How to support and grow indigenous led brands
- What motivates Jenn every single morning
- Exciting innovation projects that Cheekbone has now launched
- How to be clear on what you can afford to do where you are, right now
- The dream that started it all and why it still means so much today
An award-winning social entrepreneur, Jenn Harper is the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Cheekbone Beauty is a digitally native direct to consumer brand that is helping Indigenous youth see themselves in a beauty brand while using the concept of Life Cycle Thinking (LCT) in the brands ethos and in developing products. Creating a new segment in the beauty industry - Sustainable Socially Conscious Beauty.
Jennifer Harper has been making a name for herself in the beauty industry for a number of years but has been gaining popularity quickly after being on the hit CBC show, Dragons Den https://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/m_pitches/cheekbone-beauty in 2019. Cheekbone Beauty’s mission is to help every Indigenous youth see and feel their enormous value in the world while creating sustainable cosmetics.
Christal Earle is the founder of Braves Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.
Need some inspiration on how to stick with something through the wild ups and downs? Then this is the episode for you!
Today, Christal and Rafik talk with Stacey Toews, the co-founder of Level Ground Trading.
Level Ground Trading engages directly with small-scale farmer groups in Asia, Africa and South America. Annually, Level Ground purchases the harvests of more than 5,000 organic, family farms and roasts more than 1 million pounds of specialty coffee.
Over the past 25 years, Level Ground has assembled a team of Coffee Specialists who Elevate Coffee for Everyone from Farmers to Customers.
The company has been a pioneer in arenas which Stacey values: social impact & environmental sustainability.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Stacey's journey to launching Level Ground and what kept them inspired during those early days of difficult moments and choices.
- How he began to question the economic systems we take for granted that are causing more harm than good
- Doing business with a dignified fashion that takes into account everyone along the way
- Questioning your narrative and giving yourself a chance to grow
- How to stay the course when the stakes get bigger as we grow and scale
- Working through a growth pain that threatened Level Ground's existence
- How to create a legacy, even if we don't yet know what it will ultimately become
- Stacey's youtube channel, Sustainable Stace and his passion to help people build connection with growing their own food
Christal Earle is the founder of Braves Soles.
Rafik Riad is the founder of Buy Good. Feel Good.