An advocate of the circular economy for the past 15 years, Elaine Birks-Mitchell is the CEO and Founder of The Bra Recyclers, a social enterprise dedicated to recycling and reusing preloved bras, prostheses, and underwear. In partnership with other environmentally and socially conscious individuals and companies, Elaine has donated over four million bras to over 130 nonprofits in 29 States and 8 countries.

In alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Elaine continues to be a steward of the social and environmental impacts of recycling on communities. She believes that we all have the power to change the trajectory of the circular economy using our voices and buying power.

As a social entrepreneur, it was important to create job opportunities for underserved members of our community. Elaine's mission led her to form partnerships with local nonprofits dedicated to finding meaningful employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

The next chapter on Elaine’s social entrepreneur journey has been the launch of The Undie Chest, the nonprofit arm of The Bra Recyclers. It will focus on addressing the issue of hygiene poverty with the donation of underwear to support the entire family and get the much-needed supply of underwear into our Title 1 schools.

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thebrarecyclers.com

LinkedIn

Facebook

YouTube

Katherine Berg is the founder of Will & Atlas. Katherine holds a lifelong appreciation for craftsmanship and one-of-a-kind treasures – a love honed over decades of travel and running a French antiques import business with her late husband, William. Together, the Bergs built what is now known as Will & Atlas, a home decor and accessories line partnering directly with fair trade artisans in Bangladesh.

The name Will & Atlas is both a reflection of global community and a tribute to Will, who tragically passed away in 2019. Will’s legacy and the heart of Will & Atlas is woven into every design, championing heritage crafts, sustainability, and goods with intention.

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willandatlas.com

Dr. Eric W. Miller is the founder and CEO of Marsh Creek Social Works, an organizational and management consulting firm for the nonprofit and social sector, offering advising services, bookkeeping and accounting services, and an impact investment fund.

Eric’s doctoral and post-doctoral studies examined scaling social impact within social enterprises and non-profit organizations, and in 2022, Eric and his team expanded their company beyond social sector advising services to include back-office bookkeeping and accounting services and an impact investing venture, based on the needs we identified among social enterprises, nonprofits, and small business servicing other social enterprises.

In building this community footprint, Marsh Creek Social Works believes that we can achieve partnerships and cooperations between community, business, and social partners to more effectively identify and pursue solutions to community happiness.

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marshcreeksocialworks.com

LinkedIn

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

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neurodiversityadvisors.com

LinkedIn

Since 1993, Paul Zelizer has worked with and led programs for 30,000+ leaders working for positive change in and through their organizations. He's one of the first business coaches to focus on the needs of social entrepreneurs and impact business leaders. As part of the marketing team for Wisdom 2.0, a renowned conscious business brand, he helped grow the yearly conference from 650 to 1800 attendees in one year.

In 2017, he founded Awarepreneurs as a way to amplify the practices successful social enterprise leaders use. Today he is best known as host of the Awarepreneurs Podcast, one of the world’s leading social entrepreneur podcasts. Paul maintains a busy coaching and consulting practice working with impact focused founders & leaders.

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paulzelizer.com

awarepreneurs.com

LinkedIn

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

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duttonfarm.org

Instagram

Facebook

Discovering the path of social enterprise through the hospitality industry, Adam Zembruski founded Hospiamo, a social enterprise working to forge a path to engage and empower over 250,000 hospitality workers by 2030, elevating them into positions of influence and decision-making, and sharing profits and ownership.

Today, Adam is leveraging his expertise and the strength of his network to mentor the next generation. He dedicates himself to dismantling barriers and forging a more accessible route for those who will follow in his footsteps, aiming to create a more equitable and inclusive hospitality industry.

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hospiamo.com/why

hospiamo.com/join

LinkedIn

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

Last week, we invited in Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting to talk through a social concept called Spiral Dynamics. We learned about the framework and how it relates to different moments in human history. Today, we continue that conversation and go a bit further into how an understanding of the concept can help us in our social enterprises.

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Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time.

Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps.

Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another.

We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap.

The outdated ways that we are handling today’s global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being.

Here’s an overview of the model:

The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human.

• Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago.
• Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them.
• Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control.
• Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. 
• Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. 
• Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world.

Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage.

Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness.

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Open Aware

Open Aware's Spiral Dynamics Link

LinkedIn:

Trace Bell

Tina Olsen

Today’s interview is with Trace Bell and Tina Olsen of Open Aware consulting, who serve as integration guides for individuals and visionaries within conscious organizations. They themselves are visionaries who are intent on creating a life of purpose by following their curiosities in philosophy, non-duality systems thinking, and raising consciousness. They started Open Aware with the vision of inspiring and supporting others in their own questioning, exploring, and creating new ways of living and being in this world.

This interview is a little different from others that we’ve published up to this point. We are going to be talking with Trace and Tina about a human development concept called Spiral Dynamics. We talk through this framework and touch on a lot of philosophy and human history, including an important moment we find ourselves in today. What does this have to do with Social Enterprise? Well, I think the concept of social enterprise itself mirrors the current transition moment Spiral Dynamics is referring to. And understanding the framework will help us to not only be better leaders in our organizations, but also help us to better serve the people within our social impact missions.

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Spiral Dynamics is a model of human development that maps the growth and evolution of individuals, groups, and humanity over time.

Whether we are looking through the lens of history, philosophy, psychology, or biology, it has been shown that evolution happens in sudden leaps.

Spiral Dynamics gives each leap a new stage name and color, clearly distinguishing it from the beliefs and way of being that preceded it. Each new stage provides a completely new perspective which naturally shifts the way humans organize themselves and interact with one another.

We have reason to believe that humanity is currently making a new leap.

The outdated ways that we are handling today’s global challenges are causing an increasing amount of pain and dysfunction. When this happens, some people double-down on the old way of being, desperately trying to stop complexity, while others make the leap into the new way of being.

Here’s an overview of the model:

The first six stages in Spiral Dynamics are collectively called “Tier 1.” The Tier 1 stages are vitally important because they comprise the essential parts of being human.

• Stage Beige - Survival: Instinctive and solely focused on the survival of the individual. This is where humanity started, a couple hundred thousand years ago.
• Stage Purple - Magical: Humans formed tribes and began to conceptualize of the vast interconnected nature of the world around them.
• Stage Red - Power: This is the birth of independence, autonomy, and leadership. This  stage also brought wars over resources and mass de-humanization in the name of power as a means to control.
• Stage Blue - Order: Humans gained the ability to create organized communities that function on a large scale. Stage blue was the introduction of nations, organized religions, and agriculture. 
• Stage Orange - Logic: Critical thinking, rationality, and analytics enter the picture. This is the beginning of using the scientific method to come to conclusions and find truths in the world. This stage brought the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. 
• Stage Green - Equality: A new level of understanding about what it means to care for others and the planet. Green is a collective sinking into the heart that brings increased awareness about the injustices and inequalities of the world.

Next comes Tier 2, also known as Integral. This is the perspective where the seeming mutual-exclusivity of the Tier 1 stages is replaced by the idea that we can “transcend and include” by integrating the health of each Tier 1 stage.

Some of the key hallmarks of Tier 2 are: systems thinking; the ability to hold paradox; and realizing our inherent oneness.

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Open Aware

Open Aware's Spiral Dynamics Link

LinkedIn:

Trace Bell

Tina Olsen

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

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fundraisingforthefuture.com

LinkedIn

David Gaines is the Chief Visionary for La Terza Coffee, and author of the new book Radical Business: The Root of Your Work and How it Can Change the World. As David discovered the business model of social enterprise, he saw how all businesses could make the world a better place, and that realization changed everything.

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With his work at La Terza, David felt pulled toward social enterprise—a business model that builds profits while simultaneously benefiting society and the environment. He realized that the possibility of social impact was accessible to everyone and that well-functioning businesses could better the lives of not only their employees and customers, but also the people involved in its supply chains and even with its competitors. 

David dreams of a world where all businesses are social enterprises, where people are equally valued, served, and uplifted.

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davidgaines.co

LinkedIn

Radical Business Book:

Amazon

Barnes and Nobles

Michelle King Thomas is a writer, activist, and social entrepreneur. She specializes in sales and operations that help social impact brands and social enterprises stay profitable and strategize for revenue growth.

As a senior sales and operations professional with experience facilitating a 20% increase in revenue year over year, Michelle develops and implements sales and operations strategies, with a focus on social impact brands. With over a decade in the social impact space building Mata Traders, Michelle now does sales consulting to help organizations to do two things: 1) ensure current and future sales are profitable, and 2) develop and implement sales strategies for revenue growth.

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Join us and MIchelle for our June Webinar!

Best Practices to Prepare for the 2023 Holiday Shopping Season

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michellekingthomas.com

LinkedIn

Callie is an experienced professional and entrepreneur with a strong history of international relations and social business. She specializes in community development and economic empowerment utilizing over 15 years of branding and marketing experience and over a decade of international work. She is passionate about using this first-hand experience to educate those in the field so they can be equipped with the knowledge and skills to grow their business and ultimately grow their impact.

Callie is also leading participants through a Branding and Marketing 5 day Bootcamp in partnership with SEA from May 22nd through the 26th. Space is limited, so you'll want to sign up quickly to take advantage of this opportunity to work closely with Callie and other social enterprises.

Cost is only $150 for non-members, and $100 for members

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calliehimsl.com

harkcreativecouncil.com

Social enterprises are driven by a big mission, but often struggle with their business model. The book, "Powering Social Enterprise with Profit and Purpose: The Tandem Hybrid" explores the strengths and limitations of typical structures and presents a compelling case for the "tandem hybrid," using the best of both for-profit and non-profit models to maximize social impact.

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Jeremy Gudauskas is a social impact consultant with over 22 years of experience spanning higher education, business, and nonprofit organizations. He supports large global companies and growing social enterprises—including ROW Global Health, where he serves as director of philanthropy.

Prior to consulting, Gudauskas spent 17 years in higher education advancing the field of social entrepreneurship, both inside and outside the classroom. He launched the Center for Social Impact at North Central College and taught courses in social innovation, design thinking, and impact measurement. He’s active in the community, serving as a startup mentor for University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility committee for the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.

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Scott Boyer is the founder and president of OWP Pharmaceuticals and the board chair of ROW Global Health, which together form a hybrid social enterprise that is transforming the lives of people with epilepsy and associated psychiatric disorders in over 30 under-resourced countries around the world.

Scott spent more than 25 years in Big Pharma leading sales and marketing efforts for the likes of Abbott and Bristol-Myers Squibb before having the vision for a Pharmaceutical Social Enterprise®. In 2014, OWP and ROW were launched to address the global lack of access to life-changing treatment, and have already contributed over $21 million for medication, diagnosis, and training around the world, including grants for over 160,000 prescription-months of medication.

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www.tandemhybrid.co

www.rowglobal.org

www.owppharma.com

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

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Moving Worlds

LinkedIn

Recognized as a White House Champion of Change by President Obama, serial social entrepreneur Steven Clift leads GoodCarts as a dynamic engine for change and engagement via ecommerce.

GoodCarts is cross-promotional network for sustainable and shop for good brands. Their new efforts are to boost underrepresented small businesses and their library of over 100 "how to" articles and ecommerce for good online events gives social enterprises tools and resources to succeed.

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goodcarts.co

linkedin.com/in/netclift

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

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Prospera Partners

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LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Karla McLaren, M.Ed. is an award-winning author, social science researcher, and empathy pioneer. Her lifelong work focuses on her grand unified theory of emotions, which revalues even the most “negative” emotions and opens startling new pathways into self-awareness, effective communication, and healthy empathy. She is the founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics LLC and the developer of the Empathy Academy online learning site.

Her applied work, Dynamic Emotional Integration® (also known as DEI) is a trailblazing approach to emotions and empathy that reveals the genius and the healing power within the emotional realm. Licensed DEI professionals are available across the globe.

Karla has also developed the groundbreaking Six Essential Aspects of Empathy model that highlights all of the processes in healthy empathy and makes them easily understandable, accessible, and attainable. This fully realized model teaches people how to access, develop, and manage their empathy intentionally. It also explicitly welcomes people who have been exiled from earlier models of empathy (such as men, boys, autistic people, and people with personality conditions such as narcissism and sociopathy).

Her newest book is The Power of Emotions at Work: Accessing the Vital Intelligence in Your Workplace

She is online at KarlaMcLaren.com and EmpathyAcademy.org.

One of our goals in producing this podcast is to give social entrepreneurs resources, tools and tips on how to better run your organization - both in areas of impact, and in the day to day business operations. For many of us, the reason we work in social enterprise is that we are very passionate about helping others in a specific cause and mission. We’re good at what we do and we pour our heart into trying to have the most impact possible. Sometimes, one of the best ways we can support our own work and deepen our impact is to find others who can support us in the various needs for our companies. 

This is why we invited Jamie Kleman of Breakwater Corp to join us in today’s episode. As a Relationship Manager for Breakwater, Jamie spends her days listening to the stories and needs of business owners and leaders of nonprofits so she can understand their pain points and connect them with a dedicated team to provide peace of mind. The Breakwater Workflow Consultants, Bookkeepers, Controllers, Accountants, and Payroll Specialists are committed to bringing clients unparalleled service and insight so they can focus on their goals and growth.

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www.breakwatercorp.com