Suzanne and I are just back from an awesome road trip to Portland OR and Stevenson WA, where we attended our first Social Venture Network (SVN) conference. SVN is basically the North American nucleus of progressive business and social profit enterprise thought, and we are thrilled to be newly minted members of this fine organization.
But first, a word about Portland – how cool is that town?? We loved the unpretentious (yet deeply cool), crafty, entrepreneurial vibe (Vancouver is busily taking a page from its food cart culture), architecture and vintage signage, and excellent beverage selection (beer or coffee lovers, hello!) We visited our pals at Bitch Media (left – note the cool sign above the awning) and explored their artsy neighborhood along Alberta Street.
There were all kinds of extraordinarily clever and passionate people at SVN: I’d like to tell you about some of the women we met there.
I loved meeting Patti Moreno of Garden Girl TV, who 11 years ago decided to eat healthier by learning to grow her own food and ended up with a new career in helping urbanites connect with nature in their own back yards. Her shows are accessible (“I don’t like to use the Latin names for plants, it alienates people” she told me), entertaining and inspiring a new generation of youth and families to get some dirt under their fingernails.
Most American parents will recognize the Hanna Andersson label of children’s clothing – it’s basically synonymous with long term quality and sustainability infused with Swedish style (Suzanne’s boys will accept no other brand of PJs and underwear!). While
founder Gun Denhart (right) sold the business in 1996 after 13 years, she is still active as a mentor and volunteer with Ecotrust. She generously gave us the benefit of her wisdom (“Talk to your customers more!” she exhorted us) and thoughts about how best to manage our own growth.
Most social entrepreneurs have a personal motivation for starting their businesses, and Eve Blossom is no exception to this rule: while working as an architect in Vietnam she witnessed a man selling his daughter and decided to created economic alternatives to fight sex trafficking. Today her products (sold under the label Lulan – the gorgeous ties pictured at left are just one example of the fabulous wares available) are sourced from 650 artisans in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India and Thailand. Lulan supports these artisans and their communities through paying sustainable wages, creating economic stability, growing local economies and assisting with other social benefits – such as education, housing, healthcare – as well as opening up new markets for their products.
Jensine Larsen started World Pulse, a print magazine and online media portal, to explore “Global Issues Through the Eyes of Women”, to quote its tagline, as a young journalist in Burma and the Amazon who was urged by women there to tell their stories. She returned home and created a way for them to be able to do it for themselves. I urge any of you who have not already engaged with this extraordinary community to check it out immediately – you will be blown away by the diversity and power of this uniquely female version of citizen journalism. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, just tuning in to World Pulse will help to, in Jensine’s words, “turn up the volume of women’s voices around the world” – sounds good to us.
Got tea? Four years ago Monaqui Porter-Young was traveling in Sri Lanka and felt moved by the country’s beauty, poverty and political turmoil. She started MPGlobal Connect to provide jobs and a safe community to women from both sides of the conflict by marketing organic, fairly traded green tea under the Srina label. Watch for it at a store near you!
A piece of good news for us more northerly types is that Eileen Fisher will be opening her first Canadian store in Vancouver this year (you heard it here first!) Being a mildly lapsed fashionista, I have long coveted her comfortably elegant line of eco-friendly clothes and admired her marketing approach that often features the company’s employees (where do you think that Dove got the idea for its “real beauty” campaign?) It was a privilege to meet Amy Hall, the company’s Director of Social Consciousness (it really tells you something when a business has titles like this) who served as Suzanne’s “buddy” (us newbies were teamed up with more experienced members – mine was Tina Sciabica, Executive Director of READ Global, lucky me!) and gave us great encouragement and information about making things in a socially responsible manner.
Last but not least, we were honored to be invited to co-facilitate the Women’s Circle alongside Pam Chaloult of Renewal Partners. The theme, aptly, was Sisterhood, and Pam was quick to set the tone with her honoring of SVN’s awesome ED (with whom she was co-ED of SVN for many years) Deb Nelson, as her role model for Sisterhood. As for us, Sisterhood is a theme that runs through Lunapads in everything from my and Suzanne’s relationship to our workplace to the experience we try to give our customers. Needless to say, it was amazing.
Enjoy learning about these awesome women, and support their ventures with your dollars!
