Gretchen Ki Steidle is the founder and President of Global Grassroots, a mindfulness-based social venture incubator for women in East Africa whose mission is to catalyze women and girls as leaders of Conscious Social Change in their communities.

Conscious Social Change is a design methodology that employs mindfulness throughout the process of designing a social solution. Through their programs, women emerge as change agents who learn to leverage their own assets, gifts, and passions to benefit the common good. Their solutions are designed to be innovative, sustainable, and impactful at the systemic and root levels of a social issue.

She is also founder of Circles for Conscious Change, LLC, which works with social entrepreneurs, non-profits, and corporations on the use of mindfulness as a design tool for social innovation. Gretchen is author of Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation (2017 MIT Press). Gretchen is also a producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary film, The Devil Came on Horseback, and co-author of the memoir of the same name (2007 PublicAffairs).

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Gretchen holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, where she attended as a Jefferson Scholar. She is a certified Integrative Breathwork Practitioner and Breath-Body-MindTM Practitioner, which she has utilized for trauma-healing in Haiti, Rwanda, US, and Uganda among natural disaster and violence survivors. In 2007, Gretchen was honored by World Business Magazine and Shell as one of the top International 35 Women Under 35. In 2010 she was chosen as a CNN Hero working in Haiti after the earthquake. In 2011 she was chosen one of seven Remarkable Women of the World by New Hampshire Magazine. In 2018 she was named to Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. She regularly lectures and offers workshops on mindfulness for social change at conferences, wellness institutions, universities, and organizations globally, including the Skoll World Forum, Omega Institute, Tuck School and AshokaU Exchange.

IG: @themindfulchangeagent 

Twitter: @ConsciousChange

Facebook: www.facebook.com/global.grassroots

globalgrassroots.org

consciouschangestudy.org

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What is a Social Enterprise?

A Social Enterprise is an organization created for impact. It uses a sustainable and earned income business model with a governing structure focused on stated social or environmental goals. It invests a significant portion of its revenue, profit or assets into expanding this stated mission.

socialenterprise.us

[email protected]

toastinggood.com

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KINDNESS FOR COMPASSION

Humans feel good when we are kind to one another. Feeling good is the basis for happiness, justice, and peace. Treating each other kindly unlocks our collective and individual success.