Today, we’re taking a trip to Berkeley, California, to talk to my favorite kind of trouble: Kate Sassoon, or as we call her: Sassy. 

Sassy has spent most of her life living in or working with co-ops. We talked about the role of stakeholder capitalism and global cooperativism and how both models help us rethink the current system. Sassy also shares what she learned from going undercover in Silicon Valley and what’s going on under the hood of cooperatives.

Kate “Sassy" Sassoon has spent over 20 years turning her passion for efficiency, effectiveness, and equity into a thriving consultancy offering facilitation, training, and organizational design to social enterprise organizations. She develops inclusive collaboration frameworks, energetic dialogue spaces, and authentic connections. Her work is known for being joyous, empowering, and deeply caring. She brings all that energy and a lifetime of experience with co-ops to the role of Director of Cooperative Membership at Zebras Unite Co-op. She holds 2 degrees from UC Berkeley - one in art and one in science, and approaches the world (and the work) with one foot firmly in each. She delights in deep questions, unexpected connections, and doing well by doing good.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why our capitalist norms of extraction and power concentration hinder our ability to imagine new mutualistic systems
• How stakeholder capitalism helps us bring more people to the table and recenter those who are most impacted
• What Silicon Valley can teach us about the power of narrative
• How the challenges in building cooperative companies that can make them more sustainable in the long-term
• Steps to take to actively engage with cooperatives in your sphere

Learn More About Kate "Sassy" Sassoon:

• Sassy Facilitation
• Facebook: @KSassoon

Learn More About Anika Horn:

• Website: www.socialventurers.com 
• Instagram: SocialVenturers
• Newsletter: Sign up for Impact Curator

Resources:

• "Zebras Fix What Unicorns Break"
• Rochdale Pioneers
• Mondragon corporation
• International Cooperative Alliance
• California center for cooperative development
• Zebras Unite
• N.K. Jemisin
• The Sharing Solution
• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business, Erin Meyer
• For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America, John Curl and Ishmael Reed