Life Ensemble

The second audio edition of Grow Ensemble's Better World Weekly newsletter! 

To sign up for the newsletter, go here: 

https://growensemble.com/bww/

For the archived email for this episode: 

https://growensemble.com/bww-27

See Full Show Notes here: https://grownesemble.com/honeybee-ennie-lim/

Today we deep dive with Social Entrepreneur Ennie Lim, Founder of the B Corp HoneyBee. Lim and the HoneyBee team work with hundreds of businesses and organizations across the U.S. to re-imagine financial health support in the workplace.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• Ennie’s own personal financial crisis and how that led to her founding HoneyBee
• HoneyBee’s growth since launch in 2016 
• The method and meaning behind HoneyBee’s work
• HoneyBee’s company culture (authenticity and empathy being major components)
• Prioritizing financial wellness in the workplace, in this crisis and beyond

Links from the Episode:

• Ennie on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
• HoneyBee on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
• B-Corps
• What Do You Do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
• Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves 
• Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan
• How I Built This with Guy Raz
  • Emily Weiss from Glossier Episode 
• Dirty Money (Netflix)
• Tiger King (Netflix)

See Full Show Notes here:

The first audio edition of Grow Ensemble's Better World Weekly newsletter! 

To sign up for the newsletter, go here: 

https://growensemble.com/bww/

For the archived email for this episode: 

https://growensemble.com/bww-26

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/civic-dinners-jenn-graham/

Episode 71 of the podcast welcomes Founder & CEO of purpose-driven nonprofit Civic Dinners, Jenn Graham. The goal of Civic Dinners is to inspire global impact through community, connection, and conversation. They do this by helping people transform dinner tables into forums for positive social change. However, in the midst of the current crisis facing us all, in this new phase of "social-distancing," Graham shares her thoughts on navigating a new reality, and what her and Civic Dinners is doing to keep the conversation going despite it all.

In our talk with Graham, we dive into:

• The story and meaning behind Civic Dinners
• How She and the company are addressing and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic
• What's led to Civic Dinners' momentum and success, having over 1,500 dinners hosted, from New Zealand to Atlanta, and many cities in between since launch.
• Lessons and insights she has learned over the years on successfully fostering civic engagement and community 

Links from the Episode:

• Jenn on Facebook, LinkedIn
• Civic Dinners on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
• For the Love of Cities by Peter Kageyama
• The Emotional Infrastructure of Places by Peter Kageyama
• Jasmine Crowe of Goodr
• Techstars Social Impact Team
• Center for Civic Innovation Fellowship

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/civic-dinners-jenn-graham/

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/yes-cacao-justin-polgar/

In today's episode, amidst the current global crisis, we have a very important and meaningful, deep-dive chat with Justin Frank Polgar. A dedicated craftsman, father, and the Founder of impact-driven botanical chocolate company, YES Cacao, Polgar has spent the past 10+ years on a journey of self-reflection--learning to allow his true self to guide him in life and business.

In our chat with Polgar, we cover:

• The mission and meaning behind YES Cacao
• His insights and personal reflections on the current crisis facing us all
• Why self-awareness is key to succeeding in the purpose-driven space
• The opportunities Justin is anchoring himself to during this tumultuous period and how YES Cacao is moving forward
• Staying determined and mindful in the midst of chaos
• His chocolate-making journey and what the craft means to him today
• The difference between making decisions out of "obligation from ego vs guidance from your higher self" 

Links from the Episode:

• Justin on Facebook, Instagram
• Yes Cacao on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
• The Right Use of Will by Ceanne DeRohan
• Messiah (2020, created by Michael Petroni, Netflix)
• The Philosopher’s Stone Grind
• Well Adjusted Clinic
  • Dr. Randall’s Medicinal Mushrooms
• 11th Hour Coffee

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/yes-cacao-justin-polgar/

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/keepcup-abigail-forsyth/

Episode 69 welcomes the Managing Director and Co-founder of KeepCup, Abigail Forsyth. KeepCup is known worldwide for its bright, bold, and instantly recognizable reusable cups that have diverted billions of disposable cups from the landfill. Abigail is extremely passionate about saving our environment having dedicated her time and effort to many ventures bringing awareness to the cause. 

In our episode with Abigail, we chat about:

• Her commitment to inspiring others to reduce and reuse
• KeepCup's 10 years in business milestone
• The current climate crisis, especially how it has impacted Australia with the recent bushfires
• Her dream of rehabilitating land affected by the fires
• The evolving role of KeepCup as they enter their second decade of business
• How success has impacted both her and the company

Links from the Episode:

• Abigail on LinkedIn
• KeepCup on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
• “Australia Bushfires: A Signal to Act” by Abigail Forsyth
• “Our Hopes and Ambitions for the Next Decade” by Abigail Forsyth
• B-Labs (B-Corps)
• 1% for the Planet
• Abigail’s interview in Business Insider Australia
• The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver 
• The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
• War on Waste

See Full Show Notes here:

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/active-impact-investments-mike-winterfield/

In this episode, we chat with Mike Winterfield, the Founder of Active Impact Investments—a venture capital firm that exclusively supports small to medium-sized social ventures in their early stages—helping them scale their impact and profit by providing funding and extensive capacity-building services to their portfolio companies.

In our chat with Winterfield, we dive into:

• His 20 years in the tech industry and his transition into Impact Investing
• The edge that allowed him to move into the financial space successfully
• His insights and outlook on what impact investing is and Active Impact Investments' unique approach to it
• The effect impact investing has on social and environmental wellbeing
• What Mike is most excited about moving forward in his line of work
• Resources for those interested in the impact investment space

Links from the Episode:

• Active Impact Investments on LinkedIn
• Mike on LinkedIn
• B-Corps
• SoCap 
• Social Finance Forum
• B Labs Champions Retreat
• Whiplash by Jeff Howe Joi Ito
• Factfulness by Hans Rosling
• Linchpin by Seth Godin
• Tip of the Spear by Ryan Hendrickson 
• Drawdown by Paul Hawken
• Carbon Engineering

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/ettitude-phoebe-yu-kat-dey/

In today's episode, we welcome the founders of Sustainable home goods brand, Ettitude, Phoebe Yu and Kat Dey. Born in 2014 from CEO Phoebe's desire for eco-friendly, high-quality bedding at an affordable price, Ettitude has revolutionized the home textiles space with their proprietary bamboo lyocell fabric that is as environmentally conscious as it is comfortable. 

In our chat, we discuss: 

• Phoebe and Kat's entrepreneurial journeys
• The inspiration for Ettitude
• Ettitude’s unique bedding products + the process behind them
• What Phoebe & Kat see as their respective roles in the company and their partnership
• Ettitude’s role in the global marketplace
• The culture Phoebe and Kat have cultivated around the company
• What they see for Ettitude’s growth and future

Links from the episode:

• Ettitude on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
• Phoebe on LinkedIn
• Kat on LinkedIn
• Tesla
• by HumanKind
• Beautycounter
• Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (short stories)
• The Biggest Little Farm (dir. John Chester, 2019)
• The Game Changers (dir. Louie Psyhoyos, 2019)

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/ettitude-phoebe-yu-kat-dey/

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/climate-neutral-austin-whitman/

In episode 66, we're chatting with Austin Whitman, founding CEO of Climate Neutral - an independent nonprofit organization that launched in March 2019. They are working to improve the world's knowledge of global warming and climate change and accelerate the transition to a low carbon world, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other fossil fuels by offering an easy system for companies to measure, offset, and reduce their carbon footprint and become "Carbon Neutral Certified."

In our episode, we discuss:

• Climate Neutral's system for helping companies reduce their carbon emissions
• Austin Whitman's journey and inspiration for founding Climate Neutral
• The Company's unexpected rapid growth since its launch in 2019 (they now work with over 120 brands helping them become Carbon Neutral Certified, we here at Grow Ensemble are one of those brands!)
• The challenges they have faced since launch
• What the future looks like for the Climate Neutral team

Links from the episode:

• Climate Neutral on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
• Austin on LinkedIn
• Peak Design
• Peter Dering on Grow Ensemble
• BioLite

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/climate-neutral-austin-whitman/

See Full Show Notes for this Episode here: https://growensemble.com/hemmings-house-greg-hemmings/

Today, we welcome Greg Hemmings, dedicated social entrepreneur, family man, courageous jack-of-all-trades, and CEO & co-founder of Hemmings House, a certified B-Corp film production company based in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada focusing on producing content that makes a difference.

In our episode, we chat about:

• Hemmings House's origin story and impact
• Gregs approach to jumping headfirst into new projects and experimentation
• How Greg has learned to overcome failure
• Greg’s parental journey
• Making positive social impact through B-Corps
• Greg’s goals for 2020

Links from the Episode:

• Greg on Instagram, LinkedIn
• Hemmings House Pictures on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube
• The Millennial Dream
• Greg’s 2019 Review
• The Boiling Point
• The Love Economy
• Filmpreneur
• Kaiya Hemmings’ CBC Report
• Not Business as Usual
• B-Corp

See Full Show Notes for this Episode here: https://growe