Life Ensemble

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/defy-ventures-andrew-glazier/

Andrew Glazier is the CEO and president of Defy Ventures, a national nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship employment and personal development for formerly and currently incarcerated men, women, and young adults. Founded in 2010, Defy has made significant process in this arena. They are now operating programs in seven states. They have enrolled over 5,000 entrepreneurs in training in prison and in their post-release program. They have engaged thousands of volunteers. As a result of this work, their one-year recidivism rate is 7.2% as compared to the national average of 30%, and they are proud to say that their employment rate for program graduates is at 82%.

This movement is all about mindset shift. Engaging the business community is key, as successful reentry into the workforce requires open-minded employers, who are willing to see a person’s value before dismissing them as a candidate because they have been in the system. Potential employers need to be willing to open their minds to this idea. However, it also requires a mindset shift on the formerly incarcerated person, as they need to recognize their own value and their own worth as a potential employee in order to communicate their value to others. That is the primary topic of this episode.

In addition, we chat about the issues of recidivism and mass incarceration, entrepreneurship as a rehabilitative tool, and the role the business community has in addressing these issues for this significantly sized and overlooked population.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/helpsy-alex-husted/

Alex Husted is the founder and CEO of Helpsy, a B Corp with a mission to reduce textile waste by helping people easily recycle their used clothing. They've saved over 25 million pounds of clothes and shoes from being thrown into a landfill in the last year alone.

Helpsy was founded in 2017 by Alex and his two childhood best friends who were interested in a career pivot. They weren’t sure what industry to develop a business in, but they did all have one key goal in mind: founding a business that addressed the triple bottom line, as they were interested in social entrepreneurism.

When an email came across Alex’s desk about a used clothing business that was on the market, that and two more acquisitions were made and Helpsy was born. Helpsy is already the #1 largest textile collection company in the Northeastern U.S., even now partnering with the city of Boston to determine how textile waste can be addressed in the city’s zero waste plan. Alex only hopes that Boston will lead the way, creating a domino effect that will cause other cities to look at how they can do the same thing.

In this episode, we discuss the need to move on from fast fashion and create a more sustainable future for the clothing and textile industry--and how Helpsy has been working to champion that cause. We also go in-depth on the values of joining the B-Corp community, and how rigorous but rewarding the process of certification can be. Alex and Helpsy have created the only certified B-Corporation currently in the used clothing business.

https://growensemble.com/the-workaround-amanda-munday/

Amanda Munday is the founder and CEO of The Workaround, a parent-friendly workspace with high-quality child care located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After attempting to balance hiring a marketing/sales team for the tech start-up she had previously been working at with raising two small children, she realized that there needed to be more support for parents in the workplace. Hence, in October 2018, The Workaround was born.

Along with founding The Workaround, Amanda is the author of Day Nine, a post-partum depression memoir published in April 2019. She has received international media coverage, including being named an inspirational speaker in Forbes Magazine, and she is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail, where she covers topics such as parenting, purpose-driven business, and the necessary evolution of the normal 9-5 workday. She is also the co-author of the Parenting Playbook, a free resource for tech founders to support parents in the workplace. Amanda currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for Creative Preschool of East Toronto, and in 2019 she joined the Board of Directors for the Danforth Mosaic Business Improvement Area (BIA).

In this episode, Amanda goes in-depth on what it was like to be both a parent and a full-time employee, which is what inspired her to found The Workaround; her challenges in launching The Workaround, and how those led her to rethink certain aspects of her business; the cultural stigma of parents in the professional world, and how society needs to rethink the professional structure to accommodate accordingly; and her vision for 2020 for both herself and The Workaround.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/phin-doug-lessing/

Doug Lessing is the founder of Phin, which is a social good platform that great companies can use to build meaningful relationships with people and causes through sponsored donations. Doug founded it in early 2019 after having spent 30 years with his incredible team building Firebrand Technologies, a software services company for book publishers. 

Doug is a resident of Blue Point, New York. He is married to his wife, Grace; they have three Gen Z daughters and two young female Springer spaniels. He refers to himself as being outnumbered and influenced by strong women, which was a major inspiration for founding Phin in the first place.

In this episode, we discuss Doug’s transition to a social impact company after having grown up in Fire-Brand Technologies; Doug’s personal approach as an entrepreneur; how he attempts to create a space for creative thinking and deep focus; the work that is going to really move Phin forward; and how Phin was created to be a social impact organization from the get-go.

See Full Show Notes here: http://growensemble.com/becci-gould-kin-co/

Becci Gould is an associate director at Kin & Co, an award-winning culture and behavior change consultancy located in the UK. She is a culture strategy expert specializing in helping organizations to harness the purpose, culture, and values so that they can be more successful inside and out. Some companies she’s led successful purpose and culture change transformations with include O2, Open Reach, Danone, Heathrow Airport, and leading law firm BWB. In addition, she was instrumental in leading Kin & Co’s recent expansion into Canada.

Alongside her work at Kin & Co, Becci is a thought leader in the purpose and culture space. She sits on the advisory board of the IRM’s annual EU Business Change and Transformation conference, and she has released reports that are featured in the likes of Forbes and CityAm. 

In this episode, we dive into how to create a thriving purpose-driven, employee-first company culture, including specific tactics and strategies such as the implementation of what Kin & Co calls Wednesday Offternoons.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/chris-chancey-amplio-recruiting/

After growing up in a family whose work all lied around the small business economy and the local community, and having the opportunity to partake in some corporate management and nonprofit roles, Chris Chancey realized that social entrepreneurship was the path he was destined to go down.

Chris is the founder and CEO of Amplio Recruiting, a staffing agency that places refugees into jobs across the U.S. Chris launched Amplio in 2014 after moving into a refugee community outside of Atlanta, Georgia. They have placed over 5,000 refugees from over 40 countries into full-time employment in over 300 companies in the manufacturing, construction, and hospitality industries. Amplio has generated nearly $12 million in revenue and operates in Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, and Raleigh-Durham. 

As a social entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author of the book Refugee Workforce, in which he articulates the economic impact of refugees in America, Chris wholeheartedly believes in leveraging business to create greater stability for the 70 million displaced people around the globe.

In this episode, we discuss the origins of Amplio, the experience of Chris and his wife moving into that refugee community, how he got to know his neighbors better, and how that led to the idea that Amplio could be a solution for this community.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/giselle-waters-mad-fish-digital/

Giselle Waters is the associate director of content strategy and social impact at Mad Fish Digital, a purpose-driven digital marketing agency in Portland, Oregon. Giselle was responsible for Mad Fish becoming a certified B-Corp in 2018. She’s implemented a pro bono program that serves underserved communities with premium marketing services. She spoke at the B-Corp Champions Retreat on how to grow and market a purpose-driven business, which is how she and Cory connected.

Growing up in San Francisco where she was homeschooled, Giselle developed a strong interest in nonprofits, particularly after she spent her college years at UC Berkeley during the Occupy Wall Street movement. She thought she would end up working at a nonprofit theatre company, but she soon discovered a love for marketing, especially for purpose-driven businesses who were concerned about their social impact. When she was moving back to Portland from New York, she learned about Mad Fish. Developing a deep respect for their code of ethics, she opted to join their team, where her role has expanded in the past few years to include social impact as a key aspect of her position.

In today’s episode, we discuss how and why Giselle joined the Mad Fish Digital team, her initiative to champion the B-Corp certification, and a step-by-step process to craft a fantastic content strategy for a purpose-driven business.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/colleen-maggie-clines-anchal/

Colleen Clines traveled to India as part of her Design for Development class while getting her graduate degree in landscape architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her only project prompt was to work with textiles with a community in need. While there, she connected with an NGO in the red-light district in Calcutta that provided working opportunities for women who were forced into the commercial sex trade and/or were survivors of domestic violence. This inspired her to want to contribute resources, which led to the founding of Anchal Project. 

In 2011, Colleen brought her sister, Maggie into the business, as she had just graduated with a degree in architecture. Now, Colleen is CEO, while Maggie is Vice President and Creative Director.

Over the course of nine years, Anchal has grown into a nonprofit that utilizes design to foster change and make an incredible social impact. Anchal now employs over 150 artisans in both India and the Clines’ hometown of Louisville, Kentucky to design and manufacture original handmade bedding, decor, scarves, bags, and more.

In this episode, the Clines discuss the founding of Anchal, how Colleen tricked Maggie into joining the business, how the nonprofit has evolved, and the further impact they are looking to have as they continue to grow.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/julia-chung-admin-slayer/

Julia Chung is the rockstar CEO of both Spring Financial Planning and Admin Slayer. Spring Financial Planning is a financial planning firm that offers advice-only financial planning services to Canadians. Admin Slayer is a virtual assistant company that provides administrative, bookkeeping, and marketing support to entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their businesses.

Neither of these businesses would be possible without the incredible women Julia met along the way. Because she was able to form close relationships with them, both professionally and personally, she was able to rely on them to grow these businesses and herself. Julia has also allowed herself to slowly step out of the day-to-day operations of both businesses and focus more on her strengths, which are business development and strategy, and the management of her teams.

This development of these types of interwoven relationships is just one of the key topics that Julia touches on in this episode. In addition, this episode discusses how Julia manages acting as CEO of two companies simultaneously, Julia’s passion for delegation, an exercise to help you improve your delegation skills, and how the blending of work and life rather than the balancing of it can actually contribute to your overall success.

See Full Show Notes here: https://growensemble.com/madeleine-shaw-nestworks/

Madeleine Shaw is the co-founder of Lunapads, a multiple-award-winning East Vancouver-based social enterprise that is dedicated to creating sustainable solutions for positive periods. With the help of their customers, Lunapads is responsible for diverting over 20 million disposable pads and tampons from North American landfills every year. But Madeleine is not involved in the day-to-day of Lunapads at this point. 

We dive deeper into Madeleine’s newest venture instead, NestWorks, a co-working space that lends itself to integrating a work/life balance between families. As this idea has been on her mind for a long time, she goes in-depth about her own experience with kids in the workplace, how work and life can be integrated, and advice she would have had for her younger self.

She is also working on a book that she considers a “manifesto of encouragement,” targeting potential social entrepreneurs who have either a small or big idea for how to impact the world through business but aren’t sure how to move forward. Through her own experience, she tells stories that she hopes will inspire more people to pursue entrepreneurialism and make their individual impacts to help make the world a better place.

In this episode, Madeleine shares many valuable insights from her journey in the purpose-driven space. We learn more about the motivation behind NestWorks and her own experiences as an entrepreneur trying to find balance between work and family, as well as tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and what she's doing to help inspire those seeking to make a difference.