What would you do if you were 1% more courageous?

Judith Martinez is a leader at the intersection of social justice and the future of human capital. She is the CEO of InHerShoes, the modern woman’s community for courage.

When Judith was in the fifth grade, she witnessed a scene that changed her life direction. “I’m a first-generation Filipino-American,” Judith explains. “I grew up with Filipino as my first language. My grandparents raised me.

“I remember we were at the LAX airport. My grandmother was trying to explain in her broken English to a man that she needed help. And he just cast her aside. It was like she was nothing. ‘Oh, you’re no one. You’re nothing.’ For me, as a fifth-grader, it was two humans interacting, but one human didn’t feel like the other one was a human.

“That ingrained in me a sense of justice. That has evolved in a variety of ways. That is part of why I chose to take on InHerShoes.”

Today, Judith is the CEO of InHerShoes. InHerShoes is a non-profit committed to catalyzing courage for girls and women of all ages. They do that through an annual summit, workshops, and leadership training.

The foundation of everything they do begins and ends with one question: What would you do if you were 1% more courageous?

Judith was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 nominee, has been featured in NASDAQ and Forbes. She is a Vital Voices and a TRESemme Global Leadership Fellow. She was recently selected to be a United States of Women Ambassador representing the state of California.

Learn More About Judith Martinez and InHerShoes:

• InHerShoes: https://www.inhershoesmvmt.org
• InHerShoes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inhershoesmvmt
• InHerShoes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InHerShoesMVMT

Helping bamboo farmers and women in impoverished regions become self-reliant while eliminating plastic waste.

If Kathy Ku’s name is familiar to you, you might have heard about her previous social venture in Uganda, Spouts of Water. I interviewed Kathy in December 2016. Kathy and her co-founder John Kye left Spouts of Water, but it continues to thrive.

Around the same time that Kathy and John were in Uganda working on clean water, Dr. Noah Park was volunteering in low-income countries.

“One of our Korean co-founders visited our production site in Uganda seven years ago or so, but we had never met each other,” Kathy explains.

“He traveled to the less developed areas of developing countries and noted that a lot of bamboo was being grown in these areas and wanted to do something about it. He calculated by developing the bamboo industry in Vietnam, he could triple or quadruple the average yearly earnings in an area with 150,000 inhabitants. He’s also a dentist, so he naturally came upon bamboo toothbrushes.”

In the United States alone, over 1 billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away each year. These toothbrushes are not recycled. They end up in the landfill or floating in the environment.

To deal with these two problems – plastic waste and helping poor bamboo farmers, Dr. Park launched his bamboo toothbrush company in Korea under the Dr. Noah brand. In 2020, Dr. Noah raised Series A capital to move into the US market. That is when Kathy Ku and John Kye joined the team.

About Kathy Ku

“I grew up in an immigrant family and community that always stressed this idea of giving back,” Kathy says. “My mom would tell me, ‘you should run an orphanage when you grow up.’ Now, I look back and think we definitely should have been worrying about our roof over our heads. But this idea of looking to do good and doing well always stuck with me.

“By the time I joined Juni Essentials, they were still trying to figure out the production process. We’re talking like 50 toothbrushes being made a day. I had a manufacturing background and helped ramp it up. We’re now making more than 50,000 toothbrushes a month. We’ll get to 100,000 soon.

“Not a lot of people know about bamboo toothbrushes, and of the people who’ve tried them, I think a lot of people have been turned off by them. They feel different from plastic toothbrushes. And I think this is where we come in.

“Our product is fundamentally made differently from other products out there. That’s why we chose to make it ourselves. Our surface is heat-treated using patented technology that provides this smooth surface - the toothbrushing experience is comparable to that of plastic toothbrushes, so why not switch?

“I think I generally have good intentions, but the execution has been difficult. For example, I want to be good to the environment, and my husband and I compost and try to use compostable Ziploc bags. But I still drive my high school car, a Cadillac, which probably contributes to 50% of California’s carbon emissions. I think bamboo toothbrushes make me happy because it’s an active decision I make every morning and evening when I brush my teeth.”

Learn More About Kathy Ku, Juni Essentials:

• Juni Essentials: https://juniessentials.com
• Juni Essentials on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juniessentials
• Juni Essentials on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juniessentials
• Kathy Ku on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seulkathyku
• Kathy’s 2016 interview about Spouts of Water: https://tonyloyd.com/podcast/143-kathy-ku-and-john-kye-spouts-of-water-safe-drinking-water-for-all-ugandans/

Offering paid job training for youth.

Sara Hart Weihmann is the Director of Social Enterprise at New Avenues for Youth in Portland. She oversees a portfolio of workforce development social enterprises that offer goods and services to the local community. This provides paid work experiences and job training for youth experiencing housing instability. These enterprises include a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop and a screen-printing business, New Avenues INK.

“I have always had a strong sense of environmental justice since I was a young kid,” Sara explains. “My parents would tell you that I was constantly giving them feedback about lights being left on in rooms. I had these little tickets I would issue to them if they left the lights on.

“So I’ve always been Type A do the right thing. You fall into line. We owe the environment everything. So I really took that environmental view forward into my life.

“In my younger years, I even thought that environmental justice needed to come first before social justice was addressed.

“After graduating college, I found a unique MBA graduate program in the Bay Area with an emphasis on environmental sustainability and social justice. I started a business specializing in installing edible gardens and urban farms throughout the Bay Area.

“What started as a passion for ecological sustainability and horticulture quickly evolved into a passion for food sovereignty, social justice, and elevating the voices of indigenous, black, and people of color to advocate for the resources they needed to thrive in the community.

“I started participating on non-profit boards, coalitions, and councils focusing on food system equity. I found myself passionate about working with young people living in excluded neighborhoods and mentoring them in agriculture and business strategy.

“There is nothing more fulfilling to me than seeing young people recognize their inherent value in an entrepreneurial setting where they get the freedom to brainstorm and take risks with their peers with guidance from mentors.

“When I moved back to my hometown of Portland, I noticed this opportunity at New Avenues for Youth as Director of Social Enterprise. It seemed like an excellent fit for my skills and passion. It was a combination of business strategy and management to serve young people experiencing housing insecurity.

“That was over seven years ago, and I still feel inspired every day by the impacts our workforce development social enterprises have on participants and the community.”

About New Avenues INK:

New Avenues INK is a screen-printing social enterprise owned and operated by non-profit New Avenues for Youth. Since its establishment in 2013, New Avenues INK has specialized in providing high-quality, cost-competitive decorated apparel items to customers while delivering paid work experiences and job training to youth experiencing homelessness in the community.

New Avenues for Youth’s social enterprise portfolio has provided hundreds of paid internships over the years to young people who have little-to-no traditional work experience. Young people receive an hourly wage to learn necessary job skills and participate in career exploration and career coaching. Interns can build confidence in businesses, experience being a part of a team, practice receiving and providing feedback, and ultimately learn about the world of work in a trauma-informed environment.

Learn More About Sara Weihmann and New Avenues INK:

• New Avenues INK: https://www.newavenuesink.org  

People who were involved in the criminal justice system are more than their labels.

Karen Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer Human Services.

She was born during the 1960s civil rights era. “During my lifetime, I’ve seen quite a bit of discrimination. I’ve always wanted to do something about that in a way that was true to me.”

Karen graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She served our country until the 1990s.

After her military service ended, she attended the University of Washington School of Law, where she received her JD degree. “I wanted to be a civil rights attorney,” Karen explains, “but I found that I liked working with people and leading organizations.”

She took several middle management positions. In 2005, she was asked to serve as the Commissioner for the Washington State Employment Security Division.

“We would get these reports on employment and wages from the labor economists that work there. That’s when I saw the disparity that exists in society today.

“I got a good look at the income gap. What was troubling was that the income gap was most apparent with people who had a negative interaction with the justice system. Black people, indigenous people, and people of color were all at the labor market’s bottom. I wanted to do something about that.”

Karen used her position in the labor department to try several programs. But then, the governor’s term was coming to an end. That’s when she noticed that Pioneer Human Services was looking for a new CEO.

“This particular segment of the population is one that I have often been concerned about because of my race and because I know people that have been involved with the justice system. I have family members that have been involved with the justice system, and they’ve struggled to find employment. And so I’ve wanted to do something about that.”

About Pioneer Human Services

Pioneer Human Services provides counseling, treatment, housing, job skills training, and employment for those involved in the criminal justice system. Pioneer provides career paths and living wage jobs for a population many disregard. Pioneer is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit social-enterprises. Pioneer serves over 10,000 people a year through its diversion, treatment, housing, and job training programs.

Under Karen’s leadership, Pioneer successfully operates several revenue-generating businesses that provide living-wage jobs and help fund its mission.

Learn More About Karen Lee and Pioneer Human Services:

Pioneer Human Services: https://pioneerhumanservices.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuGf99lQwbSXXObe9NlwrOQ

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/pioneer-human-services

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PioneerWA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PioneerWA

What Sandra Goldmark learned from a seven-year experiment fixing stuff.

Sandra Goldmark is the Director of Sustainability and Climate Action at Barnard College. For seven years, she ran Fixup, a popup repair shop for household items of all kinds. It was staffed by theatre artists. “We use our backstage skills to fix people's broken stuff,” Sandra explains. “and to create an alternative to use and discard.”

Sandra has gathered her lessons learned and put them in a new book, Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet.

“We are reinventing repair as a viable part of a sustainable, equitable, circular economy,” Sandra says. “We were mobile, so there was no fixed storefront. We accepted a wide range of items as a one-stop drop-off for our customers. We used an event-type structure to create a sense of urgency and community. And we partnered with a range of organizations.”

It started with a vacuum cleaner.

Around 2013, Sandra had a problem. Several items around her house broke – a lamp, a toaster oven, a backpack, and a vacuum cleaner. “It seemed crazy to me that it is easier to buy a new vacuum than get one fixed. It seems crazy to me to look around and see stores and homes and landfills filled with stuff.

“Everywhere I looked around me the whole pattern of consumption seemed totally out of whack. The environmental impacts of our system of consumption are staggering. People aren't happy with this pattern and how it plays out in their own lives. And when you look at individual objects, many of them are actually fixable. The whole system seemed totally broken. But it also seemed fixable!

“My work on circularity and repair is rooted in my work in the theatre - my belief that ALL of us have a role to play in finding solutions and building changes.”

Sandra started simply. “I just started. I was home on maternity leave, and I got a bee in my bonnet and never let go. We started with grassroots advertising, word of mouth, and leveraging neighborhood networks, especially parent networks.”

It worked! At their first popup event, people showed up with their broken stuff.

“We partnered with other organizations to move into new neighborhoods, eventually operating pop-ups in neighborhoods across 3 boroughs.”  

Sandra didn’t always get it right.

“I tried to raise money from investors at one point during the process, and that did not work,” Sandra says. “The project didn't seem to fit some sort of model or mold that they were looking for, and we didn't seem to speak each other's language. I think this is an important point, not for my business per se, but about how we approach climate solutions, how we think about innovation, and how we can learn to work across siloes.

“The hardest part was trying to iterate and pivot while also keeping our focus.”

A popup shop becomes a book.

Sandra sees the book as an extension of her work. “Now, in this latest phase, we are reaching more people through the book, Fixation.

“Fixation provides a comprehensive look at the problem, a clear path forward, and a call to action for individuals, businesses, and policymakers.”

Learn More About Sandra Goldmark and Fixation:

• Book: Fixation: How to Have Stuff without Breaking the Planet: https://amzn.to/3qLlK3M
• Sandra Goldmark: https://sandragoldmark.com

NOTE: For a full transcript of the conversation, see: https://tonyloyd.com/karim-abouelnaga.

Close the Opportunity Gap through high-impact programs before, during, and outside of school hours.

Karim Abouelnaga is CEO of Practice Makes Perfect, a company he founded when he was 18 years old. Practice Makes Perfect partners with K-12 schools to help narrow the opportunity gap.

Karim is a TED Fellow and Echoing Green Fellow. At 23, he was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in education, and at 24 was named to Magic Johnson’s 32 under 32 list. In 2016, he was ranked in the top 3 most influential young entrepreneurs under 25 globally. Karim’s TED Talk was named one of the 9 Most Inspiring Talks of 2017.

Karim has gathered his lessons learned in a powerful new book, The Purpose-Driven Social Entrepreneur.

Learn More About Karim Abouelnaga and Practice Makes Perfect:

• Book: The Purpose-Driven Social Entrepreneur: https://amzn.to/3seHTYO
• Practice Makes Perfect: https://practicemakesperfect.org
• Karim Abouelnaga: https://www.karimabouelnaga.com

If you want a better future, you need a better story.

“Leading change has never been tougher,” Denise Withers says. “Fear, apathy, and uncertainty have paralyzed most of the world, making it almost impossible to engage people in even the most straightforward initiative.

“But it doesn’t have to be like that. Story Design can help. It’s a practical way for leaders to take the risk out of change and create a better future.”

Denise Withers is an award-winning storyteller and ICF certified leadership coach who helps clients reduce the risk of change and design better futures - with stories.

Denise spent the first two decades of her career making whitewater films, corporate videos, and TV documentaries - primarily for Discovery Channel. Early in her career, she discovered the power of stories to drive change while directing a film about Indigenous youth for CBC and quickly found her niche creating docs about environmental and social issues for change-makers across the globe.

Five continents, eight awards, and a hundred stories later, Denise left the media to study narrative, engagement, and design, ultimately becoming one of Canada’s top design educators. In 2013, she discovered how to combine storytelling and design thinking into a robust framework for change and pioneered the Story Design concept - a practical way to imagine a better future and make it happen.

Since then, Denise has worked with hundreds of clients across sectors, including CEOs, scientists, politicians, entrepreneurs, academics, and creatives. Together, they’ve used Story Design to do things like advance clean energy, protect ecosystems, transform higher ed, and slow disease. Most recently, she helped two National Geographic photographers double the revenue, reach and impact of their ocean non-profit in less than a year.

Millions of people have seen Denise’s stories on Discovery, CBC, NatGeo, SSIR, the UN, and National Post. Her first book, Story Design: The Creative Way to Innovate, is a favorite with purpose-driven leaders. And her podcast, Foreward: How stories drive change, ranks in the top 100 of management shows.

In the last 35 years, Denise’s clients have used Story Design for impact projects such as clean energy, wilderness protection, reducing chronic disease, advancing food security, and improving financial literacy.

Denise helps clients through custom coaching, training, storytelling, and retreats. As a certified leadership coach and storyteller, she shows you how to combine design thinking and storytelling. Her initiatives build trust, fuel innovation, engage supporters, and inspire action.

“The world desperately needs a new story, says Denise. “Let’s see what we can create together.”

Learn More About Denise Withers and Story Design:

• Book: Story Design: The Creative Way to Innovate: https://amzn.to/3bm7rfO
• Denise Withers: https://denisewithers.com
• Denise Withers on Twitter: https://twitter.com/denisewithers
• Denise Withers on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denisewithers

YardHomes Minnesota uses a prefabrication approach and an innovative financing model to create affordable housing.

YardHomes Minnesota is creating housing affordability by building and maintaining accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

“We are a startup that focuses on delivering ADUs in Minnesota as a method of housing,” Nichol Beckstrand explains. “ADUs are tiny houses designed to be permanent living spaces. The problem we set out to solve is housing affordability.”

Under its Y-HELP program, YardHomes installs an ADU on an existing residential property owned by a partner. YardHomes holds and manages the ADU for ten years, offering it as an affordable rental unit for low-income tenants. Each month, YardHomes typically shares a portion of the ADU rental income with the property owner. After 10-years, YardHomes transfers ownership in the ADU entirely to the partner.

The problem YardHomes Minnesota is solving:

Nichol grew up in a house where she could have fun and feel safe. As a parent, she created a space for her children. But, she soon realized that a safe, secure home is not an option for every family. “We are creating more affordable housing for the housing insecure. We create a community setting for them. This creates wealth for the families and nonprofits that participate as host locations for our ADUs.”

“I’ve understood the finance side of affordable housing all my life, but I needed to partner with someone. My business partner understands the building side and the cost factors that go into building a home. I also know that under my current model, the units’ affordability could change after ten years. So I knew I needed to partner with organizations and people who had a desire to keep the property in play for affordable housing after the ownership transfers. I spent a fair amount of time understanding how ADU’s work, how city policy can be helpful (and sometimes harmful) to adding density. I focused on also creating a community connection for the individuals that we are housing.”

Here’s how they solve it.

Yard Homes Minnesota is creating more living spaces quickly. This efficient building model meets housing and safety standards. With more homes in supply, this will eventually reduce the cost of housing. “We leverage our Y-HELP leasing program. YardHomesMN asks an intermediary between nonprofits or people with the land they would like to use for affordable housing. We own the ADU and maintain it. We lease the land where the ADU will be placed and rent the ADU’s to an individual on voucher programs. The program amortizes the lease over ten years, thereby transferring the ADU ownership to the nonprofit or individual landowner at the end of the ten years.”

Here’s how they’re funded.

“Thus far, we are self-funded. We recently established a Program Related Investment (PRI). Our lead donor is the Maggie Foundation, with a matching grant from The Bush Foundation. We will be using their funds as a down payment on a loan to leverage five times to create five times this amount of housing. For every $25,000, we can create one unit of housing with our lease program.”

Learn More About Nichol Beckstrand and YardHomesMN:

• YardHomes: https://www.yardhomesmn.com
• YardHomes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/yardhomesmn/64755918
• YardHomes on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YardHomes-MN-103884421228762
• YardHomes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yardhomesmn

For every planner and course sold, #ThisIsMyEra helps a child with an education.

#ThisIsMyEra produces a 90-day planner that helps you set goals that align with your values. They also provide online courses to help you get clear on your life’s purpose.

For every planner that is purchased, #ThisIsMyEra donates school supplies to kids in need in Africa. So far, they’ve provided more than 10,000 school supplies.

And for every course that is purchased, they provide a school scholarship.

Why Education?

“In Ghana and most African countries, public education is not free,” Ruth Biza explains. “So if your family cannot afford to pay for your tuition, you stayed at home.”

Ruth recalls a particularly humiliating experience.

“It was in the middle of a session, and the financial aid lady comes in class, and they call out every single person that owes the school money. When they call you out, you stand in front of the class. So this is an embarrassing moment because every person on that list means you can’t afford your education. You owe money. They parade in you in front of the class.”

On that particular day, The person from financial aid called out Ruth’s name, and she had to stand in front of the class.

“I thought we were a middle-class family, and we could afford the tuition. When I got sent home that day, I spoke with my parents. I learned that we actually could afford my education. Being the selfless person she is, my mom was using half of my tuition to pay for the schooling of other kids who were not so fortunate - kids who had lost parents or kids who lived with grandparents who could not afford it.

“That was the first experience for me, where I noticed how people view you and how education can just affect you.”

Late, Ruth had a second experience that shaped her.

“I was around nine or ten. My mom and I were returning home from the market. We had stopped at a red light. Often, in Ghana, at a red light, people approach the cars selling anything, just anything they can find to make money and make ends meet.

“We were approached by this girl that looked so out of place to me. And I realize she is my she’s probably the same age as me. Why is she here approaching the car asking for money when she should be at home playing or in school? She seems so out of place, and it did not sit well with me.

My mom being the chatty lady, decided to strike up a conversation. We learned that her mom was sitting across the street. Her mom was blind, and she was taking care of a newborn baby. So it was up to this nine-year-old girl to find the resources to feed her family. “

These two incidents sent Ruth Biza on a quest to provide education for those who cannot afford it.

Today, Ruth runs #ThisIsMyEra.

About Ruth Biza

Ruth was born in Ghana, went to middle school in Zimbabwe, completed high school in Switzerland, and moved to the U.S. to study at Lynn University. Ruth is the Co-Founder of #ThisIsMyEra, a personal development brand that donates school supplies for every planner purchased to kids in need in Africa. They have sold over 10K planners and counting. Together with her husband Kuda, they founded the Amani Hope Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization whose mission is to empower underprivileged children by providing scholarships. Ruth is also a Fitness Trainer and Consultant to social impact brands. She is driven by her desire to leave a positive impact on the world and inspire others to fulfill their potential.

Learn More About Ruth Biza and #ThisIsMyEra:

·        #ThisIsMyEra: https://thisismyera.com

·        #ThisIsMyEra on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisismyeraofficial  

·        Kuda Biza’s speech at the 2014 Millennium Campus Conference: https://youtu.be/fac_roNrfyI

For extended show notes, see https://tonyloyd.com/zoe-levin

Trees Should Capture Carbon, Not Crap

We know the problems with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions: Climate change, rising sea levels, flooding, droughts, wildfires, ocean acidification, climate refugees, political instability, and a lot more.

We know that it’s important to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the oceans. We can do that by reducing the production of CO2. We can also do that by capturing CO2 in carbon sinks.

In the US, forests store 14% of our annual CO2 emissions. Trees are a valuable, and powerful carbon sink.

And yet, in the United States, 27,000 trees are flushed down the toilet every day.

And here’s another problem. Paper-making is a toxic process. It uses toxic chemicals. It creates air and water pollution. This is especially a problem for people with chemical sensitivities.

Zoë Levin calls herself “The toilet paper queen.” She is the Founder and CEO of Bim Bam Boo. They make sustainability-focused, health-forward essentials from fast-growing bamboo.

Last year, they experienced 900% growth in annual revenue. And they saved 1.2 million pounds of virgin forest from getting flushed down the toilet. 

Help Launching and Growing a Business with a Social Mission:

If you need help thinking about these questions, take one of the free self-assessments at CultureShift.com.

If you need help thinking about your strategy to start and grow a business with a social mission, you can schedule a complimentary strategy call.

Also, we have provided a full transcript of this conversation at https://tonyloyd.com/zoe-levin.

Learn More About Zoë Levin and Bim Bam Boo:

• Bim Bam Boo: https://bimbamboopaper.com
• Bim Bam Boo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bimbamboopaper
• Bim Bam Boo Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bimbamboopaper
• Bim Bam Boo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bimbamboopaper
• Lunar Startups: https://www.lunarstartups.org
• Free Self-Assessments: https://cultureshift.com/assessments
• Complimentary Strategy Call: https://cultureshift.com/strategy