Disruptors for GOOD | Social Entrepreneurs and Social Enterprises

Bonus EpisodeIn episode 26 of the Investing in Impact podcast, we speak with Zécca J. Lehn, General Partner at Responsibly Ventures, on using multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to invest in impact startups.Zécca Lehn is the General Partner of Responsibly Ventures, based in California, backing U.S. PreSeed startups in both Social and Sustainable Tech—using multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guidepost per investment.Over the past 15+ years, he has worked as an Environmental Economist, Data Scientist, Non-Profit Board Member, and Co-Founder. He grew up in an off-the-grid Japanese-style home, on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. Through his world travels and living in Scandinavia during his early 20’s, he discovered a deep love for people, planet, and diverse cultures.For the past years, he has produced the podcast posi2ive, on Venture Scale Positive Impacts. He also leads regular community roundtables and interviews on Clubhouse– for posi2ive’s current community base of 4k+ members.He holds a degree in Environmental Economics from Western Washington University, and a Certified Specialization in Data Science from Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, he’s certified under the UN Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). He often speaks on panels, podcasts, and publishes articles on the PreSeed VC impact arena.Zécca is also launching a private beta community of GPs / LPs / Angels / Family Offices / Institutional Funds focused on VC Impact.Learn more about the community here.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out the Impact Investor platform here - Discover Impact Investors from around the world.We are powered by:Partner with us - Learn morePodcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 105 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Karen Lee, CEO of Pioneer Human Services, on using business and nonprofits to create an inclusive hiring and support ecosystem for individuals previously incarcerated.As Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer Human Services, Karen Lee leads one of the nation’s largest nonprofit social-enterprise organizations in the United States. Under Karen’s leadership, Pioneer successfully operates several revenue-generating businesses that provide living wage jobs to mission-related employees and help fund its mission of empowering people who have been involved in the legal system to build healthy, productive lives. Headquartered in Seattle, Pioneer serves over 10,000 people a year through its diversion, treatment, housing and job training programs. Karen is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.The vision of Pioneer is a world free from injustice, discrimination and mass incarceration, where everyone has the health, acceptance and opportunity to live their lives to their fullest potential. Pioneer is a social enterprise that partners with communities to transform society by honoring the humanity of people, reducing the impact of discriminatory mass incarceration and empowering people to live safe, healthy, productive lives through inspiration, affirmation and by overturning barriers.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

If you enjoy this podcast, please rate and review the show. It's a huge help. Thanks!In episode 104 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Wes Hurt, founder of Clean Cause, on facing addiction, becoming sober, and building a company that gives 50% of profits every month to support individuals in recovery.Wes started by selling CLEAN Cause bottled water out of his truck to local convenience & grocery stores in Austin, Texas. He soon realized how much addiction truly was impacting the lives of Americans when he heard the many stories of addiction from his customers across the country. Finding himself fatigued by the grind of growing his new venture, he needed a source of caffeine - but one that was organic, refreshing & sat well on his stomach, unlike coffee.Wes saw that the sober living facility experience was a crucial moment for many of his friends who were also pursuing recovery. It empowered them to establish recovery routines, find employment & prepare to re-enter the world. Creating a sustainable source of funds to expand access to sober living would be the solution Wes would pursue.To Date the company has generated over 2170 scholarships, representing more than $1,085,000.The Clean Cause MissionThe Clean Cause mission is to support individuals in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction by creating a sustainable source of funding for greater access to sober living facilities. The company achieves this with 50% of profits funding sober living scholarships.SOBER LIVING "CLEAN Kickstarts" help bridge the critical gap between rehab & reintegration into everyday life. They give people the opportunity to live in high-accountability homes, find jobs, and establish recovery support systems.If you know someone in your community who is in need, have them apply here for a sober living scholarship today.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In Episode 11 of the Disruptors for Good podcast I speak with Kyle Parsons, the Founder and CEO of Indosole, on his quest to become the most sustainable footwear company in the world.Indosole takes old tires that would otherwise contribute to Indonesia’s massive landfill problem, and transforms them into beautiful sandals and shoes through a production process that is organic, toxic free, and environmentally sustainable. Not only that – the process provides dignified work to many in Indonesia.For a decade now Indosole has strived to be the environmental keepers of the future. They have successfully merged artisan skill with social impact, developing a custom shoemaking process that transforms tires to shoe soles by hand. Through this crafted concept and forward thinking, Indosole has been able to save over 100K+ tires from landfills, but to have a mass scale environmental impact a breakthrough technology was needed.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In Episode 3 of the Disruptors for Good podcast I spoke with James Bartle, founder of Outland Denim. Outland Denim is a social enterprise creating premium denim products that help tackle the worlds human trafficking crisis. Every 30 seconds, someone is sold in the human traffic industry. Once in, it’s nearly impossible to escape.According to a United Nations report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are mostly women and girls. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%), although this number may actually be more, because forced labour is less detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children.Outland Denim has created an approach of zero exploitation, to help prevent young girls being drafted into sex trade, or as slave labor into the garment industry. This approach is done through a program that Outland created called The Denim Project. This program offers young girls with an interest in sewing to earn fair wages, and to learn and master the crafts of sewing and fashion.Outland Denim began when James travelled to Asia and saw first hand how human traffickers prey on vulnerable young girls in order to service the sex industry. After learning that once a girl has been rescued and rehabilitated, sustainable career path is vital for securing her future, James created the “Denim Project”, which would enable those girls who demonstrated an interest in sewing to put their new skills to use.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

Throwback Episode: In episode 2 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast we spoke with with Bas Van Abel, the Founder of Fairphone, about his mission creating the world's first ethical cell phone company.Bas van Abel is an awarded social entrepreneur, designer and innovator.  He is founder of Fairphone, a social enterprise with a mission to create a more ethical supply chain in the electronics industry. Fairphone has been widely recognized with awards such as the UN Momentum for Change Award 2015, the European Business Award for the Environment 2016, and is a certified B Corp.Prior to Fairphone, Bas was Head of Waag Society’s Open Design Lab, where he established Amsterdam's FABLab, a community maker space, and initiated the Instructables Restaurant, the world’s first open source restaurant.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In episode 103 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Dean Cycon, founder of Dean's Beans, on how to create a profitable and ethical business rooted in respect for the earth, the farmer, and the consumer.Dean Cycon founded in Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company in 1993 after working as an environmental and indigenous rights lawyer. He set out to prove that a for-profit business could create meaningful change through ethical business practices rooted in respect for the earth, the farmer, our co-workers and the consumer.Dean spent over a decade as an indigenous rights and environmental lawyer before bringing those skills to the coffee industry by co-founding Coffee Kids, the coffee industry’s first non-profit development organization, in 1988. Yet after designing and managing the development arm of Coffee Kids for five years, Dean decided that charity wasn’t enough – until businesses changed their fundamental operating principles there would be no meaningful impact on the lives of the farmers. He founded Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee in 1993 with the mission of using specialty coffee as a vehicle for positive social, economic and ecological change at origin.Dean has been a Woods Hole Research Fellow, a Senior Fulbright Scholar, and a Yale Law School Visiting Fellow.Dean’s book about social justice, culture and coffee, “Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee” was awarded the Gold Medal as Best Travel Essay book of 2008 by the Independent Publishers Association, and has been published in English, Korean and Chinese.The mission of Dean's Beans is to use high quality specialty coffee as a vehicle for progressive change throughout the coffeelands of Asia, Africa and the Americas. This is achieved through:Innovative direct People-Centered Development programs with our Cooperative PartnersActivism andEcological ResponsibilityThe company has been directly engaged in community development and activism for over twenty-five years now.All of the high-quality specialty coffees are certified Organic, Fair Trade, and Kosher, and are roasted fresh to order in small batches at the companies beanery in Orange, MA. The vast use of pesticides in coffee production has serious impact on the ecology of the coffee-growing world and the health of farm communities.Dean has committed his business career to only purchasing shade grown coffees that support healthy environments for coffee growers and protects critical migratory bird habitat. It is important to the company that the quality of coffee includes respect for the quality of life of our southern partners in the coffee world.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

If you enjoy this podcast, please rate and review the show. It's a huge help. Thanks!In episode 102 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Rahama Wright, Founder of Shea Yeleen, on empowering women in West Africa and the United States through the production, sale, and use of shea butter products. Rahama is creating living-wage jobs for women-owned shea butter cooperatives in Ghana. Having grown up personally aware of inequalities in the world, Rahama developed an interest in women’s economic empowerment. Making up for her lack of business experience with pure passion and determination, she started Shea Yeleen, a social impact company focused on financial empowerment and ethical sourcing. Shea Yeleen is a company that specializes in manufacturing high quality, organic, fair trade skin care products and utilizing a sales strategy that incorporates women's micro enterprise development. Shea Yeleen offers five times Ghana's minimum wage and provides access to health insurance. Its business model has a direct and regenerative community impact that allows the ongoing education of more than 268 children.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

In Episode 6 of the Tools for Scale podcast I chat with Julian Alvarez, co-founder of Vize, on navigating entrepreneurship and using technology to empower low skilled workers to find and search for better job opportunities.Julian is an entrepreneur, software engineer, podcaster, futurist, productivity aficionado, and a life-long learner. He is currently the Co-Founder and the CTO of an early-stage startup named Vize, where our mission is to help low-income workers find a job that they love and empower them with the skills they need to advance in their professional lives.He is also the Host of the Inventing The Future Podcast, where his mission is to inspire and empower entrepreneurs to solve the world's biggest problems.In June 2021, Julian will start working as a Software Engineer with Facebook at their HQ in Silicon Valley. He previously interned at Facebook, LinkedIn, and Goldman Sachs.Mentioned in the podcast, here are some React templates: https://dashboard-ui.com/https://www.creative-tim.com/product/material-dashboard-pro-react?partner=104080https://www.creative-tim.com/product/argon-design-system-pro-reacthttps://www.creative-tim.com/stacks/react-stack-bf?utm_medium=internalemail&utm_source=sendgrid&utm_campaign=bf+2020+react+btn&hash=fIQG9e8jgMSsLASubscribe on Apple Podcasts and SpotifyConnect with me:WebsiteTwitterLinkedInIG ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.

If you enjoy this podcast, please rate and review the show. It's a huge help. Thanks!In episode 101 of the Disruptors for GOOD podcast, we speak with Josh Goldman, Ph.D., Co-founder of KoBold Metals, on the future of efficient and sustainable mineral exploration and how EV batteries can create a circular economy for mobility.KoBold Metals is developing artificial intelligence to improve the efficacy, efficiency, and sustainability of critical mineral exploration and development. KoBolds principal investors are Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a climate technology fund overseen by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and other global business leaders and Andreessen Horowitz, the premier Silicon Valley venture capital fund.The mineral exploration company uses machine learning and other scientific computing techniques to increase the ethical supply of critical materials (i.e., Ni, Co, Cu, Li, Pt, and Pd) needed to build electric vehicles and personal electronics.The sustainable and efficient development of new mines will be needed if electric vehicles are to become widespread, but before new ore deposits can be mined, they must be found.KoBold is the first full-stack exploration company that combines the world’s top mineral explorers with an outstanding team of data scientists and software engineers to bring a comprehensive skill set to bear on exploration.Josh earned his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University for experiments in atomic physics that demonstrated how trapped electrons could be used to make quantum computers. He also holds master’s degrees in history of science from Imperial College London and applied mathematics from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a B.A. in physics from Cornell.Josh was an advisor to top executives at oil & gas, electric power, and energy equipment and services firms with the Houston office of McKinsey & Company. Josh was at the forefront of McKinsey’s deployment of advanced analytics, leading operational transformations that delivered 10%+ performance improvements in power and oil & gas equipment engineering design and sourcing and power plant operations. His work on strategy and corporate finance ranged from E&P business unit growth strategy, to electric power utility disintermediation strategy, to acquisition target scans and due diligence.As principal of Phase Change Resources, Josh led business development, sourcing investment opportunities and leading commercial underwriting and valuation of all PCR transactions. He also wrote PCR’s proprietary forecasting and valuation software and led PCR’s big-data digital prospecting efforts.Listen to more Causeartist podcasts here.Check out:ImpactInvestor.io - Discover impact investors from around the world.Podcast Made with TransistorPodcast cover design Made with CanvaBuild amazing web platforms with Webflow ----------------------------------------Disruptors for GOOD is powered by Causeartist, a nonprofit media company dedicated to bridging the gap between capital and culture by spotlighting founders, investors, and organizations reimagining how business can serve people and the planet.Through storytelling, events, and open-access education, Causeartist helps create a shared language of impact, inspiring more founders to build with purpose and more funders to invest with intention.By amplifying ideas and innovations across industries, Causeartist transforms awareness into action and cultivates a community where paying it forward is part of the foundation for growth.