Posts Tagged → Social Entrepreneurship

Hall Of Fame: Warby Parker

It’s time to highlight with you a company that I talk about all the time, Warby Parker. More than talk about them, I’m a big customer. I’ve bought a pair for myself and three pairs as gifts. They are a New York-based startup so they get a lot of love from the local community, their office and showroom also happens to be located in the Puck Building, the same place as the main offices for NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, a place I’m often stopping by to see a professor. Direct from them:

Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price point. A collaboration between four close friends, Warby Parker was conceived as an alternative to the overpriced and bland eyewear available today. Prescription eyewear simply should not cost $300+. The industry is controlled by a few large companies that have kept prices artificially high, reaping huge profits from consumers who have no other options. By circumventing traditional channels and engaging with customers directly through our website, Warby Parker is able to provide higher-quality, better-looking prescription eyewear at a fraction of the price. We meticulously crafted our first collection of 27 limited run styles, plus one monocle, using the finest custom acetates and materials. The Warby Parker aesthetic is vintage-inspired with a contemporary twist. Every pair is custom fit with anti-reflective, polycarbonate prescription lenses.

Available exclusively through our website and showrooms, our glasses retail for $95.

Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses. This means that 15% of the global population cannot effectively learn or work – a problem that Warby Parker is determined to address. We’ve partnered with non-profits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.

We believe that everyone has the right to see.

I’ve worn glasses since I was 5. I connect 100% with what they say and their story. I’ve paid huge amounts for glasses my whole life because that is just what you did to have stylish glasses, which is important if yo’re wearing them daily – especially if you’re a kid. From a price standpoint, it couldn’t be easier. $95. All glasses plus prescriptions. Well my script costs a little more but trust me, it’s worth it.

The technology is also fantastic. If you can’t make it into the showroom, on the website you can upload an image of your face and try-on glasses. You can also order three pairs to be delivered to you at home to try and a you’re only charged for the ones you keep. That is revolutionary! It’s so hard to buy glasses online but Warby Parker makes is easy.

Then there is the one for one. Buy a pair, give a pair. It’s exactly what we (the consumer) want from a company today. Startup or not. I want to shop but I also want to give back. I want to combine the things I love. I want to love the culture (or the idea of culture) from the companies I buy from. We see that from TOMS and Zappos. It’s a culture-thing. So if you’re starting a company today and you’re not thinking about how to bake in cause from the very beginning and you’re not creating a culture that people want to be associated with, you’re missing out.

I’ve gotten to spend time with some of the Warby Parker crew, I’ve been to their “circus” at SXSW. I’ve gone tothe showroom and I’ve bought their glasses. I’ve read their annual report. I couldn’t love them more which is why I’m thrilled to name them to my Hall of Fame.

Support The Adventure Project

It’s always a telling sign when my favorite friends are suddenly all telling me that I simply have to meet someone because we’re from the same cloth and we’re destined to know one another. That is what happened with me and Becky Straw this fall. And honestly, everyone was right. We have tons of friends, passions and travel experiences in common and Becky instantly become a woman I not only wanted to be friends with but great admired. Soon it was my turn to be telling people about Becky and her new nonprofit, The Adventure Project. I’m proudly on the host committee for tonight’s Join our Nice List: A Celebration of Global Entrepreneurship honoring The Adventure Project and invited Becky to share her story of how The Adventure Project came to be and what we all can do to help.

If you’re in New York tonight, come on out and join us (RSVP here). For everyone else, consider making a $20 donation to buy a cookstove or shopping in their online store.

And now, Becky’s story.

*****

“People will tell you that it can’t be done. And you know what? They’re wrong. Nothing is ever impossible,” Gayle said matter-of-factly, before finishing off her glass of wine.
I admit I have ambitious dreams, but Gayle’s statements are not what I usually hear at happy hour. I was sitting in the clubroom at The Sheraton in Times Square, surrounded by five phenomenal women. Gayle Lemmon was speaking at the TEDxWomen conference in two days, and her friends gathered around her hotel room to hear her practice.

Gayle’s book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, has recently become a New York Times bestseller, chronicling a young heroine working as a successful entrepreneur under the Taliban. I had been invited because my nonprofit, The Adventure Project, works with female entrepreneurs around the world.

To say Gayle’s speech resonated would be an understatement. She shared her stories behind travels to Afghanistan and Bosnia in her quest to meet heroic businesswomen thriving in conflict and post-conflict settings. I remember thinking, “Could I twitpic this, or would that come across as totally uncool?” She was bold, smart and honest. My mind kept repeating, “I want to speak as boldly as her.”

I want to speak out like her, because I share her beliefs.

A few years ago, on a ten-hour bus ride across Tanzania, I remember having a crisis. Too often, our aid dollars excel at giving, but lack long-term sustainability and measurable results. I knew it firsthand, and read it from theacademic articles strewn across my lap.

I know if more people invest in high-impact social enterprises, we can end extreme poverty. I came to theconclusion that I like charity, because it makes me feel good to give. But I want to support entrepreneurs, because I know it will change the world.

Two weeks ago I was in Haiti. I had not visited the country for a year, and I was hoping, quite frankly, it would look a lot better. The tents are still there, but most aid workers are not. Our hotel was almost empty. Two years ago, right after the earthquake, I slept in a tent in a hotel parking lot – every room in the capital was booked.

Last year, The Adventure Project supported the launch of a stove enterprise in Port au Prince. The stoves keep families from cooking over open fires, breathing in toxic smoke. The program now employs five women vendors, who earn commission selling the stoves at affordable prices. The stoves are also made locally, providing jobs for 15 masons.

On her stoop, under the hot Caribbean sun, I had a brief conversation with the best selling stove vendor. At only 19 years old, Noelle has sold 142 stoves in the last six weeks. We chatted about her business, her family, and what she purchased with her net profits (she invested in more stoves, of course).

I asked her, “Since you’re so young, what do you dream of becoming when you’re older?”

Noelle replied in two words, “The mayor.”

I smiled and thought, here’s a girl living in one of the poorest places in the world. Half a million people are still living in tents and 70% of the population is unemployed. Many people are eating only one meal per day, because all their savings have dried up. And yet, she’s a thriving entrepreneur. Noelle is selling stoves everywhere. She’s in the market, making house calls, setting up a display on her small stoop. She doesn’t just sell one stove to one customer, she sells multiple stoves to one customer. Delivering them in wheelbarrows.

I realized we may have given her that chance – but she took the opportunity, and ran.

Gayle perhaps said it best on Thursday, standing on stage in front of thousands of inspired minds, “We must move beyond micro-hopes and micro-ambitions for women, because they have so much greater hopes for themselves.”

And that is why my co-founder and I launched The Adventure Project.
*****

The Adventure Project is helping Haiti again this year, and we want to get 10,000 stoves into the hands of these vendors. To meet demand, they will expand the business to hire ten additional women, and support the four current vendors, and the one future mayor. Every $20 donation enables a stove to be sold to a family in need. Learn more at: www.theadventureproject.org

Finding The Social Entrepreneur In All Of Us

Everyone Can Be A Social Entrepreneur – Dublin Web Summit 4

Last week I had the priviledge of going to Ireland (my first time) for not one, not two, but three reasons. First, one of my clients, ezetop, is located there. I conducted a day and a half workshop with their online communications and marketing team on a wide variety of buckets we created in advance based on their needs with emphasis on how social media and online communications can help get their message across.

Next, I spoke at the Dublin Web Summit, which is where the above presentation comes from. There I spoke to the nonprofit/NGO track about finding the social entrepreneur in all of us. What does that mean? That all of us have the ability to look at a problem and find a way to solve it in an entrepreneurial way that ties in social innovation.

Last, I attended F.ounders. An invite-only event that was two nights and three days in Dublin. Everything was included from the pub crawl to dinners to panels and walking tours. 200 founders of companies got together to talk, network, learn and just be together to see what happens. It was an ambitious project and a huge success. Truly one of the best conferences I’ve ever been to, from start to finish, not a detail was overlooked.

Best part? All attendees got a “gold key” that provides a fully paid return to Ireland to futher explore business and investment possibilities in Ireland. So while I didn’t make it too far past Dublin this time around, I’m looking forward to returning soon and seeing more of the country and deepening the conversations and relationships I met while I was there.

Hope you enjoy the presentation above, I loved giving it! Thanks to Paddy Cosgrave and the whole Dublin Web Summit and Founders (#dws4 & #founders respectively on Twitter) team for a terrific experience.

The Causemopolitan Relaunches!

Friends,

I’m incredibly excited to share with you a brand new version of The Causemopolitan. The Causemopolitan will still provide you with information about philanthropy, social entrepreneurship and cause-filled living opportunities for you to find ways to give back and continue to build cause into your life. Only now, it’s brighter, bigger and better than ever! There are more ways to find the content you want, stronger category and tagging infrastructure, interviews, and more targeted content to match the reader base. The layout and design have been given a facelift. New logo, new design, new colors. I hope you enjoy the new look and feel as much as I do, and would love to hear what you think in the comments!

Another great addition! The Causemopolitan has gone social! You can ‘like” posts, share on Twitter and add to StumbleUpon all at the top of every post. I’ve created a page on Facebook for The Causemopolitan and that is going to be the main portal for sharing cause-based videos, events and information and I’d love you to join the conversation.

If you’re not signed up to receive FREE updates from The Causemopolitan what are you waiting for? Sign up takes less than one minute and you can do it here! Of course, You can still add The Causemopolitan to your RSS feeder as well.

When I first started The Causemopolitan in February of 2009, I was looking for a little place on the web to call my own. I launched the site with encouragement and assistance from good friends Jonathan Dingman (designed the first wordpress site), Erica O’Grady, (the big push) Mike Prasad and Jeff Henderson (hosting and support). Since then so much has happened. From New Orleans to the Philippines and back, I have shared over 300 posts and connected with countless people who have left comments or reached out to me because of The Causemopolitan.

My blogging history didn’t start with The Causemopolitan. I had been blogging as the Lifestyle Editor for the leading Los Angeles blog LAist (part of the Gothamist network) since 2005, and had kept up with my Tumblr blog in addition to being active on social networks including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, but I wanted more. I was on a journey after all spending 2009 giving back in volunteer projects around the world.

Here’s the funny thing about blogging. I know mine is just one of millions of post-it notes on a wall, but it’s my post-it note, and it’s come to mean the world to me.

I haven’t gotten everything right all of the time, haven’t blogged every day, haven’t shared everything I wanted to, but I have tried my best to grow the community around The Causemopolitan. As my yoga teacher says, “You might lose your balance, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t try your best.”

Some truly incredible things have happened over the last year and a half including:

Another great resource to follow along is my blogroll. Updated every month, I add links and resources as a benefit to those in the public and private sector to help identify ways to give back. It also has lists for other publications I write for, nonprofits I support and inspiring cause-based writers.

I welcome your feedback and looking forward to this next chapter for me, you, and The Causemopolitan.

Yours in cause,
Sloane

P.S. Last, you can always follow the latest in cause news that I share on my Twitter (@sloane) and on now also through The Causemopolitan on Facebook.

Top Influencers From Clinton Global Initiative (One Guess Who’s On The List?!)

Clinton Global Initiative, #CGI2010

When I attended the Clinton Global Initiative last week, I told all of my friends (online and off) that it was a dream come true for me. On my life bucket list was the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. The idea that I got to attend both while I’m 30 is just remarkable to me.

While at CGI last week, I operated very differently than I do at a lot of conferences. What I mean by that is that while I did network and connect with people, I was very focused on sharing and telling stories.

So when I was there, I decided that while I’m not a full-time journalist, I wanted to be the best version I could using the skills that I have. I thought it would be valuable to live tweet most of CGI because I know for many people in circle and network, they would love to attend, and soak in the information like I did. But most people CAN’T be there, for a variety of reasons.

Something I’ve learned from my time spent volunteering in developing countries and year of travel is that people love to share in the experience. So blogging and taking photos and videos, using Facebook and Twitter, all of these online tools allow many who are just as deserving (if not more so) to be able to go, see and attend events I’m at, simply can’t.

That’s where sharing the experience comes into play. By live-tweeting CGI, I received scores of messages from people saying simply “THANK YOU.” Thank you for sharing the information presented there to us. Yes, CGI had a simulcast, but we all know that for most people watching a video all day while they are at work is not feasible. Pulling quotes and stats from speakers and sharing them in 120 character bites (less than 140 so they could be retweeted and shared further) is a great way to spread the CGI mission – and indeed the mission of any conference or closed-invite event.

My simple JOY in sharing all of those messages with you last week just got even better! Waggener Edstrom, one of the largest and most well-known communications firms in the world, named me one of the top 10 influencer on Twitter during CGI. Which, when you look at the list is kind of ridiculous. I mean the company I’m keeping is large organizations like Ashoka and Echoing Green and then the likes of John Wood and Lance Armstrong.

And then there is me. @sloane.

But when I think about it, good for the little guy. Good for me, and good for Twitter and my online community for being interested enough to share and retweet the content I provided last week. It’s like the biggest high-five! So this is really a thank you to my online communities for sharing the messages from last week and caring enough to follow along.

I think that is what President Clinton meant when he asked, “How can each person and each organization leverage their core strengths in the most effective way, turning good intentions into real changes?”

From the Waggener Edstrom blog, Innovation Conversations:

If you were following the CGI Twitter dialogue last week, you know there was A LOT of content being shared and a lot of messages competing for air time.  I thought it would be interesting to use twendz pro™ to see who were the most influential people in the Twittersphere.

Below are the top 10 Twitter influencers* from CGI gleaned from twendz pro™, who were seen to have a strong voice in their respective areas of influence. Keep in mind, a person’s influence ranking changes day to day, given the fluidity of the Twitter landscape. These people were the most engaged influencers during the CGI because not only did they have a high number of followers, they were actively engaged in questions, replies, shared links, and constantly used hashtags in their tweets. Most of these influencers were retweeted at a high volume, demonstrating their broad reach.

CGI’s Top Ten Twitter Influencers

  1. @changemakers (307,137 followers)- Ashoka Changemakers is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation.
  2. @ClintonTweet (11,282 followers)- The host of last week’s events, the Clinton Foundation addresses urgent global problems through collaboration with the private sector, NGOs and other government entities. CGI gathers world leaders annually to turn ideas into action.
  3. @echoinggreen (330,900 followers)- Echoing Green is a global nonprofit that provides seed funding and technical assistance to emerging social entrepreneurs with ideas for social change.
  4. @johnwoodRTR (317,672 followers)- John Wood is the Founder of Room to Read and author of ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.’
  5. @witnessorg (273,673 followers)- WITNESS is a human rights organization that provides training and support to local groups to use video in their human rights advocacy campaigns.
  6. @lancearmstrong (2,654,892 followers) – This iconic, 7-time Tour de France winner and full time cancer fighter is the spokesperson for LIVESTRONG.
  7. @sloane (7,721 followers)- A KIVA fellow, Sloane Berrent is a cause-based marketing and social branding consultant who blogs at The Causemopolitan.
  8. @VanJones68 (6,217 followers) – Van Jones is the award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He wrote the NYTimes bestseller: Green Collar Economy.
  9. @WomenforWomen (4,733 followers) – WomenforWomen International helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Zainab Salbi is the ever-inspiring Founder and CEO.
  10. @govgranholm (16,325 followers)- Jennifer Granholm is the Canadian-born American Governor of Michigan (D).

I’ve also created a Twitter list with all of the amazing people above that you can follow HERE.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Davidson, Founder of Narratively.